The Painscreek Killings

I absoloutly loved this game - MAKE YOUR OWN NOTES AS THEY ADVISE - i felt like a real detective trying to link all the pieces of the puzzle together, figure out who was linked to who - every step of the way you were figuring something else about someone, you were lead in different directions and had you doubting yourself - played all day couldnt stop until i solved it!

Requirements: A notepad or something similar for taking notes.
Caution: Contains horror elements, including jump scares.
- 메모장 필요.
- 깜놀 주의.

This game isn't technically perfect, but in my head it basically created a brand new game genre. Between gaming sessions I could not stop thinking about it and would jot down ideas about motive, places to explore or re-explore now that I'd learned something, or make lists of things I needed to do once I figured out the next step. The gameplay might be mostly walking around opening doors and entering numbers, but the puzzles and plot lived inside my head rent free for the weeks I played this game. The open world aspect, the puzzles, the narrative - this game takes some bold swings and they're almost all home runs. My biggest problem is now I don't know what to play because I just want more of this!

I absolutely adored this game. Although it's single player, I played on discord with one of my friends and we worked together to solve the mystery. It was unbelievably fun and satisfying, and I made so many pages of notes it's ridiculous.

I sat down to try it before bed. It told me to take notes, so I did.

Next thing I know it's 5 hours later and 4AM and the only reason I'm stopping is because my brain's slowing down; if it wasn't I'd keep going just to figure more of it out.

This scratches an itch I haven't had scratched since Gone Home first came out, and it goes much further than that. The feeling of canvasing the different areas searching for details, taking notes, and making connections between something you just found with something you wrote down a few hours ago feels incredible! It does a fantastic job at building dread too as you learn more and more about what's gone on...

My only complaint? Its music needs to be longer. A 20-30sec loop isn't nearly enough to not make it annoying while taking notes. After awhile I muted the music and just had something else playing in my ears.

Give it a shot if you enjoy deduction. The "Aha!" moments this game has is second to none, and I don't think I'm close to being done.

Engaging story and puzzles. The only downside for me is that it requires taking A LOT of notes, I love when a game makes you take notes but this is just too much, an in-game feature similar to the mental palace from Alan Wake II would've been perfect.
Anyway the game is totally worth it for 5€.

Janet Kelly is a journalist taking on an assignment on behalf of her co-worker to investigate a cold case in a ghost town that's soon to be auctioned off and re-developed. Before any evidence is lost for good, Janet makes way to Painscreek to try and solve the mystery of why, Vivian, the wife of the former mayor, was butchered in her own driveway. Things go downhill when she comes to a bone-chilling realization; news doesn’t get very far from town – and there is far more to this murder than it initially appears.
8-10 Hours to Complete, The Painscreek Killings is an Investigation walking sim where you slowly explore a ghost town to solve a murder. An semi open-world with many explorable areas, investigate people around the victim by exploring their homes and workplaces; reading newspapers, articles, journals, and notebooks left behind and take photos for evidence. Break into cars and investigate the hospital, there are a lot of places I’m surprised the game let me get into. There is one jumpscare at the hospital when the electricity suddenly cuts out (no enemies, and you can turn it back on.) and another at the end of the game, but otherwise, it’s very relaxing and go-at-your-own-pace. You can continue playing the game after you beat it, so backtracking is an option if you missed anything. I'm surprised at how much I loved playing The Painscreek Killings, and I hope to find and play similar games in the future.