Presences: Dark Awakening
- July 7, 2023
- Cozy Marshmallow
Get on Steam"Presences: Dark Awakening" is a first-person perspective narrative adventure that transports you to a haunted house with interactive environments, ancient puzzles, and terrifying encounters. The game features bright, strobing, and flashing lights, along with spooky imagery and loud sounds, creating an intense and frightening atmosphere. Your goal is to survive the night and uncover the forgotten ritual hidden within the dark reality of the house.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- Impressive craftsmanship and atmosphere for a debut game from a solo developer, with excellent sound staging that enhances the experience.
- Visually stunning with breathtaking graphics and a well-structured immersive exploration that keeps players engaged.
- Offers a unique approach to horror, focusing on atmosphere and tension rather than cheap jump scares, making it a refreshing experience.
- Gameplay can feel tedious due to slow movement and forced stationary moments, leading to a lack of engagement at times.
- The story suffers from pacing issues, with a significant exposition dump that disrupts momentum and a lack of compelling narrative depth.
- Lacks save functionality, which can be frustrating for players who need to restart from the beginning after dying or losing progress.
- story13 mentions
- 46 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The game's story is a mixed bag, with some players finding it engaging and atmospheric, particularly appreciating the lore and tension it builds, while others felt it lacked depth and excitement. It features a spooky ghost narrative centered around an archaeological dig site, but relies heavily on notes and reading for story progression, which may not appeal to everyone. Overall, it offers a short, visually appealing experience, but expectations should be tempered regarding its depth and scare factor.
“It's not a bad way to spend about 90 minutes of your life with a spooky little ghost story.”
“Definitely recommend if you enjoy a short game with good atmospheric storytelling and visually appealing gameplay.”
“The game wove an interesting story where you are trying to piece everything together from strategic notes and clues left around.”
“Just don't expect really hard puzzles, major scares, or a crazy in-depth story.”
“It just felt somewhat lacking in both story and scares.”
“I would recommend this game to players with the expectation that you will be having to read a lot of notes to get the story or lore of the game.”
- atmosphere13 mentions
- 54 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 23 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive and chilling qualities, effectively creating a sense of dread and tension throughout the experience. Players appreciate the visually appealing graphics and sound design, which enhance the spooky ambiance, although some suggest that the pacing could be improved. Overall, the game is recommended for those who enjoy atmospheric storytelling in horror settings, distinguishing itself from typical jump-scare indie titles.
“Great looking game and really good chilling atmosphere.”
“Really applaud the atmosphere and sense of dread that follows you through the duration of the game.”
“It sets up a spooky and ethereal atmosphere and has the horror standard notes to find, so you can piece together what's going on.”
“This feels overall fine; however, it would've been nice if maybe the notes were also voice acted to build the atmosphere more.”
- graphics7 mentions
- 86 % positive mentions
- -29 % neutral mentions
- 43 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their breathtaking visuals and impressive art style, contributing significantly to the overall atmosphere. Many reviewers rated the graphics highly, often giving scores around 9/10, highlighting their role in enhancing the immersive experience, despite some criticism regarding sound design. Overall, the visuals are considered a standout feature, elevating the game's appeal.
“Core gameplay has you exploring, solving simple puzzles and experiencing what the game does best, it's breathtaking visuals (it looks so good) and its jaw-dropping scares that are incredibly cleverly done and draw you into the world.”
“The overall art style of the game was breathtaking and the game just looks incredible.”
“Graphics: 9/10 personally the graphics are impressive in this game and the overall atmosphere feels great.”
“The graphics look outdated and lack the detail expected from modern games.”
“Character models are poorly designed and animations feel stiff and unnatural.”
“The environments are bland and repetitive, making the game visually unappealing.”
- gameplay5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by exploration and simple puzzle-solving, set against a backdrop of stunning visuals and effective scares that enhance the atmospheric storytelling. However, some users note that it leans heavily towards a walking simulation with limited interactivity, resulting in mixed overall ratings.
“Definitely recommend if you enjoy a short game with good atmospheric storytelling and visually appealing gameplay.”
“Core gameplay has you exploring, solving simple puzzles, and experiencing what the game does best: its breathtaking visuals (it looks so good) and its jaw-dropping scares that are incredibly cleverly done and draw you into the world.”
“Gameplay: 5-6/10 overall, this game is a walking simulation with interactivity with objects.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game can become tedious, particularly when waiting for events to progress.
“It got a bit tedious waiting for the next event a few times.”
“The grinding feels endless and often becomes a chore rather than fun.”
“I found myself repeating the same tasks over and over, which really drained my enthusiasm for the game.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The final build of the game shows notable improvements in optimization compared to the demo, particularly in performance.
“I've played the demo of this game, and I can say that there are improvements in the final build, especially in terms of performance.”
“The optimization in this game is impressive; it runs smoothly even on lower-end hardware.”
“I appreciate how the developers focused on optimization, making the gameplay experience seamless and enjoyable.”
