F.E.A.R. is one of those games that I heard about being good, but never really knew why people thought so for one reason or another. All of the marketing I saw for it made me think it was a pretty standard jumpscare-focused horror affair and I don't think I paid it much mind until almost a decade later when I found it in my steam library through strange and mysterious means that are beyond my comprehension.

I was going through a bit of a metamorphosis regarding said library, owning a steam deck and using it to reframe what games I wanted to play and how I wanted to play them. For some reason I decided to give F.E.A.R. a shot off of some ancient recollections of recommendations from a dear friend, and damn. I mean DAMN. What a ride actually?

F.E.A.R. is sort-of a horror game, but it's really an intense, high-lethality action shooter with roots in bombastic John Woo style gunfights and setpieces, with smoke and debris from exploding computers and penetrated fire extinguishers establishing a frantic and adrenaline-fueled pace to every encounter once the bullets start flying. The AI is legendary for its capacity for self-preservation, communication, and context-sensitive environmental interaction. Even in currentday you don't often see a combatant peg your location, call out that you are specifically behind a vending machine to his buddies, lean a shelf against a wall to use as cover (sending everything on it scattering across the floor) and then crawl underneath the new obstacle he's dynamically created.

On top of this, the lighting is stark and intentional, with entities casting proper shadows that can reveal their locations and flashlights revealing the player's location to combatants. The horror aspects make occasional use of the incredible lighting, but it is really best showcased by the tense moments just before a fights when a soldier passes in front of a lamp and casts a long shadow over the mouth of a corridor, letting you know he's there before either party has made contact.

The levels are all lovingly crafted and filled to the brim with hand placed lights and props with interaction flags for the AI, and while the scenery of office cubicals and hallways gets a bit monotonous, the CQC-focused arsenal available to the player and the care with which each encounter is designed ensure the game doesn't outstay its welcome.

The story is moderately interesting if you're interested in the reasons why you are being harassed by a six year old in a red dress, but told mostly in optional interactables that can break up the pacing a bit if you choose to slow down and engage with them. Personally speaking the horror elements didn't do much for me but set the tone, but I did appreciate the worldbuilding that went in to the lore and story.

Overall, F.E.A.R. is worth your time just to experience what is still some top-notch AI and gunplay. At the price it goes for nowadays it's practically a steal.

It couldn't go 10 minutes without lagging itself to the point of unplayability. I'm sure its neat, but if I cannot play the damn thing there is no point. I can run 99% of modern games without issue on med-high graphics but this blows.

Works great on windows 11 with a 2k display out of the box. I recommend binding the walk button (hold) to Shift, the melee to V, and bullet time to C.