The Black Masses
- October 3, 2024
- Brilliant Game Studios
- 10h median play time
Get on Steam"The Black Masses" is a first-person shooter game that takes place in a grim, demon-infested world. As a member of a secret organization, players must fight their way through hordes of nightmarish enemies using an array of weapons and abilities. The game features intense, fast-paced combat, as well as a dark, atmospheric setting that will keep players on the edge of their seats.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game has a great concept of a medieval zombie RPG with large hordes of enemies.
- The parkour mechanics allow for creative exploration and movement throughout the world.
- The sheer volume of enemies on screen at once creates thrilling and intense gameplay moments.
- The game is plagued by performance issues, including frequent crashes and significant lag even on high-end PCs.
- Many quests and gameplay mechanics are broken or poorly implemented, leading to frustrating experiences.
- The graphics and animations feel outdated and unpolished, detracting from the overall immersion.
- story235 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 77 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it bland and underdeveloped, often reduced to simple fetch quests and repetitive dialogue. While some appreciate the potential for deeper lore through exploration and reading in-game notes, others criticize the fragmented narrative and lack of engaging character interactions. Overall, the story feels incomplete and is marred by bugs, leading to a sense of frustration among players who seek a more immersive experience.
“The story has a good base, just started, and still has more to come, with expanding areas, dungeons, cities, and a large world to explore.”
“Great atmosphere, great combination of story, loot, and action.”
“The storytelling leaves a lot to be desired.”
“The story exists but is fragmented beyond reason.”
“The narrative of the game is simple, pushes you forward as fast as possible, and forgets about every plot point and character once you are done with their quests.”
“The story is fairly boring and forgettable.”
- optimization128 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 35 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players experiencing severe performance issues, including frequent stuttering, freezing, and high CPU usage, even on high-end systems. While some users note that the game has potential and can run decently under certain conditions, the overall consensus is that significant optimization improvements are necessary for a smoother experience. Until these issues are addressed, many reviewers cannot recommend the game, despite its enjoyable gameplay and concept.
“If the devs fix the optimization, I'll 100% come back, because this game and concept is such a fun time!”
“The main bragging points of this game is definitely the massive scale at which the game can throw enemies at you without major performance issues.”
“With this being such a new game and having a small dev team, it does have some optimization issues as well as some bugs, but from what I see the devs are pretty active and work towards fixing issues as they arise.”
“It really sucks that this game isn't optimized because if it didn't freeze to load assets every five steps, I can imagine myself putting a lot of hours into this.”
“Unfortunately, the optimization got so bad that I can't even run the game on potato mode and get a smooth experience.”
“The game is terribly unoptimized, even on a 3080/i7 9700k.”
- gameplay118 mentions
- 21 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay is characterized by a solid foundation with enjoyable combat mechanics and parkour elements, allowing for engaging exploration and horde encounters. However, it suffers from numerous bugs, unpolished mechanics, and a lack of content, leading to a repetitive experience. While the game shows potential for improvement, it currently feels incomplete and requires significant optimization and additional features to reach its full potential.
“The gameplay is incredibly solid and the hordes don't make my PC cry, and I'd recommend it to anyone who likes zombies.”
“The climbing mechanics are a very neat touch and expand the potential for exploration; it isn't glitchy nor does it make the game too easy.”
“The core gameplay is there and solid, the parkour is very good, graphics are good, and the game world is excellent.”
“This gameplay has become dumb and lacking in content.”
“The gameplay loop is sincerely boring as sin.”
“There are so many basic gameplay things broken that this mess isn't even properly alpha, much less 'early access.' These devs had no business releasing this pile of bugs and taking money for it!”
- graphics100 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 64 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some players appreciating the decent visuals and consistent art style, while others criticize the poor optimization and performance issues, leading to lag and graphical glitches. Many users note that despite the game's aesthetic appeal, it struggles to run smoothly even on lower settings, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, while the graphics have potential, they are hindered by technical shortcomings that need addressing.
“The graphics are gorgeous and I love the combat animations.”
“Graphics are beautiful and run smoothly at maxed settings.”
“The core gameplay is there and solid, the parkour is very good, graphics are good and the game world is excellent.”
“Unoptimized mess, graphics are terrible yet it runs like garbage.”
“My GPU is a Nvidia 1080 which can run Arma 3 at ultra graphics at 60 fps, yet somehow it still gets 100% used at potato graphics. I don't know what they're doing; the game stutters, glitches, and gets little to no updates. I cannot recommend this game in its current state.”
“I'd like to see how the game looks when it is finished, but as far as it is now, on ultra settings it looks like you're playing a game from 2005 graphic-wise.”
- stability70 mentions
- 4 % positive mentions
- -1 % neutral mentions
- 97 % negative mentions
The game's stability is widely criticized, with numerous reports of bugs, glitches, and performance issues, including frequent freezes and poor optimization even on high-end hardware. While some players acknowledge the potential of the game, they emphasize that it feels unfinished and often unplayable due to its numerous technical problems. Overall, the consensus is that the game is currently too buggy to recommend, especially for those seeking a polished experience.
“No glitches or bugs found so far.”
“The game runs smoothly without any interruptions.”
“I appreciate the stability; it makes for a seamless gaming experience.”
“Massively buggy, largely unfinished, could be a lot better.”
“The game is very much incomplete, and very buggy.”
“The game is badly optimized and very, very buggy.”
- music46 mentions
- 41 % positive mentions
- 52 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many praising its beauty and ability to enhance the atmosphere, particularly during intense moments. However, some players find the soundtrack limited and repetitive, suggesting it doesn't always fit the game's theme and can be immersion-breaking. Additionally, technical issues like overlapping tracks and sound cutouts detract from the overall experience.
“The music in this game is genuinely beautiful and even enchanting, making you want to look around and take in the environment.”
“The soundtrack is phenomenal and triggers to match your environment and mob interaction.”
“Music plays at nearly all times and it always makes the game feel more like a journey.”
“Everything from the animations, music, sound, visuals, etc. are dated.”
“I previously left a negative review because I was unable to use the volume settings to turn down or disable the awful and repetitive music that plays on an endless loop.”
“The whole time I was playing, the battle music was overlapping with other music, so I would be hearing two music tracks at once even if I wasn't in battle.”
- grinding12 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players have mixed feelings about the grinding aspect of the game; while some find it enjoyable and rewarding, particularly when discovering new weapons, others describe it as tedious and repetitive, especially when it comes to combat and looting. The necessity to constantly manage resources and the lack of efficient looting mechanics contribute to a frustrating experience for many, leading to a desire for improvements or alternatives to reduce the grind. Overall, grinding can be both a source of fun and a significant drawback, depending on individual player preferences.
“Another thing is the combat; it can either be incredibly satisfying or very tedious, especially when enemies are at high levels and it's just mashing the left mouse for ages.”
“Looting feels like a tedious grind with potatoes and tomatoes here and there to heal, odd potions, and tiny items like bullets, so it's a bit harder to just quickly loot; it's all single item pickup (at least that I know of).”
“I poured 12 straight hours into this game just mindlessly grinding away.”
- atmosphere10 mentions
- 60 % positive mentions
- 30 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and handcrafted feel, effectively combining elements of mystery, tension, and darkness. Players appreciate the solid direction and the way the environment enhances the overall experience, although some suggest that a more somber tone could heighten the tension further. Overall, the atmosphere is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's appeal.
“I love the atmosphere and feel of this game.”
“Great atmosphere, great combination of story, loot, and action.”
“-the atmosphere is amazing, the game looks and feels handcrafted.”
“Rather, I feel a somber and low tone would've given a more tense atmosphere.”
- monetization7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The monetization aspect of the game is heavily criticized, with multiple users labeling it a "cash grab" and expressing skepticism about the developers' intentions. Many feel that the game lacks genuine content and relies on low-quality assets, undermining the overall experience.
“These developers are just here for a cash grab.”
“This game was created as a cash grab.”
“This is nothing but a shameless cash grab with store-bought assets, and I don't believe any of the other reviews are from real accounts.”
- humor7 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is a mix of absurdity and self-awareness, with players enjoying the comedic elements such as feeding zombies into a windmill and the intentionally poor voice acting. Subtle humor is woven throughout the game, particularly in short notes that offer both comedic relief and useful hints, enhancing the overall experience without disrupting immersion.
“There's more than enough game here to be worth $20 right now; any game that lets me feed zombies into a windmill like squirrels into a woodchipper, whilst laughing insanely...”
“The voice acting is hilariously bad.”
“Lore and humor can be found throughout the game as short notes.”
- character development1 mentions
- 300 % positive mentions
- -500 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Character development is present but players express a desire for it to be significantly expanded, along with a wish for options in character creation and editing.
“Character development is present, but I hope to see it expanded immensely. Additionally, I would love to have some level of character creation or editing.”
“The depth of character development really enhances the storytelling, making each character feel unique and relatable.”
“I appreciate how the game allows characters to evolve based on player choices, creating a more immersive experience.”
“Character development is present, but I hope to see it expanded immensely. Additionally, I would like some level of character creation or editing.”
“The character development feels shallow and lacks depth, making it hard to connect with the characters.”
“I was disappointed with the character arcs; they felt predictable and didn't evolve in a meaningful way.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players find the emotional impact of encountering the first horde to be significant, particularly at night when the limited light from the lantern heightens the tension and fear. However, this emotional intensity diminishes during the day, as the horde appears less daunting in the daylight.
“When encountering the very first horde, it was impressive in size and had a significant emotional impact, especially at night due to the limited light provided by your lantern. During the day, it was just a big mass of zombies.”
- replayability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Reviewers indicate that the game's current replayability is limited, primarily due to its short content duration of around five hours. Many express hope for improvements and additional content in the future, which could enhance the game's replay value.
“It's a cool concept, but I'll change my review when the game is in a more playable state and has more than 5 hours of content.”
