Ultimately this game is somewhat of a mess. It has some notable high points but these are just diluted by the many bad ones across the experience. It's clear the game was built in sections with most of its development on the first section of the game. Which from a gameplay perspective, involves you spending most of your time constantly traversing back and forth up the same set of stairs, tediously avoiding the main antagonist(s).

The game tries to mix it up somewhat in the latter half but again naturally falls back into the same cat and mouse formula throughout. While this half feels more varied, also feels rushed in comparison and tends to split its time between quick time events and cut-scenes. These can be impressive and interesting at times, especially the death scenes but tend to be overly used and are mainly expository lumps to deliver the unnecessarily convoluted story.

To make matters worse, even after 6 years from its original release and a sequel under its belt, the game is still plagued with random bugs. Soft locks, enemies disappearing, notes not scrolling properly etc. Some of which should have been easy to fix such as the spelling and grammar mistakes in quite a few of the texts. This unfortunately just makes the janky experience, feel even more so.

If you're a horror fan and feel you really must, I'd only recommend picking the game it up in a sale (like myself) as it tends to be quite cheap. Otherwise, save yourself the frustration and give it a miss.

Ultimately this game is somewhat of a mess. It has some notable high points but these are just diluted by the many bad ones across the experience. It's clear the game was built in sections with most of its development on the first section of the game. Which from a gameplay perspective, involves you spending most of your time constantly traversing back and forth up the same set of stairs, tediously avoiding the main antagonist(s). The game tries to mix it up somewhat in the latter half but again naturally falls back into the same cat and mouse formula throughout. While this half feels more varied, also feels rushed in comparison and tends to split its time between quick time events and cut-scenes. These can be impressive and interesting at times, especially the death scenes but tend to be overly used and are mainly expository lumps to deliver the unnecessarily convoluted story. To make matters worse, even after 6 years from its original release and a sequel under its belt, the game is still plagued with random bugs. Soft locks, enemies disappearing, notes not scrolling properly etc. Some of which should have been easy to fix such as the spelling and grammar mistakes in quite a few of the texts. This unfortunately just makes the janky experience, feel even more so. If you're a horror fan and feel you really must, I'd only recommend picking the game it up in a sale (like myself) as it tends to be quite cheap. Otherwise, save yourself the frustration and give it a miss.