The Painscreek Killings

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

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!

The Painscreek Killings is fun if you like:
- taking several pages of notes during a game (I would recommend having different lists for persons, hints, locks, etc.)
- getting desperate more than once, because you forgot a small hint that was mentioned in a letter two hours ago
- a game that is completely logical, once you figured it all out
- a very detailed world with several houses which have individual features fitting the story
- developers who clearly spent ages on creating their own assets
- a game handcrafted by a small team with a vision, who love the genre and did their research
- developers who still write patches five years after the release of their game and who are the first to help you when you ask for a hint
Though I enjoyed The Painscreek Killing I really fell in love with it, after I read the developers' "Postmortem" on gamedeveloper.com (may contain some spoilers): These folks were completely new to game development and learned everything on the go. They didn't even have a programmer!

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€.