There’s also the tantalizing plot details. These systems can be manipulated, but in turn they are unpredictable. While repeated deaths lead to an intimate knowledge of the space, you are never powerful enough to be truly comfortable. It’s a game with physics and internal logic and simulated minds that are easily manipulated, a perfect little world to play in. You can coax the sometimes brainless AI into walking into fire or within range of explosives. You can place bodies to lure enemies into a trap. You can take out lights with a handgun, though limited ammo counts make that expensive (and loud). There are also the weird edge cases of systems crashing into each other. Instead it’s a world that is constantly tightening its grip on you… but never tight enough that you can’t slip from its grasp. It’s not a world of holes for you to crawl through, with vents placed exactly for your convenience.
This makes Gloomwood’s world feel hostile and lived in. Exploring is thrilling and can come with marvelous dividends, but also puts you in danger. Ammo makes you powerful, but no amount of exploration will make outright assault completely viable. Stealth is always the most viable option, though it can be strategically broken. Though it frequently allows a multitude of tools and approaches, Gloomwood is unafraid to put you in a tight corner. It’s design that is interested in making you solve problems rather than merely granting freedom. Levels are open, with hidden crannies and multiple paths, but nevertheless frequently funnel you through chokepoints. The level design in particular showcases these strengths. The game simply lends you a space and tools necessary to move through it. Gloomwood’s initial moments are as pure as gaming can get, absent of pretense. The aforementioned gradients of sound and light have a tactility absent from the Assassin’s Creeds and Far Cries of the world. Instead, there are the tense choices of a proper stealth game. There are, as of yet, no upgrades or special powers. Though the game has plenty of particular nuances, there are no grand twists or pitches on the formula. This is all pretty classic stealth game shenanigans, but Gloomwood’s bareness is utterly beguiling.
There are guns, unlike Thief, but in true horror form, ammo is scarce and valuable. It’s much better to lurk in the shadows and sneak behind enemies to fell them in one easy motion. Combat, especially with your handy sword cane, is tricky. You can hit shift to walk even more slowly and prevent all but the smallest amounts of noise. Crouching makes you less visible and quieter, but slows you down. Standing up lets you move quickly but makes you loud. In complete darkness you are nigh invisible, but even a little light can expose you if enemies are close. However, that’s not exactly a binary state. It urges you to stay in the shadows, and a glinting ring on your finger indicates whether you are cloaked or exposed. To summarize, Gloomwood is a first-person stealth horror game in the vein of Thief.
Gloomwood enemies Pc#
Fortunately, lo-fi PC revival Gloomwood (currently in early access on Steam) makes a strong first impression, and I don’t think it’s just because I find its base set of verbs tantalizing. Many classics are perpetually remade to limited and dwindling interest, while forgotten gems languish in obscurity. Looking to the past can also be limiting, of course. Massive big budget games can have a disdain or disinterest in the past, perpetually looking forward to the next version of Unreal rather than drawing on the medium’s rich history. "It's going to be *sick* seeing what people do with this.One of the broadest genres of popular indie games today is “they don’t make those anymore, let’s bring them back!” This can be refreshing. "You can unload a revolver, take the bullets out and throw it to distract enemies," Rodgers said. And another cool thing is flipping the shelf inside of the bag displays your equipped items, as well as your keys and gold.Īs developer Dillon Rogers explained on Twitter, there are some interesting uses of this inventory system. Objects you drag into your bag take up item slots in the Resident Evil inventory style, so there's inventory management to think about. The player takes a piece of cheese out of the bag and chucks it at a window, distracting the enemy. In the video below, we see how this works. The doctor's bag is a functional object you place down on the ground to use, and it lets you drag objects you find inside and outside of it for immediate storage and use. I know, it's just an inventory! But it's pretty clever - and not just in an aesthetic way, either. Gloomwood is a promising survival horror / immersive sim I've been tracking in the back of my mind for a while now - and now I've seen its inventory I'm even more excited.
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