SKYHILL: Black Mist
- June 11, 2020
- Mandragora
- 23h median play time
Get on Steam"Skyhill: Black Mist" is a survival horror game set in a procedurally generated open world. Players must navigate through a mist-filled city, scavenging for resources and crafting items to survive against mutated creatures. The game features permadeath and a focus on stealth and strategy, with an emphasis on upgrading the player's skills and equipment.
Nintendo Switch
PC
Playstation 4
Windows
Xbox One
PlayStation
Xbox
Reviews
- The game has a great atmosphere, intriguing story, and solid sound design, making it engaging for players who enjoy stealth horror.
- The crafting system allows for flexibility in playstyle, enabling players to adapt to different situations effectively.
- Despite its bugs, the game shows potential with interesting gameplay mechanics and a narrative that keeps players invested.
- The game suffers from numerous bugs and glitches that can hinder progress and lead to frustrating experiences, including game-breaking issues.
- Enemy respawning mechanics and limited resources create an unfair gameplay experience, making it difficult to progress without running out of ammo.
- The design choices, such as timers and unintuitive controls, detract from the overall enjoyment and exploration, leaving players feeling constrained.
- gameplay18 mentions
- 28 % positive mentions
- 56 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with players enjoying the core mechanics and atmosphere but expressing frustration over technical issues, such as crashes and softlocks. While the stealth and crafting elements are appreciated, some find the design choices and puzzle difficulty to be problematic, leading to a less engaging experience overall. Despite its potential, many feel that the gameplay mechanics are inconsistent and detract from the overall enjoyment of the game.
“I've been enjoying my time with the game so far, but the English translation is a bit wonky, and I find that sometimes the puzzles can be a bit obtuse. Other than that, I've been enjoying the gameplay loop.”
“Nice atmosphere and okay story, enjoyable music, hardcore rogue-like gameplay.”
“Interesting gameplay with crafting and stealth.”
“It crashed after 1 hour of gameplay and started me at the first obelisk.”
“Unfortunately, as an autosaver with slow gameplay, high difficulty, and limited resources, I can't recommend it if it's also sometimes just going to brick itself for no reason.”
“5/10: The story and visuals are good, but sadly the gameplay mechanics are a mess.”
- story17 mentions
- 47 % positive mentions
- 35 % neutral mentions
- 18 % negative mentions
The story has received mixed reviews, with some players finding it intriguing and atmospheric, while others criticize it for being disjointed and difficult to follow. Many appreciate the depth and gradual revelation of the plot through notes, but some feel that gameplay mechanics detract from the overall experience. Overall, the narrative is seen as appealing by some, but frustratingly unclear by others.
“Excellent atmosphere, superb sound design, and an intriguing story.”
“Very atmospheric game, nice soundtrack and catchy detective story.”
“Story-wise, although I've only scratched the surface so far, it seems to be quite deep and mysterious, and there are a lot of notes and other files scattered around.”
“And the story itself doesn't really make a whole lot of sense.”
“But the timers in particular, and certain items being gated pretty heavily, plus the disjointed story (intentional or otherwise) just lost me eventually.”
“Your next quest destination is never articulated strongly enough (or is it bugged?). Anyway, in Act 5, I didn't understand what I needed to do at all and just ran around an endless maze of locations with the same respawnable monsters.”
- atmosphere15 mentions
- 80 % positive mentions
- 7 % neutral mentions
- 13 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive qualities, combining excellent sound design, engaging music, and a compelling art style that enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the blend of tension and intrigue, with many noting its ability to evoke feelings of creepiness and mystery reminiscent of titles like Alien Isolation. Overall, the atmosphere is described as deep and atmospheric, contributing significantly to the game's narrative and gameplay.
“The atmosphere makes a very good combination with the art style and the sound design.”
“The atmosphere is creepy and tense at times, the files you find are confusing and interesting, and the world slowly opens up for you as you progress.”
“Graphically, the game captures a brooding, occasionally claustrophobic atmosphere quite well.”
“The atmosphere is creepy and tense at times; the files you find are confusing and interesting, and the world slowly opens up for you as you progress.”
“The strong atmosphere of mystical horror and vibes of original Skyhill detected!”
- music6 mentions
- 67 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is widely praised for enhancing the atmosphere and complementing the graphics, with many reviewers highlighting its enjoyable and catchy qualities. The soundtrack is described as great and atmospheric, effectively immersing players in the game's world and supporting the narrative. Overall, the music significantly contributes to the overall experience, making it a standout feature.
“Music helps you 'sink into' the atmosphere.”
“Great soundtrack as well!”
“The music goes a long way to complement the graphics, and the English voice acting is competent.”
- graphics5 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are noted for effectively creating a brooding and claustrophobic atmosphere, enhanced by a strong art style and sound design. However, some users expressed disappointment with the lack of graphics options and criticized the gameplay mechanics, suggesting that while the visual concept is promising, it ultimately falls short.
“The atmosphere makes a very good combination with the art style and the sound design.”
“The music goes a long way to complement the graphics, and the English voice acting is competent.”
“5/10: The story and visuals are good, but sadly the gameplay mechanics are a mess.”
“Also, why are there no graphics options?”
“Graphically, the game captures a brooding, occasionally claustrophobic atmosphere quite well.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, users report that while the game experiences occasional glitches and character freezes, it is not overly buggy. The pre-launch patch initially had issues, but subsequent updates have improved stability, leading to a smoother gameplay experience.
“Character freezes in one place; it isn't full of bugs.”
“Although the patch before the 'day 1' patch didn't seem to work at first, this morning I tried playing, and apart from a few glitches, it went far more smoothly.”
- humor1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the humor in the game largely stems from the overpowered nature of stealth mechanics, which leads to amusing situations and outcomes.
“Stealth is so powerful that it becomes hilarious.”
“The game's humor is cleverly woven into the gameplay, making every moment entertaining.”
“I found myself laughing out loud at the witty dialogue and absurd situations.”
- optimization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Users report significant optimization issues, noting that even high-end hardware like the RTX 3080 is being pushed to 98% GPU usage in high settings, despite rendering small spaces with minimal objects on screen. This suggests inefficient resource management and performance concerns.
“Improper performance and resource usage; my RTX 3080 is consuming 98% GPU while running on high settings in a small space with few objects on screen.”
“The optimization is terrible; I experience significant frame drops even in less demanding areas of the game.”
“The game struggles to maintain a stable frame rate, making it frustrating to play despite having high-end hardware.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious, particularly when it involves rechecking the entire map, which can feel repetitive and time-consuming.
“Rechecking the whole map was tedious.”
“The grinding feels endless and repetitive.”
“I spent hours doing the same tasks over and over again.”
