Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Dec 18, 2015

  (THIS IS A REVIEW IN PROGRESS) - Updated 12/21/2015 WIck is yet another first person horror game that drops some doomed individual out in the middle of nowhere and expects them to survive the night while collecting various objects. In Wick's case, you play some poor fool as your "friends" leave you in the middle of the woods to survive until 6:00AM while uncovering various clues to the story behind the children haunting the woods with nothing but the flickering light of a candle to guide and protect you. Personally, I am not a fan of what I have played so far. There are way too many jumpscares for starters. Every other step seems to lead into a child flashing on the screen for a second or two and gets old fast, as do all the monsters in the game. Never found myself scared because of how frequently they deliver everything. There is no moment to just take everything in and get sucked into the atmosphere. Instead, I just find myself getting annoyed by the frequency of the monster attacks. Gameplay is also very basic for Wick. You find clues to uncover more of the story, try to stay alive by finding candles to light with your limited matches, and avoid the various monsters lurking in the shadows. Each night adds new monsters with various ways to murder your face. To protect yourself you need to constantly move and find new candles to light. You can transfer light from candle to candle to save your matches and you can find candles themselves by looking for their shine in the distance. Nothing really to write home about with the gameplay. They could make the shine from the candles happen more frequently and for longer. Find it way too easy to lose track of them with all the children spawning in every direction. Gets especially hard on later hours. It's also very easy to die by either getting sucked into an animation from 40 yards away or by getting teleported directly into an instadeath when you are trying to find a candle. I'll just assume I'm just being terrible at the game, but I thought it worth mentioning all the same. Still, it really does feel like the difficulty spikes to an insane degree very fast. I've managed to get to 4AM at the time of writing and it just keeps at it with the odd difficulty spikes. You'll probably get the hang of it eventually. However, it doesn't make it anymore fun. This is a game that tries to be a hybrid of FNAF and Slender and I don't know how well it does that. Overall, I can't honestly say anyone should buy it. You might find some cheap terror if you spend brief moments playing, but nothing worth writing home about. By the time you get a good grasp of the gameplay, everything becomes tedious and loses any and all traces of it being scary. Not currently my cup of tea. [UPDATE 12/21/2015] I have currently spent around 8 hours with the game in total at this point and wanted to post an update for those curious. The game's difficulty is still very unrelenting. Some people might enjoy it. I have no idea. Personally, I find it ramps up way too much and way too quick. Whatever horror elements or atmpshere you could take from the game are ruined by having to mechanically learn the patterns of each individual child in order to avoid dying. Hear something snoring? Better either run or drop your candle. See the kids spawn at your feet? Better look at the ground and not move. Screen get a red blur? Better make sure the little girl in the bunny suit doesn't kill you. I found myself more worried about patterns than learning about the story and letting the atmosphere sink in. I have yet to either bother trying to find collectibles for 4AM onward, because the game is just so chaotic. Perhaps the game isn't for me. I'm a big horror fan, but this game just doesn't set right with me. Current Rating 6/10 Average. Some gameplay if you care https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LwysbmQ-_p4 [UPDATE] Also found a hilariously frequent glitch that happens on the bus. If the child spawns on the outside and you view it from the door, it can't kill you and the game's clock won't progess the night. Fun. Pro - Music is decently done. - Visually appealing - Might Be scary to some players. Con - Not very fun - Way too easy to get insta-killed - Way too easy to get turned around - Children/Monsters are not scary, nor do they look scary - Way too many jump scares - Cheap enemies: Spwaning at feet while walking and instantly dying or teleporting you mid candle pick-up
• gamedeal user

  Dec 18, 2015

  My apologies for writing a review of this game with so few hours up, but given that any monkey can tell that this is a QUALITY horror game, and not just some fly-by-night scam-job, it'll have ten trillion reviews from people with between 0.2 and 0.4 hours up in no time. My personal policy is that if a game has been around forever, and thusly no one or their dog is going to read my review anyway, I may as well wait until I've fully completed and/or officially given up on the game before posting my review. But when the game is brand-spanking-new, well...look how many reviews there are for this game already, and it hasn't even been on sale for twenty-four hours yet. Hopefully a few of you out there will be able to at least acknowledge that my review is liable to be one of the more, er, let us be kind and say "mature" ones that is liable to crop up. Hell, I think I've ALREADY beaten the average word count for a review on Steam, haven't I? And hopefully spelled all words correctly, in something at least resembling English. So with no further ado, let's attempt a review on the basis of what little I've played thus far. Firstly, for all of you "casual" horror gamers, who are looking for the next Five Nights at Freddy's and/or a horror game without too much story, but with at least a hint of "mythology" just waiting to be uncovered, THIS IS HEARTILY RECOMMENDED TO YOU. It's "spoopy" (whatever that means), atmospheric, and has it's fair share of jump scares. Y'know, the whole "creepypasta" thing (again, whatever that is). It's also a time-based game in which you have to "survive until 6am", during each hour of which your basic aim is to keep heading towards wherever you think an unlit candle may be waiting, so that you can transfer the flame from your current candle before the wax melts down and all hell breaks loose. So it's essentially a keep-moving-or-else, race-against-time suspense game, and a very well-done one at that. Secondly, and oh boy oh boy, is it UNFORGIVING. I mean HARD. I mean, STUPIDLY FUCKING HARD. As in, with the thirty-five-odd minutes I already have up my sleeve, I'm yet to even get to 1am. But that's alright...I know all you Freddy fanatics will be fine with this, as that seems to be one of the criteria you people are looking for. Me, I'm one of those older-school people who can take or leave the whole "hardcore" gaming thing, and am quite happy for a game to merely be a CHALLENGE. Put it this way: I've played "Outlast" on the second-hardest difficulty, but I really don't feel compelled to ever conquer the "insane" mode; nor did I bother seeing the "Justine" mini-game in Amnesia all the way through; nor am I ever liable to escape from the boat in Monstrum one single, solitary fucking time! BUT...if you're the kind of person who likes that kind of uber-challenge, and doesn't mind playing for ten or twenty minutes straight just to be insta-killed and go all the way back to the beginning of a game, or at least substantially-sized level therein...then, yes, HEARTILY RECOMMENDED. It's certainly good, and definitely seems to achieve what it set out to achieve. Me, I'm kinda doubting that I'll be seeing it through to its conclusion, but for many of you this may well be your "game of the year" or something. It's certainly better than the recently-released Emily Wants to Play, and probably on a par with the also-recent Boogeyman (and let's not even mention crap like 1 2 3 Slaughter Me Street). Despite the meagre time I've put into this thus far, I'm kind of suspecting I've already seen most of the tricks it's liable to have up its sleeve - as is the case with ALL such games, in my experience - but chances are you've worked out already whether this is the game for you or not. If you're prepared to die, over and over and over again, and redo the same, basically very similar levels over and over and over again, you'll be fine. It doesn't even pull punches for the first level or two like the Freddy's games do...it's just hard from the get-go, and you'll probably get your first achievement (for dying) in no time! But it IS highly competent, of its type, and is bound to be a hit with the audience it's clearly intended for. Now bring on the barrage of reviews which consist of one sentence, barely one word in coherent English, and an 87% "helpful" rating. But hey, that's okay...I live in a nice, multi-storey flat with lots of very solid brick walls, so I'll still have something to do once my own review's approval rating drops below 50% for having, y'know, WORDS 'n' stuff in it. Verdict: 8.5/10. UPDATE: Okay, so it's some time since I wrote this rather rambling review, and seeing since I've recently managed to complete the main game, I thought a brief update was in order. I've yet to play the No Way Out DLC they've just added, but in all honesty, even the main game itself is quality and quantity enough to justify a slightly higher score than I awarded the first time. Make no mistake, this is definitely a good'un, which I ultimately found compelling and addictive enough to keep drawing me back until I finally finished the fucker. Revised Verdict: 9/10.
• gamedeal user

  Dec 27, 2015

  Update : And...finished! Phew. On top of being a scary game, it was hard too! The core strategy is to learn the way the kids behave. I know that sounds obvious, but this game is much more than just a simple jump-scare walk em up. Despite the fact the gameplay mechanics are simple, they are simple in the good way. You have limited mechanics, but you need to master those mechanics to survive the children's increasingly complex attacks. Tips [WARNING! : SPOILERISH] 1. The kid you can't look at (Tom, I think) can be avoided by looking at the sky or the ground. That's what I did the first time, because I knew I wasn't supposed to look at him. It worked! This technique works for the crazy attack when he clones and surrounds you too. This works great...except when you are being tag teamed by one of the other kids, and you need to keep moving. If that's the case, you need to be brave! and just keep moving that mouse to look away from him until he decides to check on his time share and stops spooking you. 2. I think keeping a candle lit makes the night go by faster. I'm not sure. I was using a timer (it helped me keep sane when I was waiting for the night to just end!) and I found that the night seemed to go faster if I was regularly keeping a candle lit. I'm not sure though, so don't worry on that tip too much. 3. Pay attention to those sound cues. They let you know the approximate direction where a kid is coming from and what kind of attack you can expect. 4. When you get the map (you find it in the evidence you get from the...2nd night I believe), take a picture of it with your cell camera. You then have a map of the forest you can refer to. Really helpful when you're trying to find all the artifacts. That's how I found them all! 5. Artifacts are found at landmarks. That's much appreciated. If they were just scattered around the map, that would have been trying. But, just check out the major landmarks (or around them) and you will find all the artifacts. 6. The ending I'm talking about below is...well...just use tip #5. To the Developers : The hint system is helpful. I would just add some more hints along the lines of what I included in my tips above. This is a good game, but, imo, the kind of short game that you want to push through in 2 or 3 days, while the scares are still fresh, and you're still invested in the story. Especially when a player keeps dying on the same night. It's good to be challenged, but challenge can turn to frustration and then just moving on unsatisfied. I would give a really juicy hint to a player if they have died around 5...maybe 7 times on the same night. Conclusion : I won't spoil the ending, but let's just say that I really like the way the game ended. I think the ending is in keeping with the trend that is occurring in the best examples of our entertainment media. For certain we encounter many things during this life that are horrible and terrifying, but there is always a deeper truth to uncover if we just look hard enough, and that truth always reveals there is more to the terrible parts of life than just the terror. There is the truth of being a person. This was a surprising little game! Genuinely scary, but not grotesque or repellent in the type of scares it elicits. The game seems simple, but there is a deceptive amount of depth to it. The game had only 1 tiny bug that I found (a candle fell through the bus so I couldn't get to it). The frame rate held solid the whole game despite the fact I only have a 512 mb graphics card. The graphics are good, especially the lighting. The sound work is very good, essential to a scary game, and I became as alert as a squirrel listening for an owl. And, most important to me personally, the story is eerie and interesting. I still am not totally sure what happened, but I think I'll put the final pieces together in my head over the next little while. If you think you'll like a spooky, well-made little game with a good story, grab a match and light Wick! ==== Original Review This is a fun, creepy game. I voted for the game on Steam Greenlight, and am not disappointed! First, you should be aware that the game is not easy. I thought it was going to be a lot like Slender, but it has deeper gameplay than that. You need to learn the behavioral patterns of the children to be able to successfully avoid them (tip : pay attention to the clues nailed to trees with the eerie drawings on them). I thought the game would be boring with only one environment to explore, but the game makes good use of the small amount of real estate by throwing in regular surprises (new children to avoid, plenty of spooky easter eggs, new sound cues to be aware of, etc.) I think the game is priced well for the content. As I said, in my original comment on the Steam Greenlight, I am happy that there is a story to unlock. It helps to keep me invested in the game and will help push me forward to the end. I'll update when I finish the game. [And : I think the actor for Lee Everett from Walking Dead did one of the voiceovers for the pieces of evidence. At least, it sounds a lot like him!]
• gamedeal user

  Dec 30, 2015

  Picture this: a haunted, gated patch of forest where the bodies of some children were mysteriously never found after their house burned down (think I have that right...maybe not)...pretty good setup for a ghost story, huh? Now, there's a game called Wich that daring teenagers play involving one of the teens getting blindfolded and led into this same patch of forest, with nothing more than a handful of matches and some randomly placed candles to light his/her way. The idea being to survive the night alone!! Cryptic drawings and relics from the past (3 for each hour of the night, midnight through 5:00 AM) vaguely hint at the strange goings-on of what really happened to the missing children and of the semblance of the ghosts that you'll encounter in your quest for survival. Great, mist-enshrouded graphics with exceptional use of lighting and sound make Wick a truly unique and harrowing experience. It may be short but that only makes it that much more accessible for a future run or two anytime you feel like trekking through some woods without having to worry about that 'Slender' guy catching you : }
• gamedeal user

  Jan 10, 2016

  This is 100% pure jumpscare hell
• gamedeal user

  Jan 19, 2016

  This game blew me away. I was several months late discovering this. I saw quite a few YouTubers playing it, and finished a whole gameplay in one day. I was estatic, especially at the end. I was legit freaking out, and excited. I wanted to know more, and I defintely wanted the game for myself. PROS- -Amazing story. It's still confusing, with not all the pieces put together, but it's unique. I love games that leave you with so many questions at the end. I'm excited to contribute my theories and ideas to this community, and I hope this community thrives. -Graphics! My my, one of my favorite things about this game. I studied how the trees moved, the fog moved, the hand motions the player made. They're all amazing! The fog can be a bit buggy, and the trees can look funny, but there is NOTHING that makes it unenjoyable. Everything looks real, and clean, and fantastic. There are a few things out there, such as vines that aren't 3D, but they still have shadow to them, which makes it almost unnoticable. My favorite part, however, is how your hand moves in front of the candle to shield it from wind, how the candle flame flickers and moves, and how smooth the animations are. Everything is fantastic, like I said before. Good job. I hope you people keep making games! -Game in general! Now, I love a good scare. This game really did deliver; I knew the popups were coming but they got me every time! Talk about embarrassing. Wandering around in the forest at night has always been a fear of mine, and the fog topped it off. The forest idea wasn't very original, there are lots of horror games taking place in the forest. But that's no big deal, I personally love forest-based games. The candle idea was very interesting, too. I love how you move around and pick up candles, and they run out as time goes on. I know some people think of Wick as a Slender and FNAF mix, with the pages, and the "survive each hour/night" mechanic. But really, this game is so unique and beautiful that I don't mind at all. It's not exactly like any other game, and that's perfect. Really, though... The scare factor isn't everything. To me, what makes a good game is story, especially a horror game. This game has a great story, hard to piece together, but still fun nonetheless. So really, GREAT job! CONS -Do I dare put something as silly as this here? THE FENCE. What are you talking about, what fence? The one you are dropped off at in the beginning. Looking at it, you could climb over it if you were desperate enough. But look! Barbed wire, and there's also the possiblity of electrical, shocking wire. I know a lot of people are picky with their games, and something like a short fence would really set someone off. Not me! That fence barely bothers me, and I put this in the CONS just to alert anyone about such a factor. But something as simple as a climbable fence will NOT take away the thrill of the game. -Few bugs. I've encountered several, from Tim doing some funky little dance-run in front of me, to Lillian teleporting me on the wrong hours. I'm not sure if the teleportation thing is a glitch, or if it's meant to happen, going back on the first hour, but it doesn't bother me. What happened was only me getting up to the 3rd hour, and then going back to find Tim's blade in the first. I was teleported and heard Lillian's giggles, but it wasn't that much of a problem. And actually, Tim doing that little dance was just plain funny! I'd pay to see that again. Alright, I could waste your time and think of more PROS and CONS to put, but I won't. You can decide if this game is for you. It was for me; I watched an entire gameplay and still bought it to play it for myself! Definetly recommended, although this game may not be for some. Graphics are great, story is great, models are great, and little kids are freaky! I hope my review was helpful, though it may not be perfect. 9.1/10
• gamedeal user

  Feb 3, 2016

  Pros- ~ Makes me squeal ~ Has story behind it, may not be much. But it is there. ~ Gorgeous ~ Freat ambient noise Cons- ~ Mixture of slender and FNOF ~ Consists mainly of jumpscares 7/10 has decent replay value for when you want to get a quick scare and can't be bothered with some of the films that claim to be "Horror" But I do think this game is worth the 12.99 USD
• gamedeal user

  May 14, 2016

  Okay, so I'm new to ' Wick' and so far this game, man! Deserves an 9/10!! I've discovered somethings I've never seen on this game such as when i got on the bus there were noises like someone beating the bus with a stick or something and it nearly freaked me out because i didn't know who or what it was. But, it's a very awesome horror indie game and can't wait until i complete it! xD Oh and * Cough, cough* Expect some fan art from me.
• gamedeal user

  May 22, 2016

  Wick is exactly what Slender should've been. An intersting game with collectibles all while avoiding an urban legend/creepypasta. The story and background lore is fantastic, and the characters are pretty diverse and well made. Each one looks crazy as hell and has it's own unique way to avoid it. The game helps you find other candles and continue the night all while not being too obtrusive and clunky on the screen. As it's own solo urban legend it actually sounds like a really intersting attraction that could be pulled off as well. I will admit there are a few times that had me kind of raging cuz of some cheap deaths, but some of them were also my fault. The game is very fair and you can generally get around the enemies easily if you know what you're doing. That doesn't mean you're safe though. If you're looking for a fantastic horror game to play with good lore, and fun mechanics I highly recommend Wick. The easter eggs, and jokes in the DLC alone make it worth it. If you decide to play I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
• gamedeal user

  Jun 2, 2016

  I don’t think that anyone would play Slender if it came out today. The craze of indie micro-budget chasing simulators has grown stale, the market too saturated for even quality titles to stand out. Despite my distaste for Slender‘s lack of gameplay and YouTube-bait scares, I can appreciate it for being a fun little title made by fans with more enthusiasm than game design experience. It spawned a genre, but Slender‘s style lacks legs. You can debate about the respective spookiness of whichever specter or boogyman is chasing you through this week’s forest/abandoned park/haunted house. As far as gameplay goes, it’s not terribly hard to replicate “walk around and hunt for items while being spooked.” Improving on this formula is simple, as any interaction and/or variety is new. Wick is Hellbent game’s most recent attempt to evolve the genre. Normally, I wouldn’t have interest in such a title. There are countless new Slender permutation every year, and I can’t go through them all for sake of my time and sanity. They tend to be games I play when I have absolutely nothing else to do, and fall to the farthest back burner on my to-do list. Still, I’m nothing if not a hopeful, cheery gamer, and every once in awhile one of these titles catches my eye. For reason’s I can’t quite pinpoint, the Steam page for Wick proved such an occasion. Maybe it was the slightly more cartoonish art style? Hell, it’s likely that I was just overcome with holiday cheer/dead time boredom. Whatever the reasons may be, I decided to go into Wick without the usual cynicism I have for Slender-likes. Yes, the Slender clone is a tired genre, but I can’t exactly hold that over every similar title’s head forever, can I? At some point, shooters had to stop being considered all Doom clones. Wick goes for a minimalist approach to direction. Dropping into the game, you play a nameless blindfolded teen being led to the area where you will play a game called “Wick”. It’s a permutation of the teenage game where friends go into the woods, leave a friend behind with only a single light source, and retrieve them in the morning. Presumably, spooks of some kind or another occur in the interim. I refer to this as a “plot device” game, since no person I know has ever felt the need to willingly get lost in the woods and fuck with ghosts. Maybe people were more desperate for entertainment before the invention of the computer. Of course, just standing there and waiting for the morning would make for a boring game. Your only light source at the start is a set of matches, but candles spread throughout the forest serve as more lasting illumination. Light can be transferred from candle to candle, and distant candles can be seen as sparkling dots on the horizon. It isn’t terribly hard to keep yourself perpetually lit, so it serves more as a trail to keep you on track to interesting landmarks than a real restriction. Personally, I kind of like this. Resource management definitely has a place in horror, but the more narrative style of Wick lends itself well to this less stressful approach. Running out of light is suitably dangerous and spooky, spawning all sorts of terrible noises and making you a target for the various fiends. That’s not to say that you are perfectly safe in the light. Certain triggers will cause more persistent enemies to spawn, which must be fled from to survive. As the night goes on, different enemies will pursue you, each with their visual style and method of assault. The variety it offers is refreshing, and while we don’t see anything truly revolutionary, it’s enough to require you to mix up your play style and learn through trial and error. The meat of the game comes from discovering a large assortment of collectibles. Notes, documents, and items all serve to flesh out the game world through little snippets of story. The notes are generally drawings, and serve as hints/instructions while also building some spooky tension. Items are all suitably unsettling, and come with a little snippet of audio narration to further up the creepiness factor. The documents stand out as the most unique part of the package, and add a dual layer to the narrative. A series of police interviews with the group of friends that left you in the woods allude to the fact that something went wrong during tonight’s game of Wick. It reveals that there’s something special about your experience, and this isn’t just something that all the other kids have done and inexplicably got through just fine. It colors the events of the game in a more questionable light, and what you see might not be what actually is happening. Alas, that’s all there is to talk about with Wick. It’s a scavenger hunt Slender clone with more variety and legs. Sure, it innovates, but all that can be said about the title is still doable in just a couple paragraphs. It’s an inherent weakness to the genre, and one that prevents me from really getting fully into it. Some visual bugs and awkward spawns will take you out of the experience. The jump scares are also a bit too frequent, with almost every turn or new location prompting some kind of screaming child or demonic arm to dart out. It’s too rapid-fire, which makes the roughness of the seams more glaring. Still, none of the bugs ruined the experience for me. What is there is good, delivering scares in a unique environment. I had fun figuring out how to survive, and really enjoyed piecing the story together. It’s the perfect example of an average game that I find enjoyable. This isn’t a big budget title pulled down into mediocrity by a clipped production cycle or inexplicable design choices. This is a small game that does a single thing pretty well. People that like this kind of thing will like Wick. If you absolutely adore Slender, you’ll find Wick to be a familiar experience with some innovations. It’s an indie game total worth checking out, I do recommend.