Recent reviews by Virtute

In it's current state, I really enjoyed this game - I can't wait to see the finished product.

I played it co-op with a couple of friends and enjoyed that the mechanics of the monsters switch up during different levels and with different monsters. It's got some genuine scares and amps up the atmosphere and scares as the chapters progress. I'd definitely recommend but be aware the dev still has a lot to do to finish this game.

I think this game is good for the money, the premise is unique but I don't feel it quite delivers on the thief aspect - mechanically the entire game feels very scripted, too.

There's some genuine scares but the storytelling feels a bit disjointed, especially towards the end - I don't want to spoil anything so I won't go further into that.

Also the game markets itself like you can freely explore the mansion, you can't - you have 5 completely scripted chapters you explore through and they give you different paths through the mansion. The game is a very linear experience, even movement speed is limited to when the game makes your character sprint. There are no choices, no unique endings, the game follows linear paths - the game's description is VERY misleading, however what you do get is actually pretty good.

I don't recommend that game for that reason, however I would happily recommend it if the game's description was accurate.

The game is very short and designed to be completed in a single sitting, and the puzzles are a bit obtuse - but ultimately I enjoyed this game.

I've played through a bit of the campaign and been streaming this game and I'm genuinely excited about it.
There are some performance issues I hope are addressed, but the game is solid and has a really good sense of challenge that I absolutely love. I hope more is added in modding potential and campaign missions in the future. Absolutely recommend!

This bite-sized cutesy horror VN is equal parts charming and hilarious, with a well paced sense of creeping dread.

I absolutely can't wait for the full game!

Watch more here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzDhlRSJ7IA

Game is hot garbage, worst walking sim I've ever played and believe me I played that Dear Esther game. 2/10

Honestly this game is too janky and badly designed to justify it's asking price.
I was excited by the trailer, disappointed by the game.

This game isn't awful - but in it's current state I feel it really misses the mark on what it tries to achieve.

As a game, it's bland - you go through the environments, which are areas bound by invisible walls where you can only really interact with the environment and animals by scanning them. I started the game excited to explore underwater, but most things don't really react to your presence. You don't connect with them and I felt detached from the world and it's inhabitants. You can swim over volcanoes and it not have any effect on your character, even swim into them from above and nothing.
The submarine you visit between chapters doesn't feel fleshed out, there's books and objects but for the most part it's look don't touch. See this person has books but you can't experience them.
The voice acting isn't good and the personal stories between the characters fell flat for me, I didn't connect and often conversations come to "I don't want to talk about it" and the choices it gives you are totally meaningless, even the ones where it asks you what you want to do.

As an education game it's okay, the micro-documentaries are pretty and quite interesting... they slightly flesh out things that happen in the game and the one cool moment I experienced with the bait ball.
The 3d models of the fish you can investigate with on the submarine are cool for a moment, but they're a bit weak as educational devices. I'd love them to highlight parts of the animals and tell me their names, maybe the function of the fish - videos of the fish in the wild. Looking up the scientific info tells you what depth those fish live, it tells you the scientific name of the animals... but it doesn't give you more information than that, I'd love something to connect with the wildlife more! I'd love some documentary footage, facts, lifespan, general information about them! I'd love to be taught, but I found as I was streaming it people in chat were educating me more on those fish.

As a narrative experience the game falls flat, the 'livestream' way the game pushes parts of the stories forwards is scripted for the most part and you don't ever feel like you're playing a role as your character, interacting with a livestream or interacting with the other characters you're introduced to. It's all incidental, it lacks interactivity and the game's just middling.

Also, the game has some serious audio issues where if you turn up the in-game volume too loud audio peaks and distorts -
some videos are MUCH louder than others and the game insists on playing music to you when you're in the submarine by default. I want the ambient music but I don't want to be hit by licensed tracks but you don't have a choice and it doesn't remember when you turn the music off.
The audio isn't levelled well in conversations either, the quality and volume is inconsistent and when you have a phone conversation between three characters and one is noticeably louder than the others, it's just a strange detail that could be easily resolved if the audio was properly compressed.

It's not a fun education experience like Bee Simulator, it doesn't land emotionally as a piece of environmental activism, it's not a compelling experience like Journey or Abzu and although the micro-documentaries are good quality, they could be separated from the game and still be just fine and I didn't feel they really improved the game or my personal connection with the game - also they felt a little disconnected from the character I was playing in a narrative sense.

I don't usually score games, but this is like a 3.5 out of 10 for me. It feels like with polish and the want to deliver a game, it could be improved - but I don't really see it being more than something kind of middling and disappointing without a complete re-haul of the game.

I enjoyed this game a lot, I don't have a lot to say about it except if the concept of Surgeon Sim meets Tinder interests you - this game doesn't disappoint. The controls feel about how you'd expect and I had a lot of fun with it - I hope there's more content though. The levels are all distinct and offer varied challenges and it never feels unfair, just sometimes you have to be prepared and be okay with physics rng behaviour - which I personally love.

I've been playing this game on stream and I would assume about 40% of the way through the game so far - and I thoroughly recommend this game! The value proposition for the content offered, between all the mini-games across different genres, graphical styles, eras of videogame - the amount of and quality of music, story content, and easter eggs in the game.

As a platformer alone, I'd recommend this game happily - the platforming feels responsive, is consistently challenging in the mechanics it introduces and the pace in which it introduces mechanics, environment and the sheer amount of collectibles in Horace.

I love the style and presentation of the story, the humour and the quality of the cut scenes - and how so much humour comes from Horace's delivery of the narrative. This game deserves so much recognition for what it achieves and how much it achieves, whilst feeling mechanically tight and compelling.
100% recommend.