TheNightfall

About

Victoria moves with her family to a new city to start her new job. But the first night in her new house is completely different than expected.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

42%

Audience ScoreBased on 31 reviews

atmosphere4 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game has a good atmosphere and sound design that helps build tension.
Some players found moments that genuinely scared them, indicating effective horror elements.
Visually appealing with decent graphics, especially on PC.

The voice acting is poor, detracting from immersion and fear.
Gameplay often feels tedious, with players spending too much time searching for notes and triggering events.
Many found the game not scary at all, with jumpscares failing to deliver.

gameplay
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
50%
25%
The gameplay is characterized as goofy and poorly paced, with a primary mechanic of wandering around a house that many find tedious and confusing. Players feel that the game lacks substantial content, with some estimating it should only last about half an hour despite a listed playtime of 6-9 hours, leading to frustration over its value. Overall, the experience is deemed unworthy of its price, with recommendations to avoid it unless significantly discounted.
- “So whether you like those kinds of games will determine how much you like the gameplay.”
- “It's extremely goofy, it's not particularly scary, it's horribly paced, and the general gameplay concept of 'wander around the house until something happens' is just... it hurts my brain.”
- “In a forum post, the developer lists the game time as between 6-9 hours; from the notes I've written down in terms of what you actually have to do for the gameplay, unless I've just scratched the surface of this 'content', the game feels like it needs to be about half an hour long; but I spent more than 3 hours in this and it is nowhere near worth the price, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to see it through and then do a content% speedrun to see what the actual gameplay time is as I'm pretty sure most of the game length is confusion/boredom.”
- “It's extremely goofy, it's not particularly scary, it's horribly paced and the general gameplay concept of 'wander around the house until something happens' is just... it hurts my brain.”
- “In a forum post, the developer lists the game time as between 6-9 hours; from the notes I've written down in terms of what you actually have to do for the gameplay, unless I've just scratched the surface of this 'content', the game feels like it needs to be about half an hour long. I spent more than 3 hours in this and it is nowhere near worth the price, but I'll be damned if I'm not going to see it through and then do a content% speedrun to see what the actual gameplay time is as I'm pretty sure most of the game length is confusion and boredom.”
- “Right now though I've collected an 'Atari' cart with 'thenightfall' as the title, and while it loads a start screen, it just makes the screen get a bad VHS filter overlay and not actual gameplay like the other carts. This could be a really obtuse puzzle that I haven't found yet, but basically, good lord stay away from this for this price; this honestly isn't even sale bait unless it's like less than $5 and you don't respect your time.”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
10%
60%
30%
The story in the game is generally considered a secondary focus, with some players finding it insufficiently engaging and poorly structured. While there are elements to keep players interested, the narrative suffers from a lack of clarity and logic, leading to frustration when crucial notes are easily missed. Overall, the storyline is viewed as weak, detracting from the overall experience.
- “The story wasn't the focus, but there was enough there to keep you going.”
- “The only big negative for this game is that in the last half, the notes you need to pick up to progress the story can be really easy to miss, potentially causing you to wander around the house looking for them, even if you walked right past them earlier.”
- “Visually the game is okay, but the storyline is poor.”
- “Cannot recommend as not enough effort or logic was given to the story.”
atmosphere
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
40%
30%
30%
The game's atmosphere is highly praised for its effective sound design and immersive environment, contributing to a consistently eerie experience. Players appreciate the gradual build-up of tension, although some note a lack of major scares. Overall, the combination of a beautifully designed setting and unsettling elements creates a compelling atmosphere for fans of horror and puzzle-solving.
- “But the house itself is gorgeous, the sound design is pretty decent and the atmosphere is, at times, thick.”
- “There hasn't really been a major scare that I have seen yet, but the atmosphere does get scarier throughout the game's progression.”
- “But the house itself is gorgeous, the sound design is pretty decent, and the atmosphere is, at times, thick.”
- “The sound and sound effects were very well done and really helped build the atmosphere.”
music
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
25%
38%
38%
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players expressing strong dislike for the soundtrack, suggesting it would be better without lyrics. However, others find the music fitting and appreciate the nostalgic inclusion of retro gaming elements, which adds to the overall experience.
- “This is done in a nice way, the graphics are good, the soundtrack is quite fitting; you can pick up 'Atari 2600' carts and play them on an in-game console along with a number of 'C64' discs which seem to be just interesting visualizations programmed to accurately load in the time it used to take a C64 to load... this is really an odd couple of inclusions & it's the best part of the game.”
- “And as for the soundtrack - I absolutely hated it, I'm sorry.”
- “It would be better if there were only some kind of music without words.”
- “She drinks all the soda, burns the pizza, listens to symphonic rock, drop-kicks the guitar in the music room, plays with the kids' toys and video games, and just generally runs around the house wreaking havoc until about four hours to dawn when the lights go out and she actually has to do something in the game.”
graphics
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The graphics of the game receive mixed reviews, with some praising their quality and the creative inclusion of retro gaming elements, while others criticize the presence of graphical glitches and a perceived lack of effort from the developers. Overall, the visuals are considered good, contributing to a promising horror atmosphere, but technical issues detract from the experience.
- “This is done in a nice way, the graphics are good, the soundtrack is quite fitting; you can pick up 'Atari 2600' carts and play them on an in-game console along with a number of 'C64' discs which seem to be just interesting visualizations programmed to accurately load in the time it used to take a C64 to load... this is really an odd couple of inclusions & it's the best part of the game.”
- “I am iffy on the price but it has good graphics and a promising horror setting.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game has been criticized for frequent graphical glitches and delays in event triggers, leading to a perception of a lack of effort from the developers. Overall, players find it challenging to enjoy the game due to these persistent issues.
- “It was very difficult to find anything really good in between the graphical glitches, killing time to trigger events, and just a general feeling of a lack of any sort of effort from the developers.”