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Panelak

Panelak Game Cover
86%Game Brain Score
Most mentioned positive aspects:atmosphere, graphics
Most mentioned negative aspects:story, gameplay
86% User Score Based on 70 reviews

Platforms

PCWindows
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Panelak Game Cover

About Panelak

Panelak is a single player action adventure game with horror, mystery and thriller themes. It was developed by Pajos games and was released on December 13, 2024. It received positive reviews from players.

You find yourself in front of an apartment building in the middle of the forest (how did it even get here?) and see a man calling for help. What will be your next move? Solve puzzles, search for items, hide from danger, and above all, FOLLOW THE RULES. Don’t know what they are? Find the list, and if you want to survive, stick to it. Panelak is a horror adventure game that takes you to the fa…

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Panelak screenshot
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Reviews

86%Audience ScoreBased on 70 reviews
atmosphere12 positive mentions
optimization3 negative mentions
  • Excellent atmospheric horror experience capturing the essence of socialist-era apartment buildings with authentic details and nostalgic vibe.
  • Well-balanced combination of light puzzles, exploration, and jump scares that create enjoyable and engaging gameplay.
  • Impressive achievement for a solo developer with good graphics, stable performance on modern systems, and a unique surreal horror setting.
  • Performance and optimization issues on some systems, with high resource usage and occasional crashes reported.
  • Presence of bugs and glitches that can block progression, frustrate players, and sometimes require restarting or reinstalling the game.
  • Short game length with a somewhat simplistic storyline and limited replay value, which may leave some players wanting more depth or content.

  • atmosphere

    16 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    75% positive mentions, 25% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game is widely praised for its strong, immersive atmosphere that effectively conveys a tense, eerie, and authentic feeling—often evoking the communist era—with minimal reliance on cheap jumpscares. Its intense mood and well-crafted environment create a compelling and memorable horror experience, appreciated by both regional players and horror fans in general.

    • “No cheap jumpscares, good atmosphere.”
    • “Panelak leans heavily into atmosphere and tension, slowly turning a simple act of helping into something far more uncomfortable.”
    • “If you are either from Czechia or Slovakia, the game is an absolute must-play, but generally the game will be likeable for almost anyone who wants a mild scare and great atmosphere, all experienced from your own view.”

  • graphics

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 43% neutral mentions, 14% negative mentions

    The graphics feature a simple settings menu with basic options, delivering strong environmental visuals and atmosphere, especially praised for its Eastern European aesthetic. However, character models are noted as less detailed compared to the impressive environments and shadows. Overall, the graphics effectively contribute to an immersive and memorable experience.

    • “The graphics are very good with the environments, shadows and atmosphere.”
    • “The story, the technical treatment, the graphics, the sound, and all is mixed so well that the player will remember the musty smell in the basement in certain scenes.”
    • “I like the panelak aesthetic, it's very familiar to me as a fellow Czech guy.”
    • “The graphics settings only include low, medium, high, plus vsync and an option to play in windowed or fullscreen mode — and that's it.”

  • story

    7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    43% positive mentions, 14% neutral mentions, 43% negative mentions

    The story is generally seen as confusing and poorly executed, with little explanation of key plot points, though it has some interesting concepts and moments that effectively create atmosphere and suspense.

    • “Interesting story, was not expecting the last rule.”
    • “The story, the technical treatment, the graphics, the sound, and all is mixed so well that the player will remember the musty smell in the basement in certain scenes.”
    • “It has a good-ish storyline.”
    • “It's short, story is trash, but it did scare me.”
    • “Okay... so there was a decent concept here I think story wise, but I feel the execution was done poorly.”
    • “Not to mention nothing is actually explained story wise as to what's going on and/or why anything is there really.”

  • gameplay

    4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    50% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 50% negative mentions

    The gameplay offers a light and enjoyable experience featuring first-person exploration, simple puzzles, and item collection reminiscent of Resident Evil. It involves navigating surreal environments and using keys to progress, with an overall easy difficulty for both completion and achievements.

    • “The gameplay was enjoyable, featuring light puzzles and Resident Evil-like exploration with some items to pick up.”
    • “As the unnamed hero, you need to help a person stuck on the rooftop, but when you open the front door into the building, you enter a surreal different dimension where even watching a painting for too long can kill you. Generally, the game is pretty easy to beat, both gameplay-wise and for achievement completion.”
    • “As the unnamed hero you need to help a person stuck on the rooftop but when you open the front door into the building you are pretty much stuck inside a surreal different dimension (where even staring at a painting for too long can kill you).”
    • “Gameplay revolves primarily around collecting and using keys to open the path forward.”

  • optimization

    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 100% negative mentions

    The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to subpar performance despite its potential. Improved optimization and refinement, particularly in physics, are needed to enhance the overall experience.

    • “I understand this is an indie game, but this performance is really terrible.”
    • “It might be an interesting game, but it is very poorly optimized.”
    • “Could use a little optimization and a little polish on the physics.”

  • replayability

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    0% positive mentions, 100% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The game offers some replay value, but the puzzles can be confusing, which may affect the overall enjoyment of repeated playthroughs.

  • emotional

    1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
    100% positive mentions, 0% neutral mentions, 0% negative mentions

    The emotional aspect is highlighted by a heartwarming personal connection, exemplified by positive feedback from the developer's own brother, adding a genuine and touching dimension to the game's reception.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Panelak is a action adventure game with horror, mystery and thriller themes. Common tags for Panelak include first-person, indie, linear, surreal, psychological and others.

Panelak is available on PC and Windows.

Panelak was released on December 13, 2024.

Panelak was developed by Pajos games.

Panelak has received positive reviews from players. Most players liked Panelak for its atmosphere but disliked it for its story.

Panelak is a single player game.

Similar games include The Beast Inside, The Cabin Factory, Fear the Spotlight, The Inheritance of Crimson Manor, The Land of Pain and others.