The Apartment
- January 26, 2018
- Shattered Mirror
Get on Steam"The Apartment" is a psychological thriller action-adventure game, where you play as detective James Sachs, investigating a series of murders with strange and unexplained injuries. The main gameplay involves detective work, exploring crime scenes, finding evidence, puzzles and uncovering the dark story behind the murders. The game also features a intense FPS finale.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game offers an interesting mix of investigative elements and psychological thriller aspects, particularly in the early stages.
- The graphics are decent, and the atmosphere effectively immerses players in the role of a detective.
- The puzzle-solving mechanics are unique and gratifying, providing a satisfying challenge for players.
- The game is plagued by numerous bugs, including game-breaking issues and poor collision detection, which can lead to frustrating experiences.
- The story starts strong but devolves into a convoluted and unsatisfying conclusion, with many unanswered questions and a shift to chaotic FPS gameplay.
- Controls and mechanics are clunky, making navigation and interaction with the environment cumbersome and often frustrating.
- story22 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 14 % negative mentions
The story begins with an engaging investigative premise but quickly devolves into a chaotic and far-fetched narrative, reminiscent of action titles like Max Payne. While the initial tension and plot development are compelling, the latter part of the game suffers from irregular pacing and an overemphasis on action, detracting from the psychological thriller elements. Despite its shortcomings, the game maintains enough intrigue to keep players invested throughout its short duration.
“The story was good at the start.”
“It is a short game, around 5 hours, but there is a lot to the story and you will not get bored.”
“A story where you want to know what happens next, and can't stop playing even after you do.”
“The story starts off engrossing then devolves into a far-fetched one-man army against an army of mercs, pleasantly reminiscent of Max Payne or Dead to Rights.”
“It's almost like the devs took everything they had been building towards - all the tension, all of the plot development, all of the increasingly complex investigations - and said 'forget it!'”
“Not really what everyone might expect; it's a mix between investigator and psycho-related themes, with a halfway acceptable story that has too many irregular sidesteps and confusing elements that shouldn't be there.”
- gameplay12 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 58 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
Gameplay reviews highlight a mix of clunky mechanics and immersive detective elements, with some players appreciating the low price point despite the game's shortcomings. Critiques include a lack of user interface, auto-save features, and coherent dialogue, which detracted from the overall experience. While some aspects of clue-solving felt out of place, the game is generally considered enjoyable for its length and concept.
“Check out my gameplay if you want to see what it’s about.”
“I made a part 1 video; you can check out the gameplay.”
“- the jump mechanic, all the objects' interaction with the player and the environment, the complete lack of a UI, an auto-save feature or an inventory, the bad dialogues and the grammatically incorrect voice overs/texts, the ending... all of these were godawful and they played a big part in completely breaking my immersion.”
“This game is about 3 hours long. I like the detective gameplay; there isn’t anything bad I would say about this game. The only thing is there were bits in the game that didn’t seem necessary, and some of the clue solving didn’t feel like it suited the game, if I’m making sense here. But overall, not a bad game.”
“Yes, the mechanics are a little clunky, but for 3 dollars, this game is nothing shy of a masterpiece.”
- optimization6 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 67 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has been criticized for being subpar, with frequent bugs and inconsistent performance. Players noted that while some effects felt underwhelming, others, like explosions, were excessively amplified, suggesting a lack of balance in the game's optimization. Overall, many feel that the game's technical issues detract significantly from the experience, making it less worthwhile compared to better-optimized titles.
“Sometimes I could barely feel the impact on the people, but then when an explosion happened, it felt as if the settings had suddenly been optimized to '1000 times stronger than what the game allows' at maximum.”
“It could have been a lot better, less buggy, and more optimized.”
“Sometimes I could barely feel the impact on the people, but then when an explosion happened it felt as if the settings had suddenly been optimized to 'x1000 times stronger than what the game allows' as maximum.”
“More good games are coming out than I'm physically able to play, so wasting time on such poorly written/optimized games such as the apartment is simply pointless.”
- stability4 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game suffers from significant stability issues, with users reporting numerous bugs that lead to frustration and a lack of optimization. Overall, players feel that the experience could have been greatly improved with better stability.
“This game is very buggy and frustrating.”
“It could have been a lot better, less buggy, and more optimized.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is characterized by its absurdity, with players finding amusement in the unexpected and poorly executed plot twists, leading to genuine laughter despite the overall lack of competence in gameplay.
“Forget all the things! What ensues is a barely competent shooter, and the 'plot twist' (being generous) that leads to this made me literally laugh out loud.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its immersive mystery elements, tension, and scares, effectively creating a compelling ambiance that makes players feel like real detectives in a crime scene.
“The mystery element, tension, scares, atmosphere, ambiance, and many more positive aspects were present, creating the feeling of actually being a detective in a real crime scene.”
- graphics2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are consistently praised for their quality, with multiple users highlighting them as a strong point. Overall, the visual presentation is considered impressive and well-executed.
