Maid of Sker
Brave the nightmares of the Quiet Ones. Do not panic…don’t even breathe! Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore. Armed with only a defensive sound device, you’ll utilise stealth tactics to avoid death amongst a cult of sound-based AI enemies. Set in 1898 and inspired by the haunting Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, this is a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel. Created and developed by Wales Interactive with a plot crafted by the writing talent and designers behind the likes of SOMA, Don’t Knock Twice and Battlefield 1. Features • 3D sound-based AI system as the core survival mechanic. • Realistic visuals featuring 4k uncapped on PC (1080p 60fps minimum). • A chilling story inspired by Welsh folklore fusing psychological, gothic and British horror. • Re-imagining of famous Welsh hymns Calon Lân (A Pure Heart), Suo-Gân (Welsh Lullaby) and Ar Hyd Y Nos (All Through the Night) from the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru.
Game Discussion
Steam User 8
Maid of Sker is a very interesting game that I found a bit cliche but still rewarding.
The game was a problem experience for me, having no crashes or issues.
The story is compelling enough, but I do feel that there is not enough to go on to fully understand the lore. I would like an extended version of the game that allowed for more exploration and explanation of how things came to be. While cliche, I found it still enjoyable and liked how the various endings played out.
I recommend Maid of Sker, as a puzzle-lite and quick story style game.
Steam User 6
Decent game. Similar to the Outlast series with creeping around the place. I love the fact this game is from Wales and had Welsh songs in it!
Only slight annoyance is saving the game at certain points. I can't bear having to re-do certain parts of a game where you have to creep around as it can be really slow and tedious, so that became annoying now and again. Thankfully it didn't happen a lot. It has a decent story and overall I enjoyed it :)
Steam User 5
I gotta be honest, I am not e very fan of horror games but I have been trying a few and Maid of Sker, was without a doubt, a very decent one!
Visually not impressive, even when compared with other games from 2020, and mechanically not that innovative, it end up delivering a decent horror experience through an OK story.
A game to take into consideration, if you like a good horror game at a decent price. Fully recommend it!
Steam User 4
game is short but pazzle its so good and auto save is not in game that bad and jumpscare not mach i rate 7/10
Steam User 4
great story, art design, atmosphere, and music. lechyd da!
Steam User 4
A folklore flavored horror snack: tense, short, and jumpy
Maid of Sker is a short survival horror that borrows from Resident Evil 7, Outlast, and Amnesia: A Machine for Pigs. No combat here—just sneaking, running, and holding your breath while enemies hunt you by sound.
It’s pretty mid overall. Atmosphere is solid, the Welsh folklore angle is a nice change of scenery, and the sound design with headphones really sells the tension. But the story is predictable, enemy AI gets repetitive, and gameplay never evolves beyond “don’t make noise.”
I finished it in about 3.5 hours, which honestly felt like the right length. Any longer would have dragged. I don’t love or hate horror games, but this one scared me more than RE7 thanks to frequent jump scares—enough to keep me constantly on edge, even if I find them cheap.
For the price and runtime, it’s a passable horror snack. Not great, not awful. If you want a smaller-scale RE7-style experience with heavy audio tension and steady jump scares, it’s worth a go.
Verdict: 6/10 Mid but fine, worth it on sale.
Steam User 3
A nice little indie horror game that mixes some good elements. Seen a lot of conversation about this game going both ways, but I had a great time with it.
Pros:
- Amazing visuals especially from an indie studio, some areas have some very difficult lighting to work around, but looks and runs great.
- Story mixes some fun mythological/folklore content into the story.
- Challenges are super fun.
- Doesn't rely on jumpscares to fill it's horror content.
- Pleasantly surprised by the voice acting.
Cons:
- Graphics are beautiful, but you really only get to enjoy them for the first hour, since everything after that is in cramped indoor areas with little lighting.
- Story is a bit meh, has great potential but I was left feeling a little sour at the end.
- The challenges are more fun than the story in my opinion, you can definitely see why the devs decided to make Sker Ritual after this.
- Ammo, if you can call it that, for the weird song orb and health items are too plentiful. It defeats the purpose of sneaking and holding your breath when you get enough items to just run past 90% of the enemies while chugging health potions.
- The manual save is cool especially since there's some story elements attached to the save rooms, but losing 10-20 minutes of progress because an enemy managed to wedge itself in a door so I couldn't get past was painful. I like manual saves, but at least add checkpoints at loading zones so there's not so much repeat exploring.
- Sneaking is weird at times, and holding your breath seems to be useless in most cases unless your butt to butt with an enemy, which with how the maps are laid out almost never happens.
- Enemy AI is too simple. They follow very basic patrol routes that makes them super easy to avoid, removed a lot of the fear of getting around them and made the game feel more like a discount metal gear solid.
Overall it might seem like I have more problems with this game than pros. However I still had a really good time with the game and think that it's an amazing project when you consider the limited dev resources behind it. I think with time this studio will put out some bangers aside from the already amazing Sker Ritual.