Dark Hospital

by AK. Sun profile

Horror
2021

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Good text adventure game in a modern style. , October 2, 2021

It is a text-based and interactive fiction game, in a modern book-style, quite long, with background music, and as the author says, based on the universe of Silent Hill (SH), although at this point it will be necessary to clarify. But let's go by points:

- The story is quite good, without being a super story, but it can keep you captivated until the end, until you find the truth.
- The weak point is the level of horror that offers and that will not meet the SH fans expectations. (Spoiler - click to show)The Konami franchise takes place between two worlds, the "real" and the "alternative", while here it only takes place in one, making the horror part plummet. No monsters, no dead-nurses, .. .
- Still, the game is worth it. It maintains the "dark and overwhelming atmosphere" of someone lost inside a building that we saw in the first sagas of SH.
- The gameplay it offers is very well achieved, thanks to the Tell4Play. You don't have to write your actions like in Quest style, but it goes by buttons. I did not know this platform and I have investigated. It is more modern and for me much better than traditional platforms, but fans of Zork-style classics may not like it. For me a very good choice. Especially for reading the stories on mobile or tablet, lying in bed before going to sleep (which is what I did).
- The length, from my point of view, is just right. I don't like 10-minute-playing games. Here I took a little over 3 hours, in two reading sessions. Fine for me.
- The puzzles are well done. Although the game offers clues, I don't think it's necessary. You can get stuck at some point, but with patience you can get it out.
- Special note to the ambient music, which is excellent, worthy of SH.
- I found references to Akira Yamaoka, Haruki Murakami, Donnie Darko, The Leftovers, and... Pet Shop Boys (really?).

Summarizing:
Overall, the game is worthwhile and recommended if you expect what it gives.

Pros:
The story
The puzzles
The Tell4Play platform

Cons:
It's not exactly horror, it's more "dark atmosphere".

Have to admit that if it's the author's first story, it's a great job!

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- E.K., September 30, 2021

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
Lacking in actual scare, especially without atmospheric effects, September 27, 2021

A lot of the unease in this game came from the sound, and turning them off made it obvious that the actual story is not very scary at all. There's a lot of strange supernatural going on that doesn't make a lot of sense, even when you reach the ending where it's explained, which makes me think it was meant to add to the horror but fell short. I'm also not a fan of the character motivations for any of the characters we are presumably meant to feel for which takes from the tension.
The puzzles were pretty good, although I did get stuck for a second, and having just one vague hint available was more frustrating than having nothing. It turned out I just needed to (Spoiler - click to show)inspect the hole in the ceiling before I could move the stretcher but I wandered the whole map twice before figuring that out as a similar puzzle earlier on didn't require that.

That said, it's a good first effort. The mechanics/platform chosen worked well, and even with what it lacks I felt drawn to reach the end and understand the story.

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