I received the same error message.
Update your computer by going to Windows Search (bottom left corner of your desktop on Windows 10) > Updates > Check For Updates System Setting > Click on "Check for Updates". Basically, open your computer's Settings and click "Check for Updates" under Windows Update. This worked for me.
The error I received was "A D3D11-compatible GPU (Feature Level 11.0, Shader Model 5.0) is required to run the engine." In addition to not being able to run this game, I couldn't run several games from Steam that I used to be able to previously.
Try updating your computer by going to Windows Search (bottom left corner of your desktop on Windows 10) > Updates > Check For Updates System Setting > Click on "Check for Updates". I just updated my computer which worked. Hope that helps.
I played the old version of this demo. I hired anime voice actresses to voice all of the dialogue in the game, with myself voicing the monster at the beginning of the demo. If you'd like to check it out, here's a commentary version with those anime voices. A non-commentary version is also on my channel. I cannot wait for each chapter to be released. This is the game that made me love RPGs, a genre of game I used to not care about.
Ronald turned out to be a much better game than I expected. It's essentially a clone of Slenderman: The Eight Pages, with the pages replaced by Happy Meals. Much like Slenderman, there's no rhyme or reason for finding the Happy Meals; the objective is simple enough, find all eight meals before Ronald gets you. Unlike Slenderman, however, Ronald actually chases you the more meals you find. Have you seen Stephen King's IT (2017)? Remember the part where Pennywise rose from the water in the basement and ran towards Bill laughing with an evil look on his face? That's kind of like how Ronald reacts when he chases you around.
The graphics are gritty and dark, just the perfect style for this type of game. Even though the environment in the game doesn't really make sense (parking lot of a mock-up McDonald's, a gas station, and a grocery store), it's creepy enough. It would've made more sense If you were inside a labyrinth-like McDonald's Play Place.
Even though Ronald becomes more unstable the more meals you find, he generally has unexpected behavior. If you run away from him far enough, he'll stop chasing you, other times he won't even stop at all. I loved this game, highly recommend it, especially for a compilation-type video.
I really loved this demo! The gameplay is very silly but quite clever. It's a glorified version of hide-and-seek and the old cat and mouse game. You can play as a single-player or up to four players. The demo (available here and Steam) can only be played as a single-player.
The objective is easy enough: break into the house and steal all the items on your list without getting seen and caught. The list of items can be ridiculous from a coin to a slice of pizza on a plate. The great thing is that the list changes as well as the locations of the items for each game played. Maybe I was off when I played and recorded, but I couldn't seem to steal all the things on the lists I had in my gameplay. I don't know if the demo provides more maps or just a house. Regardless, I had so much fun I ended up buying the full game. So now I'm trying to convince my friends to get it. As of this review (3/20/21), the game is $12 USD on Steam.
I highly recommend you get this game. I haven't looked into the full game too much but I hear there are multiple maps, and using strategy increases your chances of evading the homeowner.
The Thirteenth Floor was a really enjoyable (and sometimes frustrating) game. The real takeaway for me was the gameplay, albeit how simple it was, mainly because it didn't "spoon-feed" you what to do. Yes, it does give you easy clues on where to go next and what to do, (particularly finding scattered notes throughout the floor that contain door codes), but some of the objectives allow players to critically think. The use of critical thinking wasn't even much (maybe I wasn't in the best mental shape when I played because it took me a while to figure out what to do next on some parts), but the point is there are some parts that don't flat-out tell you what to do. You're free to think on your own on some parts of the game about what you're supposed to do next to progress, rather than the game telling you what to do. The tension this element creates alone was satisfying, and coupled with the creepy, dark environment of the hotel floor, the game will have you on edge in some parts.
I was actually expecting it to be more creepy than it turned out to be, but it was satisfying enough to be entertaining. If anything made it spooky aside from the ghost and the dark environment, it was the mere style of the graphics. I think the use of PS-style graphics in indie games has become a staple in the horror genre that the look of these graphics immediately gives players that creepy feeling.
A great added feature are the Easter eggs scattered throughout the game as an homage to their inspiration. To the developer: Was the stinky bucket an easter egg of the vomit bucket from the movie Se7en? The movie was the first thing I thought of when I saw it, and now I'm dying to know if I'm right or wrong.
Anyway, I really loved this game. The graphics, mechanics, gameplay, story (though very cliche), and delivery were all great.
EDIT: Comp-3 reached out to me via Twitter informing me that the stinky bucket was not an homage to Se7en. Still, it's a great connection, though.
Yeah, but that could easily be justified because it was a family of four living in a house. A husband and wife in a house that size is still unreasonable to me. Regardless, the developer informed me that the size of the house is all part of his hallucination, and apparently this was hinted at in the game. So, the size of the house is, from my understanding, much smaller than what it seems to be in the demo. I picked up that he was having hallucinations but not that the inside of the house was part of it.
In light of the information you commented on my YouTube, some of the things I mentioned (especially the size of the house) make sense. Unfortunately, it wasn't easy to pick these things up in the demo, they weren't quite clear. And I'd venture to say not many others (at least the gameplays I've seen so far) picked up on those things, either. I'll download the latest version right now and try it out.
I typically play games without critiquing too much during gameplay. I want to focus on having fun and taking in the game as it unfolds, then give a quick review and critique in the outro of the video. However, I couldn't help myself but critique and review as I played because there were so many things to comment on as far as improvements were concerned. It'd be too much for me to go over them here in the comment section, so I urge the developer to watch my gameplay and take notes.
One thing worth noting here though is the size of the house. For a couple who just moved in and planning on starting a family, a huge house is pretty unbelievable. I know it's an indie game and that delving deep into the story isn't necessary, but for a story seemingly grounded in reality, it's difficult to take the game seriously because of the mere fact of the location of the game: a mansion. Granted, the demo doesn't show us the size of the house, but all the rooms we come across (some we can't even access) give us a good idea of how big the house is. It doesn't make sense for a couple who's planning on starting a family to be moving into a house of that size.
Ravings can be an enjoyable walking simulator for what the developer is able to offer. Personally, the developer didn't offer enough. From what I can tell, the game is about the ravings of a man progressively going mad manifesting themselves as hallucinations. It would've been a better demo if it delved into why he's experiencing hallucinations, why he and his wife moved into such a huge house, and the story behind the house. I feel like there's something insidious about the house that's giving the protagonist hallucinations. If so, why wasn't the wife affected before she abandoned him?
As I mentioned, there's a lot of improvement, but nonetheless worth checking out.
This is such an impressive demo! Despite the ending being anti-climactic, it still does exactly what a demo is supposed to do: give you a sense of the game and leave you wanting for more. The concept of the protagonist's reality changing via an arcade game isn't new. There's another similar game I featured on my channel that I downloaded hereon Itch.io, but Janitor Bleeds is different because the story heavily relies on that concept.
I love how the game completely changed its tone from mysterious to scary after playing the arcade the first time. The effective use of music heightened the suspense and thrill all throughout the game.
I wishlisted this on Steam, and can't wait for the full release! Excellent job, Korpus!
The game starts off with you waking up in a closet, confused about how you ended up there since you had gone to bed earlier. The first couple objectives are simple enough: take some of your medication that's on the dining table and explore all eight rooms of your house; however, these don't even make sense. There's no indication later in the game that suggests you just moved in, therefore the assumption is that you've lived there for quite some time, so what sense does it make for you to explore your own house? Even if you've just moved in, it doesn't make sense to explore the house in the middle of the night after mysteriously waking up in a closet. Also, taking your medication (or, as you call it, your "crazy pills") should've already been done before going to bed. Describing them as "crazy pills" suggests they're for treatment of a psychological issue. These medications are usually taken at bedtime, not in the middle of the night. The first objective of the game should've been to go back to bed.
These are petty critiques, but the game becomes worse because the rest is literally a ritual of waking up in a different part of the house, looking for your bedroom key (because, somehow, your bedroom door gets locked after each sleep-wake cycle), and unlocking your bedroom to go back to sleep. Each sleep-wake cycle/loop is slightly different from the previous one, but it's essentially the same song and dance: wake up, look for your bedroom key, and go back to bed. After about the fifth loop, the game crashed on me, and it was extra frustrating that it didn't save my progress.
The main menu gives you the option to play Scene 2, but I was so frustrated and upset I didn't even bother. So, I didn't finish the game, and quite frankly, it's not worth it because the ending is most likely anti-climactic. I was even contemplating featuring this game on my channel, but nonetheless, it's content. Besides, if I can use this video in hopes of straying other players away from this game, it's worth uploading.
Harsh critiquing is essential for game developers, and I hope I've done that to show the developer what they can improve for future releases. For gamers, needles to say, I recommend you find another game.
Back to Bed is a great example of the adage, "never judge a book by its cover." I thought this game was going to be great (or at least worthwhile) simply from the looks of the graphics from the screenshots, but I was sadly mistaken.
The game starts off with you waking up in a closet, confused about how you ended up there since you had gone to bed earlier. The first couple objectives are simple enough: take some of your medication that's on the dining table and explore all eight rooms of your house; however, these don't even make sense. There's no indication later in the game that suggests you just moved in, therefore the assumption is that you've lived there for quite some time, so what sense does it make for you to explore your own house? Even if you've just moved in, it doesn't make sense to explore the house in the middle of the night after mysteriously waking up in a closet. Also, taking your medication (or, as you call it, your "crazy pills") should've already been done before going to bed. Describing them as "crazy pills" suggests they're for treatment of a psychological issue. These medications are usually taken at bedtime, not in the middle of the night. The first objective of the game should've been to go back to bed.
These are petty critiques, but the game becomes worse because the rest is literally a ritual of waking up in a different part of the house, looking for your bedroom key (because, somehow, your bedroom door gets locked after each sleep-wake cycle), and unlocking your bedroom to go back to sleep. Each sleep-wake cycle/loop is slightly different from the previous one, but it's essentially the same song and dance: wake up, look for your bedroom key, and go back to bed. After about the fifth loop, the game crashed on me, and it was extra frustrating that it didn't save my progress.
The main menu gives you the option to play Scene 2, but I was so frustrated and upset I didn't even bother. So, I didn't finish the game, and quite frankly, it's not worth it because the ending is most likely anti-climactic. I was even contemplating featuring this game on my channel, but nonetheless, it's content. Besides, if I can use this video in hopes of straying other players away from this game, it's worth uploading.
Harsh critiquing is essential for game developers, and I hope I've done that to show the developer what they can improve for future releases. For gamers, needles to say, I recommend you find another game.
I expected nothing less than excellence from Emika Games. Despite having only three official indie releases between Itch.io and Steam, he's already known for great short horror games. It's no surprise that Find Yourself is just as great as his two titles.
While I don't favor walking simulators, Find Yourself is beyond what you'd expect from this subgenre of horror games. It has great, effectively-timed jumpscares, impeccable sound design that creates tension (I was most impressed with this), amazing graphics that add more tension to the edge-of-your-seat tone, and a great plot and story.
This is one I recommend no one passes up, especially since Emika Games is constantly providing free copies here. I was able to secure a free copy, but I've also purchased the game at his sale price point. Unfortunately, there's no demo of Find Yourself, but to experience Emika Games' style of development and tone he creates for horror games, try his From Day to Day demo.
At first, I was going to comment on the lack of story and gameplay, but seeing as how the game was done as a final exam for a gaming class, I can see how story and gameplay weren't important as being able to simply program and develop a game.
That said, there's not much to Outbreak other than graphics and ambiance. You do get a bit of uneasiness (at least, I did) because of the interior of the house, lack of ambient sound, and lack of lighting. These "lack ofs" blend well together to create an anticipated fight-or-flight response because you feel like someone (or something) is around somewhere.
A couple of things I can critique is the absence of in-game instructions and inaccurate Itch.io description. As I mentioned, there isn't much of a story, but the Itch.io description stated the protagonist lost a son, whereas the game suggests it was a daughter. This has nothing to do with critiquing the game, rather the inaccuracy of the description on Itch.io; I was just a bit confused during the video. The developer could've also added a quick look at controls and instructions in the game. I only realized after playing that doors could be opened by simply pushing them instead of pressing a key or the mouse button. Had this been shown in the game instead of described in the description on the Itch.io page, I would've uncovered more of the house and seen the daughter and wife sleeping on their beds. It's ironic how I picked up on the inaccuracy in the description about the son yet I somehow ignored the control instructions.
If you want something short on your channel or to play, or something to fill time for a 3 Scary Games compilation, Outbreak is recommended.
Everything about Dinohazard is nostalgic from the likes of Dino Crisis, Biohazard, Silent Hill, and a smattering of Metal Gear Solid. If you're a fan or even played just a bit of any of those games, you're already familiar with Dinohazard. This is easily one of my favorite indie games I've played in the past year since starting my Quick Play series on YouTube.
The game uses tank controls, so if you're unfamiliar with this control system, this will be a learning experience. Aside from that, the atmosphere created by the sound design and graphics is truly immersive; I felt the exact way I did when I first played Biohazard. Coupled with the difficulty of getting used to tank controls, my experience was great!
I think the fact that I caught on to the strategies fairly quickly was serendipitous. I was pressing the Ctrl key several times to look away from the paperwork in the beginning. When I initially pressed Ctrl, it didn't do anything because the game froze for a moment. So when I pressed it a couple more times, the game "caught up" which then exited the paperwork screen and made the character hide. I was about to leave from underneath but it turned out I just hid in time because the killer showed up shortly. That's when I pretty much figured out what was happening. The instructions were also clear enough (at least for me) to clue me in to use the light sparingly. What I didn't know (and something I mentioned in the video) was the necessity of turning off the light before hiding. I wanted to try leaving the light on after hiding. I was assuming the killer wouldn't have entered despite seeing the light on since I was hiding anyway. But then I thought that maybe he'd come in anyway because he'd know someone was in there since the light was on.
The last case was pretty obvious to me that the protagonist was the target. I hid immediately after sending the paperwork because it's what I had been doing to evade the killer, so I figured that was what you were supposed to do. I heard the boss about going to sleep, but I had no idea falling asleep was an actual ability in the game. Despite catching on that I was the last target, I didn't even realize the irony of the name. What's funny is that when I was typing out my review, I kept thinking about the name because I had a feeling it wasn't a misspelling. Then it dawned on me the sound of the name when spoken - Kyl T'Knight = kill tonight - as you mentioned. I've no idea why I didn't catch on to that during the game. I remember saying it over and over in my head during that part of the gameplay to see if it would sound like a clue, but ultimately assuming that 'Kyle' was just misspelled.
I'm really looking forward to more games! I HIGHLY enjoyed Cheating Death!
I didn't think much of the gameplay in the beginning, but the cat-and-mouse-like concept of staying ahead of the killer to finish a very mundane task became intense as the game progressed. This game takes its inspiration from Welcome to the Game and Scrutinized. If you've seen or played those games, you're already familiar with Cheating Death, except this is much less complex. I applaud the developers for taking that concept from those games and making it simple and still entertaining.
For those who are unfamiliar, you have to fill out paperwork at your desk late at night while a murderer is constantly stalking you outside your bedroom. He checks up on you from time to time by peering through your window. To prevent him from coming in and killing you, you need to keep the window closed and hide under your desk before he peers through. The sounds of his footsteps on the grass outside is the only indication he's coming. The murderer is prone to stalking you more when he hears sound and sees light from your room, both of which happen to be elements you need to help you finish your paperwork. The twist at the end makes way for two endings: a good and a bad.
I can't recommend this game enough. I've been inspired to buy Scrutinized on Steam because of this game, it's that much fun. I can't think of anything to really critique the game, except maybe the addition of a handgun for the protagonist considering he's a detective. Maybe allow him a bullet or two which, when used against the antagonist, only buys him one or two chances of not being killed. Also, a laptop to do the paperwork online through the police department's database in addition to actual paperwork would add variety to the gameplay. The cases he has to fill out manually on paper could be because these cases haven't been uploaded to the PD database and, therefore, can only be finished manually.
I didn't find it unsettling as most have said, but I understand how it can give off that feeling - the deeper meaning behind the environment you're taken, the way you're spoken to by the interviewer, the answers you're forced to give, and the nonsensical tasks you're assigned are all satirical of big, corporate companies that turn you into a yuppy. Nonetheless, considering most gamers have sensed the uneasiness that was intended, proving the mocking was effective, I would've preferred it to be darker and deeper. Still, I enjoyed the game; it's great as a standalone video or for a '3 Short Scary Games' compilation. Great job, Geoff!
The thumbnail I made was inspired by the ending as it reminded me of the robots seen on Terminator 3.
I made my gameplay more interesting by hiring freelance anime voice actresses from Fiverr to voice the characters. Instead of me reading the character dialogues, there are actual character voices voicing them, so it makes the characters more personable and well-rounded. For those interested, I also have a no-commentary version on my channel. This game is already great with its immersive story about a high school girl's naivety of the occult combine with the gameplay, but it's even better being able to hear what they sound like. I didn't used to like RPGs, but on account of this game, I find them very interesting now. I can't wait for chapter one! Thank you for making such an amazing demo!
As I was editing the video, I realized I could've turned the volume down on my headset. Had I done that I wouldn't have been too critical of the volume of the sound effects, though I still would've noticed they were inherently loud because of clipping. I didn't realize I could also turn down the volume in-game. Once I start a game I tend to not go into the options. Regardless, this was a great game. Thank you so much for creating it. I look forward to more of your games!
I really liked this style of graphics, it's so unique because it feels like you're playing straight out of a manga. The only thing I didn't really enjoy was how loud the sound effects were, particularly the closing of doors. It seemed like it was intentionally increased in volume to make up for the lack of background soundtrack. Loud noises in horror games are effective, but they tend to be more annoying if they're unnecessarily loud. They'll still have the same effect without volume clipping. Regardless, this short home invasion game is a good play, and I recommend it, especially for a '3 Scary Games' video.
It's amazing what games indie game developers can create in such a short time but with enough motivation, inspiration, and skill! Contemp is a very interesting game because of graphics alone but becomes immersive due to how effective the use of lights, environment, and sound. Also, there are apparently different endings, albeit varying in minimal ways. From the ending I got and what I've seen from others, you can either end dying or living. I know Micaka ultimately intended to put certain things in the game to make it reminiscent of a "teaser" game, and he did a great job. Though, I really wish he makes it an actual story and game because it's very intriguing. I highly recommend this - the graphics, environment, and atmosphere are incredible!
I loved the insidious overtone of the game. It reminds me of several cases from the show Forensic Files. I think that's what makes this game a bit creepy - the theme is grounded in reality. This was the inspiration I used when making the thumbnail for my video - a wife who puts effort into appearing harmless and innocent but having insidious intentions. In the case of the game, however, the wife was pushed too far by the husband.
I loved how the kitchen environment was changing as you began to realize what exactly was going on. This game is a great example of presentation in story or context rather than graphics alone. The devs did an excellent job!
I really liked how the developer incorporated actual scientific studies of the paranormal effects of low-frequency sound in the game. It makes the playing experience grounded in reality more than if it were just a few jump scares, which this game would've been at its core. Even though the low-frequency sound heard in the game didn't affect me at all, I can see how it would put anyone on edge during gameplay. It can give off that "edge of your seat" feeling, the feeling of knowing some threat will come soon. The hidden notes are a great touch in the game's replayability. The concept of finding hidden objects and messages in games for replayability isn't new, but it's not often used in indie horror games. Usually, indie developers rely on having different endings to entice gamers to replay their game more than once. The survey at the end was also a nice touch.
