The Hat Man: Shadow Ward

58%
Game Brain Score Based on 909 reviews
  • story
  • graphics
  • gameplay
The Hat Man: Shadow Ward Game Cover
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"The Hat Man: Shadow Ward Awarded 'Scariest Game of 2014' is a survival horror game based on real-life accounts. Investigate the disappearance of your daughter in the Canton State Insane Asylum, now overrun by supernatural beings controlled by a mysterious Hat Man. With only a flashlight and the items you find, evade the Shadow Ward's dangers and uncover the truth in this procedurally generated, unpredictable experience."

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

58%
Audience ScoreBased on 909 reviews
story24 positive mentions
graphics24 negative mentions
  • The game has a creepy atmosphere that can give players chills.
  • The procedurally generated map adds a level of unpredictability to the gameplay.
  • For its low price, it offers a decent amount of content and some jump scares.
  • The graphics and voice acting are subpar, often detracting from the overall experience.
  • Gameplay can become repetitive and tedious, with a lack of clear objectives.
  • The Hat Man is not a threatening enemy, making the game less scary than intended.
  • story103 mentions

    The story of "Hat Man: Shadow Ward" is generally criticized for being simplistic and poorly executed, often described as a cliché horror narrative involving a daughter in an asylum and a supernatural entity. While some players appreciate the atmospheric elements and the attempt to weave a narrative through journal entries, many find the plot lacking depth and originality, often comparing it unfavorably to other horror games like Slender. Overall, the consensus is that the story fails to engage players meaningfully, leaving it feeling disjointed and unfulfilling.

    • “The story and characters could have been more developed as well as the lore behind the hat man and shadow people.”
    • “There is obviously something very supernatural about the asylum and combining this with reading the pages bit by bit to piece together the story of your daughter's disappearance, you start to feel like maybe you have the same fate as her.”
    • “All the notes you pick up are handwritten notes by your daughter which give you a really cool backstory!”
    • “The story is simplistic – daughter is in an asylum, she sees the hat man in her dreams, no one believes her except a fellow patient who conveniently has a book on the entire thing.”
    • “The gameplay consists of collecting notebook pages that tell the poorly written, generic story, and running from a flying Halloween decoration.”
    • “The game has no story; you have no idea what you are supposed to do or what is going on.”
  • graphics97 mentions

    The graphics of the game have received mixed reviews, with many users describing them as outdated, mediocre, or reminiscent of early 2000s titles. While some players appreciate the visuals for their decent quality given the game's budget, others criticize them as subpar and lacking detail, contributing to an overall low-budget feel. Overall, the graphics do not seem to impress, with many reviewers calling for improvements or a graphical overhaul.

    • “The optimization for the visuals is amazing too; it almost maxes out my high-end graphics card at 1080p.”
    • “Very good graphics.”
    • “The graphics and lighting are good and set a spooky mood.”
    • “The graphics are terrible, too.”
    • “Not only are the graphics absolute trash, but the whole game seems to revolve around collecting the remaining two pages in the rooms and finding items.”
    • “The graphics are bad which I could overlook if the gameplay was any good.”
  • gameplay88 mentions

    The gameplay of "The Hat Man: Shadow Ward" has received largely negative feedback, with many players finding it boring, repetitive, and unoriginal, often comparing it unfavorably to other indie horror games like Slender. Common criticisms include poor controls, buggy mechanics, and a lack of engaging content, leading to a sense of frustration and disinterest. While some players appreciated the atmosphere and occasional scares, the overall consensus is that the gameplay is simplistic and fails to deliver a compelling experience.

    • “I got bored one day and decided to give this a go and I was actually surprised at how good it was. For a horror game, it wasn't overtly scary (in my opinion) and had just the right length of gameplay to make it worth playing through to the end. I actually gave it a second go and got all achievements for it, obviously after reading a few walkthrough guides.”
    • “The basic gameplay of finding a bunch of objects to unlock new areas for further exploration is quite easily comprehensible, yet it may be a fair disorienting challenge to obtain all 20+ pages since the randomly altering level design relocates the pages on each playthrough; though once you pinpoint the location of a page, whispery voices are in effect and narrowing it down becomes child's play.”
    • “Taking inspiration from Amnesia: The Dark Descent's ambiance, puzzle/collection-based objectives from a variety of games, and cues from pseudo-folklore-derived games like Slenderman, The Hat Man has a lot of familiar and tried-and-true aesthetics while presenting new gameplay elements that are quickly becoming extremely popular for video games, especially in the horror genre--namely, that it's very replayable.”
    • “The gameplay is boring and unoriginal; the graphics are terrible, the voice acting is laughably bad, and there's no atmosphere or sense of dread.”
    • “So the game is simple, short, not that scary, and is also held back by outdated graphics, bad controls, poor save mechanics, and a potential save bug that can make you lose your progress.”
    • “Bad controls, bad graphics, bad save game... after your first 5 minutes of gameplay, you are completely bored and asking yourself why you should have bought this game.”
  • atmosphere76 mentions

    The game's atmosphere receives mixed reviews, with some players praising its tense and spooky elements that effectively create suspense and fear, while others criticize it for lacking depth and immersion due to poor voice acting and unoriginal gameplay. Many agree that the sound design contributes positively to the overall experience, though some feel that the atmosphere is undermined by technical issues and a lack of engaging content. Overall, while the game can deliver moments of creepiness and tension, its effectiveness varies significantly among players.

    • “The atmosphere is tense, and the mystery keeps you on edge.”
    • “The atmosphere is spooky and creepy, but the voice acting is so jarringly bad that it makes the game almost feel like a parody.”
    • “The atmosphere is great; I can feel that the hat man is chasing me, or some paper I need to collect is nearby.”
    • “The atmosphere is non-existent, and there's no real sense of dread or unease.”
    • “There's absolutely zero build up into the creepy atmosphere.”
    • “The atmosphere isn't there.”
  • music27 mentions

    The music in the game is generally described as creepy and effective in creating tension, although it can become repetitive over time. While some players appreciate the atmospheric sound design that enhances the horror experience, others note a lack of ambient music that could further amplify the sense of unease. Overall, the soundtrack is considered competent but not without its flaws, contributing to both suspense and occasional frustration.

    • “Another thing to note is the atmosphere and the music that accompanies it, as it creates a lot of tension and suspense as it goes on.”
    • “Creepy music and moments that made me jump!”
    • “The sound design of this game isn’t half bad for being a budget title, with some of the sound effects and ambient music being pretty creepy in my opinion.”
    • “I sat in a bathroom stall while the 'hatman is nearby' music played for about 10 minutes before I realized this fatal flaw.”
    • “Audio would get extremely repetitive, but the occasional radio playing badly done music was fairly creepy.”
    • “You can't change the volume sound and music.”
  • humor22 mentions

    The humor in the game is largely derived from its poor voice acting and absurd monster designs, which many players find unintentionally funny rather than scary. While the game attempts to deliver horror, the execution often results in laughter, with players highlighting the hilarity of characters like the "hat man" and various bugs. Overall, the comedic elements overshadow the intended fear, making it a quirky experience that some may enjoy for its unintentional humor.

    • “What was supposed to scare me instead made me burst out laughing.”
    • “The voice acting is pretty hilarious(ly bad), but the sound quality is alright.”
    • “Prepare to die screaming…or more likely laughing at the horrendously bad voice acting of ‘the hat man: the 20+ pages’……wait….”
    • “Not scary, not funny, not anything.”
    • “The jokes fell flat and felt forced throughout the game.”
    • “I expected humor, but it was more cringeworthy than entertaining.”
  • stability21 mentions

    The game is widely criticized for its numerous bugs and glitches, leading many players to feel it is not worth its price tag. While some users found moments of enjoyment, the overall consensus highlights significant stability issues, including frustrating gameplay mechanics and performance problems. A few players reported no bugs, but the majority experienced various technical difficulties that detracted from the gaming experience.

    • “The game is buggy, and not worth 10 dollars.”
    • “Frustrating and buggy, the randomly generated map gets old very quickly and the suddenly spawning instakill enemy is hugely annoying.”
    • “There is nothing else to do rather than move through 5 generated areas full of glitches and movement bugs.”
  • replayability6 mentions

    The game's procedural world generation offers some replayability reminiscent of titles like Slenderman, but overall, players find it lacks significant replay value due to its short duration and limited randomization of scares. While it draws on familiar horror aesthetics and gameplay elements, the consensus is that it does not provide enough variety to encourage multiple playthroughs.

    • “Procedural world generation makes for replayability a la Slenderman.”
    • “Taking inspiration from Amnesia: The Dark Descent's ambiance, puzzle/collection-based objectives from a variety of games, and cues from pseudo-folklore-derived games like Slenderman, The Hat Man has a lot of familiar and tried-and-true aesthetics while presenting new gameplay elements that are quickly becoming extremely popular for video games, especially in the horror genre—namely, that it's very replayable.”
    • “Yes, it is not really replayable.”
    • “The game itself is pretty short; I think I finished it in under 30 minutes, but it doesn't really seem to have that much replay value.”
    • “It doesn't exactly randomize scares like 'Daylight', so there's not as much replay value.”
  • grinding5 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and frustrating, often leading to boredom due to repetitive environments and reliance on luck rather than skill. The process of navigating procedurally generated maps to collect items is seen as error-prone and monotonous, with some players even falling asleep during gameplay. Overall, the lack of a reliable save feature exacerbates the grind, making it difficult to stay engaged.

    • “You can skip these rooms and keep shuffling the procedurally generated map by running down the hall until you detect a journal page closer to the entrance, pop in, pop out, and hopefully don't get boxed in by the hat man, but this is incredibly tedious and still prone to error, as you can't really know exactly where the page is until you pop into the room, and in the time you do that, you can quickly find yourself boxed in.”
    • “This game is so tedious; at one point, I started falling asleep while running away from the hat man.”
    • “But the repetitiveness of the environment design and the lack of a reliable save feature eventually make the game too tedious to devote much time to.”
  • optimization4 mentions

    The game suffers from poor optimization, leading to performance issues that prevent players from running it on full settings smoothly, despite its relatively simple design. While some users appreciate the game, they express a strong desire for better optimization to enhance their experience.

    • “Gg truly optimized.”
    • “Poor optimization and performance.”
    • “I like the game, but I want it to be more optimized so I can run it on full settings. I should be able to do that while it runs smoothly since it's not a very complex game.”
    • “Performance: C.”
  • emotional3 mentions

    The emotional aspect of the game elicits strong reactions, with some players experiencing genuine tears due to the weight of the stakes involved, while others find the content so poorly executed that it provokes laughter instead of sadness.

    • “Tears welled up in his eyes when he realized what exactly was at stake.”
  • monetization1 mentions

    The monetization aspect of the game is generally viewed positively, with players feeling that it contributes to the overall quality and experience of the horror game.

Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

5hMedian play time
5hAverage play time
5-5hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 1 analyzed playthroughs

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