Reviews

• gamedeal user

  Oct 5, 2022

  I'm massively impressed. In a sea of derivative and generic haunted house horror games this really stands out. It cherry-picks mechanics from old classic survival horror games Clock Tower, Fatal Frame, Silent Hill and Eternal Darkness and blends them all together in a truly striking manner. It's alive, unique , very atmospheric, delightfully creepy, truly beautiful to look at and wonderfully written. A tale of a dream that's a place, of witches and vengeful undead that plays out almost like a puzzle box as all truly great locations in survival horror games do. Not since the original Resident evil game have I encountered such an expertly and intricately crafted venue for such shenanagins. The 2.5D graphics are really well done , with some truly impressive flourishes and the soundtrack is superb: It starts with some fantastically morbid baroque music and then quickly slides into the darkly psychedelic. The game mechanics are clear, simple but create a world of possibility, strategy and possible solutions for any given problem. When you add the semi rogue-like , almost bloodborne-esque death mechanics and the procedurally generated maps that create an ever shifting play area, not to mention the excellent bestiary it makes for a truly unique experience. The puzzle mechanics are just right, the story is very interesting and for several other reasons "Withering Rooms" reminds me of my time in Yharnam. The controls are fluid, responsive and both the hiding and combat are very smooth and well done. All in all an absolutely stunning piece of work and nothing that I've seen so far would even suggest that this game is actually in early access. There's a talented team here, whose future games I will follow with great interest as I don't think that it's overkill to say that this is pretty much, for my tastes, the best horror game you can buy on steam right now. The price is criminally low too. If you like intelligent horror games, then you are almost assured to enjoy this. I normally don't review a game until I've spent more time with it, but I am just so knocked out by this that my enthusiasm forced me to break my rule. Destined for greatness.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 7, 2022

  Always wanted a game like this. Like a PS2 Survival Horror but in a roguelike setting. It's very polished with a great aesthetc. Hit boxes need some work but so far it's looking good, can't wait to see how this game develops because so far it's very solid.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 7, 2022

  Was initially turned off by the Early Access tag, but gave it a chance after seeing a few videos. I've Played for a few hours and it's actually a really well made game. Only just started chapter 2, but Chapter 1 had no issues. It's got some good game mechanics, and it's not too punishing. Lots of shortcuts open up making death not very frustrating. Good start.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 10, 2022

  A very unique horror game. You are a young girl learning how to battle spirits and cast spells and more ! A lot of discovery and unique items to find and use. I am enjoying it immensely. Get it !
• gamedeal user

  Oct 10, 2022

  2.5D Metroidvania's, Silent Hill's and Resident Evil's lovechild. Initially it looks kinda generic but unlocks later on really give a variety for customisation: outfits, amulets, rings, standard stats, weapons, shields, spells, all the good stuff. Story's there, spooky's there. While not the game of the year contender, the price really really justifies the purchase. Edit: some puzzles can go f themselves.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 11, 2022

  Played it after seeing Punchy trying it out. Great game. Only issue i have is i had to gamma correct my monitor via nvidia just so i could even remotely see anything. Recommend adding an in game gamma option instead of just a brightness option which almost did nothing to help. Other than that, feels good and plays good. I'm increasingly getting interested in the story. Cleared the house out so far, about to try clearing out the maze.
• gamedeal user

  Oct 13, 2022

  Good game for good boys
• gamedeal user

  Oct 14, 2022

  Penus!
• gamedeal user

  Oct 15, 2022

  Overall 8/10 for early access! Compliments: This game is so much fun! Reminds me of a souls like game but reinvented and its absolutely fun to learn! The horror aspect of it was quite good so far and the unique story made it interesting and not a bore to read a long the way. being able to use items and check that stats has been really nice as well as not being too bombarded with a ton of items that are confusing to use or can be easily forgotten. But this also comes from someone who is used to these kind of mechanics in a game. Criticisms: The multiple fonts there are make it hard to read as characters are talking to you. If there is an option to change that i haven't found it. You are fortunately able to change the hard to read fonts when picking up documents. Wish there was a little more voice acting for some of the characters you meet repeatedly. Some of the key bindings can be a little wonky for how fast you need to be for combat, hopefully this will be fixed in an update!
• gamedeal user

  Oct 21, 2022

  TL;DR: Doesn't feel like Early Access. It's probably the closest we'll ever get to a new Bloodborne/Clock Tower that doesn't suck. As far as I'm concerned, Withering Rooms >>>>> any new Silent Hill/Resident Evil/Sony remake. Found this game while searching for interesting stuff on Steam, during the indie fest a few months back. Wasn't sure if I'd like it, because there are so many similar-looking games that are uninspired clones of something else. But the customer reviews made it sound unique and well-designed, so I gave it a try. It's actually REALLY GOOD. Imagine Clock Tower 1 with heavy Bloodborne influence, and hints of Resident Evil 1, Silent Hill and Fatal Frame. Combat is sorta like the original 2d Prince of Persia. I only mention those games to give a clearer idea of what Withering Rooms is similar to. It stands on its own as a fresh, unique and well-designed experience. HIGHLY CUSTOMIZABLE PLAYSTYLE Lots of weapons, consumables, magic, equipment, abilities and a stat levelling system that you can allocate points to increase survival, resistance and even speed of all character motion. There's a lot to experiment with. Weapons have different stats and different attack animations. There are stealth options, so you can play that way, if you want. There are also shields. Combat may feel a little clunky, but it's not frustratingly bad or anything like that. On the contrary, it's somewhat satisfying to master. It's not an action game, so you shouldn't expect to easily melee multiple enemies at once, or skilfully acrobat around giant monsters flailing at you. Survival is priority. QUALITY ART Art direction seems really good. I haven't had a single problem with the art. Movement and animation seem perfectly fine. Feels weighty and satisfying. Most modern games can't even get that right nowadays. I often get irritated/depressed at how most recent games/films/etc manage to fail at so many basic aspects of art and game design. But this game seems really well-made. I say this as a 2d/3d artist/animator myself. I'm very fussy about quality. WELL-WRITTEN CHARACTERS, INTERESTING LORE AND SETTING Lots of interesting, quirky characters. They all seem to have their own interests and ambitions. The character dialogue doesn't feel annoying at all. No self-righteous lecturing, looking down on the player, or anything like that. Conversations aren't fully voiced (yet?), but there are voices here and there. The world is really fleshed out in detail, without forcing you to sit through lengthy NPC conversations. If you don't care, you can simply not ask the NPCs for details, or not read the documents you pick up. You know, like how Souls games usually do it. I want to say it's very "immersive", but I feel like that's an overused term now. WELL-THOUGHT OUT GAME DESIGN Everything seems well-designed and thought-out. You can recycle everything into something useful, and even if you run out of enemies to kill for drops, there are other systems in place to remedy that. If you die, you lose the items on you that aren't currently "saved". As you progress, you unlock ways to overcome this. The location of non-essential rooms and their contents also get shuffled/randomized. I can imagine some people may get bored from re-exploring and clearing out the rooms if they die too often, but I think there are difficulty settings. I'm playing on default. You can probably get by without needing to grind or farm, but I haven't experimented with that yet. GREAT SOUND DESIGN AND MUSIC Sound effects are crisp, clear and atmospheric. Music is really good. Most recent game soundtracks have been too ambient and very boring as a result, but this game's music tracks are great. Some of them have been stuck playing in my head for weeks. SURPRISINGLY LONG PLAY LENGTH It seems way longer than I expected. I haven't finished it yet. After a few hours, I thought I was getting close to the end (as you'd expect from a relatively cheap, small indie title), but it opened up instead. Makes me feel like the first few hours was just a tutorial. CURRENT CRITICISMS Still early for me to have clear criticisms. Here are the few things that I think may need work. Nothing major for the time being. I had other concerns, but they seem to have already all been fixed in the last few patches. - Going in and out of menus constantly to change rings/weapons/items is kinda clunky. - Sometimes it's not always clear what to do/where to go next, and the quest log is empty. For example, enter the maze. It becomes a matter of going where you haven't yet. - In early game, requiring players go to specific rooms to craft stuff is a little annoying, but this seems to change later in the game. - I think it may be a good idea to separate currently equipped items, to be more obvious, and for sorting purposes. Especially when switching out rings. - Some character dialogue fonts are slightly difficult to read, eg. too narrow. - I've seen other people already suggest this, but more playable characters would be great. - Dev already knows, but there are maybe 1-2 puzzles that are a little difficult to figure out without looking them up outside the game. I'm sure they'll fix this before official release. - Around the start of chapter 2, there are a few lengthy explanations in a row. They weren't annoying, but it stood out a little after how much the rest of the story was optional. CONCLUSION Highly recommended. One of the best games I've played this year, for sure. Don't be discouraged by the "Early Access". It already feels polished and I heard it's fully completable. Maybe wait if you really want it to be fully voiced? This and Alisa are probably the only recent survival horror games I liked. I imagine it may not be everyone's cup of tea, but you could say that about anything. I would personally love to see more games like this, maybe also in 3d instead of 2d. Will revise this review after I play more.