SEARCH PARTY: Director's Cut Reviews

I hate the palette, the art, the assets and the gameplay

A thoroughly spooky game, one that's right in line with the rest of Torture Star Video's publications. You play as Claire, who gets lost in the woods while on a search party for her missing brother David. She wanders into a mysterious old mansion in the middle of the woods, and soon discovers that she's trapped with a sickle wielding madman who seemingly can't be killed. The narrative isn't quite as strong as other Torture Star games, but it's still effective and quite dark. The atmosphere is extremely well done, with plenty of gruesome images and really dark plot turns. Suffice it to say that there's more going on than just a maniac with a love of sharp objects. The gameplay is pretty classic survival horror stuff, although quite simplified from many titles of yore. You can only have melee weapons, so there's no need to balance ammo or anything. Your inventory is quite limited at first, although you can purchase more slots using coins found hidden in the environments. It's all pretty standard stuff, and the environment here is quite small compared to other survival horror titles, but it works for the length the game has. It's not an overly difficult game to 100%, and there is an unlockable shop that gives you access to fun costumes and some powerful unbreakable weapons. It's pretty accessible as far as this genre goes, and is well presented.