Pixel Crypt 最近的评测

A fairly enjoyable mini PSX survival horror. Despite what other reviewers say, I don't think it explicitly rips off Alisa (the curtain and store and music and vibe are similar though). But for the most part, I found it to be enjoyable, but a couple things held it back.

The map sucks. It doesn't show your current location, random rooms and doors do not appear, it doesn't always feel properly representative of the space. It does update when doors are locked or not, and shows puzzle locations and clears when they're completed. But it just kinda felt unreliable and frustrating to use.

Combat is simple, easy, and has some really cool designs. I especially loved the lungs and legs boss (though I still don't understand the purpose of that whole room). Puzzles are ok, nothing too fun but serviceable. Exploration is also ok but hindered by the map.

Overall not one of the best in the ranks of low-budget indie projects, but I do think its worth picking up for any fan of the classic style. I would give it like a 6/10.

Dead Format is a very unique and well-crafted survival horror that simultaneously retains many core components of the genre, while also creatively bending the rules. It is a unique experience with some meta overtones, combining Survival Horror with Analog Horror in a similar vein to last year's Among Ashes. It is very fun, but there is a couple places where there is room for improvement.

You begin the game by breaking into your brother's apartment after he had gone missing. You find some mysterious notes and a birthday present - a video tape in GHL format, which is basically VHS but with haunting properties. You pop it into the VCR and suddenly the front door transports you into the universe of the film. You then proceed to find other films, and go back and forth between them solving puzzles, facing enemies, and trying to untangle your brother's disappearance.

The game features a limited inventory, some very solid puzzles, a mixture of both classic Resident Evil combat with a Tyrant-style stalker enemy, lots of backtracking to explore previous areas, optional secrets, and some really cool atmospheres. Every film has a Live Action sequence that you can actually watch on the television before entering its universe, and these are GREAT. This includes: very convincing German Expressionist horror, Evil Dead type practical effects, a 70's bright and colorful slasher film... and each world also has a type of filter to make you feel part of that era.

The gameplay has a good balance between puzzles, exploration, and combat - though the combat is not really a highlight. There are way too many resources for a very small amount of enemies, so I never felt that true scarcity-worry that you expect in this genre. The stalker enemy is very intimidating though, and the game does deliver some very tense encounters despite the imbalance of the combat.

The level design is well-built, but there is no map. For the most part, the areas are manageable enough to navigate, but there are definitely times where a map would have enhanced the experience. The puzzles are about 50% simple inventory interactions, but the rest are very clever and unique.

The game took me around 8 hours to finish, so I do wish the game was a bit longer and had more films to explore. The ending was also a little abrupt, though I did find a couple things that seem to indicate replayability and perhaps alternate endings. That said, I absolutely recommend this game if you enjoy first person survival horror / survival horror adjacent games like Among Ashes, Resident Evil 7, or Routine. Dead Format is definitely one of the better horror games I've played this year.

Alruna reminds me quite a bit of Astalon (one of my top 3 metroidvanias of all time). It has super dense level design, tons of secrets, great flow, great puzzles, and solid chunky pixel art. At the same time, it doesn't quite have the same enjoyability as Astalon, due to its wonky controls and underwhelming abilities.

Instead of the standard abilities like double jump, you will find 4 seeds that have multiple purposes - some help you traverse, some solve puzzle elements, some will damage enemies, and some will do a combination of these. You start off the game with a high jump and a dash/slide. You soon learn that all of these abilities have secret secondary functions, like finding hidden passages or collecting items from a distance. So, they are highly creative and unique, but at the same time feel a bit more like Animal Well type abilities that don't have the same classic excitement (for me) as the Metroid-style abilities.

It is a solid ~3-4 hour metroidvania that largely works because of its intricate and fun-to-unlock level design. I appreciate the creativity and uniqueness of the gameplay mechanics, but I definitely prefer the more standard and simple traversal types of abilities in 99% of metroidvanias. I definitely still recommend it though, and I appreciate that the game is somewhat doable to 100%

6.7/10 for me

It’s a pretty rare treat to find a pure escape room style puzzle game in a legitimate horror setting, and Sphenoid nails it. It’s got really great puzzle design, slow-burn horror atmosphere (with occasional intense scares), and a solid prison/hospital setting.

It’s not the most polished game, there’s definitely a pretty low-budget look to some of the animations and characters. But it still manages to satisfy that dark blood-soaked asylum feel.

Pretty much every puzzle is well-made, zero moon logic. The only thing that got me stuck was some hard to see hot points. But otherwise it was a very smooth and engaging escape room puzzle game in my favorite kind of setting! Wish there were way more games like this.

And yet ANOTHER survival horror game for 2025, and seemingly I am one of… maybe 3 people that have played it? But I was pretty instantly drawn in to the isometric pixel art inside a 3D environment (with a fully rotatable camera!) look, as well as the sleek UI. I am happy to report that the game fully delivers on a classic survival horror experience, though it’s a bit too meager to be one of the greats.

It pretty much checks all of the boxes - limited inventory, strategic combat, puzzles, backtracking, a solid map, and a mysterious haunting story. There are not a ton of puzzles, but the ones that are here are creative and fun. Combat is a little janky, as managing the aiming with the camera controls (which kind of overlap) leads to occasional frustration. And while the 2.5D art style is done very well, the monochromatic color palette and somewhat repetitive interior design gets a bit stale.

That said, for a 2 hour long survival horror experience, you can find a lot worse. It’s not one of the best this year but I definitely recommend picking this one up as a little palette cleanser. Looking forward to hopefully a more ambitious project from the dev next.

Please go give this game some love, it absolutely deserves more attention than it got.

This is a very light recommendation.

Greek Tragedy is another Halloween release: a fixed-camera PSX horror game that kind of slipped under the radar. Amidst the release of absolute classics this month - Tormented Souls 2, Flesh Made Fear, and Echoes of the Living - it didn't really get much notice. Well, now that I have finished it (with 3 of the endings), I can't really say it is competitive with these other titles - especially not as a survival horror game. 

It certainly shares some of the hallmark traits of the genre; there are fixed cameras, puzzles, and a sense of vulnerability. But it also subverts so many others, to a point where I don't even know how to classify it. No map, no inventory management, shoddy combat, linear level design, and an absolutely bizarre plot. 
The combat is somewhat similar to the developer selewi's games - which DO feel like survival horror despite only having a singular unbeatable stalker enemy. Here, you only have a taser gun that merely momentarily pauses the hooded enemies that relentlessly chase you. This flimsy combat system makes the enemies feel more like a nuisance than intimidating. 
The real gameplay here is the puzzles, but unfortunately they are a pretty mixed bag. There are a few that were interesting and clever, but there are many others that are either too simple, bizarrely constructed (in a bad way), or just slightly glorified keys. The overall atmosphere is also a mixed bag; while the art style itself is quite charming, the actual content of the college campus, the characters, the vague fraternity/cult story - I just don't really understand what the atmosphere is supposed to be. 
The game took about 2 hours to finish, and it left me feeling a bit... empty. I don't really understand what the vision was for the developer, on both a mechanical gameplay level or the content and story. Some puzzle fans may enjoy moments of the game, but I really cannot recommend it for classic survival horror fans.

5/10

Wow this game blew way past my expectations! This has been a great year for survival horror, but it seemed like Silent Hill has largely been the raison d’etre for indie devs in 2025. But like a bat out of hell, Flesh Made Fear delivers a true classic Resident Evil style game, and does so with so much grace.

It is soaking wet in 80’s slasher horror film kitsch, and makes no apologies for it. The soundtrack is incredible, with pulsing synths that John Carpenter would absolutely approve of. The voice acting is pretty much a perfect replica of the classic Resident Evil style, with its over the top caricatures-as-characters (the main antagonist being the most over the top example). The enemies are completely absurd body horror creations by Ripper, the mad scientist who has turned the town of Rotwood into an amusement park of horror.

Everything is just… perfect. Perfect goofy tone, perfect puzzles, satisfying combat, fun exploration. If I could think of one tiny complaint - the map is borderline useless. It is very zoomed out and only gives a broad city-wide overview, so no tracking locked doors or puzzles. But to be honest, the level design didn’t really need it, so I won’t knock off any points there.

This is definitely in my top 3 for the year so far, alongside Heartworm and Tormented Souls 2. If you enjoyed Nightmare of Decay, The Lacerator, Classic Resident Evil, or even just cult classic horror films
like Evil Dead - this is the easiest recommendation in the world. I had a blast from the beginning to the end, and I can’t wait to jump back in for the second character campaign.

9.8/10, amazing work.

It's not the worst metroidvania I've ever played, but something about the exploration, level design, and boss designs just feel more frustrating and miserable than fun.

I keep trying to get myself to continue, but I have no desire to. I wish it was more rewarding, breezier, easier to navigate and would provide the feeling of some type of mastery over the challenges it presents. But 90% of the time, the reward is underwhelming and unclear as to where to go next. There is not many "a-ha!" moments like in the obvious competition Metroid, where you finally unlock an ability and know exactly where to go next - INTUITIVELY.

Some metroidvania die-hards that love to get lost, love to see a million secrets that you have no idea how to access, and love extremely maze-like level design could enjoy this. Art, music, and character feel are all solid (except the extremely slow walking speed). But I guess it is just not for me,

EDIT: After reading through other reviews, I decided to try again and see if it grows on me. Also noticed the important items literally glow, so I just need to approach this different than other games. Will update when done.

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First, in the introduction, it says to "go to the catacombs". I scanned the entire playable area multiple times and could not find it. So then, I started a new game and chose the "skip introduction" option. And now the main game has serious issues with its design.

The level layout is huge, each room has a ton of space and things to look at. And almost everything has a text prompt when interacting. The designs of the rooms are extremely similar, all the details look the same. So finding anything important feels a bit like a needle in the haystack. On top of this, my cardinal sin with survival horror game: THERE IS NO MAP.

I could already tell this would be a pretty miserable experience, as I am extremely thorough when playing these games. I will look and interact with every single object, scan every room. And I could tell in this game, that would get extremely tedious - not to mention confusing.

My advice going forward is to really keep the player experience in mind. Design rooms to be unique, design object interactions to be meaningful, study how the classics of the genre designed their rooms (hint: you can scan the entire room for important items and documents in under a minute or two). And please, for the love of all that is holy. MAKE A MAP.

Tormented Souls II is the follow up game to the 2021 classic, a game that really scratched the itch of the survival horror GOAT - Resident Evil 1 Remake. Luckily, the sequel retains all of the elements that made the original so great - richly detailed environments, incredible puzzles, genuine scares, a dark twisted story, and top tier level design. But it also expands into new territory with a much larger variety of locales, weapons, and monsters, as well as a deeper dive in to Caroline’s story. While I absolutely loved every minute of it, there are a couple of reasons that I still prefer the original.

The game’s atmosphere is as refined as ever, with gorgeous environments and horrific set pieces. Unlike the original, which pretty much exclusively took place in a single mansion, this game is much more spread out in areas like a convent, a town, a graveyard, a fishery, etc. In every area, the attention to detail and use of light and shadow were just as atmospheric and rich as the original.

The game is incredibly scary as well, reminding me a ton of the original Outlast. If you pay attention, little details in the environment will change - a dead skewered body on a wall will be later vanish, a wrapped up body in a trash can will have fallen over; someone will be screaming for help in the radio static. The enemies you face are incredibly aggressive and *just* bullet spongey enough to make combat very tense. But this oppressive environment makes the save rooms that much warmer, with their comforting (and obligatory) save room music theme.

As much as I did love the game. there are a couple reasons I prefer the first one. Puzzles in this game are just as clever and unique , but I do think they tend to be a little easier. I pretty much always was able to solve them in under a minute, with a couple exceptions. The level design was also solid (the pathing in both games has a similar satisfying feel as Super Metroid). But one consequence of spreading the game out between so many environments- it cuts out a lot of that backtracking / puzzle-solving domino effect you get when exploring one large interconnected area. There are about 3 of these types of larger areas in the sequel - which were by far my favorite parts of the game. But there are also many smaller ones that are more or less linear, which was always a little disappointing.

The story was very interesting, incorporating some chthulu type mythos - which I never would have expected. But that element kind of gave it a campiness that I really enjoyed. The game also does a good job of expanding Caroline and her sister’s backstory, with lots of twists and turns.

Overall, it was definitely the kind of game that I never wanted to end. It’s got everything I love, and the 30 hours it took to finish completely flew by. While there are a couple of reasons I prefer the design of the first one, I understand it’s a trade-off; some fans don’t enjoy difficult puzzles and would rather have a variety of locations over one large backtrack-heavy environment. Regardless, there are so few games that nail the feel of REmake, and I hope this game will inspire even more developers to take up the mantle.

9.8/10 for me.