Let's play a game Inspector. It's my favorite ,
Dark Fall : Lost Souls , the third in the series of Dark Fall (if I assume this correct ) . I have never heard (much) or played previous Dark Fall games . Suffice to say , you don't need to play previous DF to make sense outta this game .
+ Good
- Bad
+Surreal , dark , macabre atmosphere : This was definitely the selling point . I was a real sucker for this things . So does the DF delivers ? Yes . like a mannequin with a victory sign right in your face style . The environment is pretty creepy , macabre furnishing are aplenty to add to that , like scissors , dolls , mannequins , leeches and childish drawings .
Playing this in complete darkness is a real treat some light bulbs flickers on and off , rising great tension . You'll be using your phone light to light dark areas but the light is static ..
-/+Average story : You play as Inspector in search of Amy of Dowerton who went MIA . That's the gist but there's subplots which adds a nice touch .
You'll be exploring rail station and hotel . There you'll learn their history and for the hotel , you'll be experiencing it yourself . You'll somehow travel back to the past to relive the scenes of the tenants in the hotel .
Each has a story(sad or close to it) which needed some fixing . As for the main plot , I'll say it's average . Not mind-blowing .. They're things unexplained ( why did the station was closed ? who are the sisters of Amy ? what happens exactly to Amy ) .
Sadly the ending is unfulfilling , too abrupt .
-Characters aren't memorable : IMO . The Inspector with his bad voice and repeated dialogues and usual behaviour isn't interesting . Amy is the first thing I want to forget when I had finished the game . There's some side characters but none are worthy of my memory cuz lack of backstory or good reasons for remembering them .
-/+:There's 2 endings based on what you do at the end . It's just a *what if you choose this instead of that* thingy .
-/+Good puzzles that ranges from easy to piss-me-off : First and foremost is the hidden object gameplay . I loath this part especially when I realize I missed some objects even after combing the screen(move mouse up and down). This ( http://www.gameboomers.com/wtcheats/pcDd/DF3LS/darkfall3.htm ) may help players in case they missed some objects . After finding particular objects , you must place at a location to relive the moments of that particular ghost inhabiting that place .
Puzzles are usually repeated . The torn-picture-rearranging , lock-picking , and correct-dialogue-picking . The lock-picking isn't good although it's easy , move the pick to the right wind direction(4 , in sequence) like N,NE,S,SE . But the bad part is that you're screen only shows the keyhole and picking the right wind direction is a hit-and-miss . You may want to pick NE but accidentally clicked N . No indicators , just bad .
There's also the rhythmic puzzles which you must listen carefully(2 I think). However the 2 rhythmic puzzles are good as they're very different unlike previous three .
Also , you must pull/rotate your mouse to imitate physical movements like pulling a lever , moving an obstacle etc . The first of this puzzle pissed me off as you have to pull more than once . After that , I'm cool .
Then there's the safe-combination puzzle , pick the right numbers to open the safe . This one pissed me off as it wasn't the conventional safe where you rotate left , then right to show the number you picked . Instead , you have to click *enter* to insert the right number .
Another tough puzzle is some sort of astronomy puzzle where you must refer to diagrams . You must find a way to take note of the diagrams as the game won't do it for you . In my case , a phone-camera came in handy .
You'll play kids game , no not play dress up . Things like Blind Man's Bluff , Huppity dipptythingy .. Mainly it's looking in the right direction and clicking Amy . Mostly are bland , one good game is turning back while she's creeping towards you , then you look foward. You must only turn when she moves and she will get closer..and closer . This would have been nerve-wrecking if only Amy was more bizarre looking .
The best I have to say is the time-limited puzzle . It's favorable as you must complete the puzzle before a ghost standing about 15 feet from you come close enough to do unimaginable things to you . Sadly there's only 1 puzzle of this kind .
Clues are usually indirect . Obvious clues are given via your phone , which you also use to light dark areas when the sound *here* are said . For not so obvious , you must take note of objects like books , letters , papers , sound recording , or diagram to solve a puzzle .
In the game , you can *die* but there's no game over . This usually happens when you run out of time or pick the wrong dialogues .
-/+Jump scares:As this is a horror game , it won't be complete without a sprinkle of scare . The good ones are jump-scares , where things pop out , out of nowhere .. Maybe to say hi or something . Then there's the voice-scare , childish giggles , moans and cries . Sadly , the ghost of Amy we're looking for wasn't scary at all ...Explained later .
-/+Terrible voice-acting:Just bad . Dialogues are repeated over and over(for different situation,mind you) . Not much interesting flowery language . Sometimes you can choose between 3 different dialogues but they all hail the same response . So , why there's a + ? Not much dialogues in the game .
-/+Bonus items : The game has bonus items which it articles about the town , Dowerton , contains ghost story that damns the town . However it deserve a - cuz mostly to get this , you must click-reclick certain item(that has no functions) 5 to 6 times . On the + side , spelling certain words on the Ouja Board will get you these items .
-Horrible 3D animation:The ghost of Amy is represented with 3D animation . I cringe not because of how scary she is , but how ugly the animation looks . It puzzles me why the dev did this . The time-limited puzzle had an excellent looking ghost(non 3D) yet Amy look , just horrible .
-Tedious look interface :In the game , you have a first person perspective . You can look up down right and left . But what's tedious is that to look up , you must move your cursor to upper screen and click when your cursor indicates *Look up* . I had played Darkness Within , like DF , but you don't have to do this . All you need is move your cursor to the upper edge and the screen automatically look up wards . It's smooth and easy unlike DF . Maybe a limitation in the game engine , regardless , it's tedious and annoying .
To sum this long winded blabber , DF can suck you in with it's horror but might put you off with it's interface , voice-acting , and 3D animation . I had played the dev previous game , Lost Crown and safely theorize that bad voice acting , repeated dialogues is a given for the dev . So is Lost Souls worth it ? You choose .
Amy says : It's my favourite game !
Inspector says : No , no ! No ! No !!!
I say : Rent this if you enjoy the macabre .