SENSEs: Midnight Reviews

No-commentary playthrough: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1_I7dDR8i8 Midnight is quite a departure from the original Sense game, but I absolutely love it. The launch was a little rocky with some nasty bugs, but the issues were addressed quickly and taken care of. Hoping Suzaku sticks with the 3D approach for future games and expands upon what they've built here, because I really think there's some amazing potential. Great job!

This game is not without its frustrations and issues, including unmappable controls. That being said, the character is cute and likeable and the atmosphere is creepy and brooding. While fun, the game is far too short, most of the length comes simply from being unable to find stuff scattered around the map to complete it. Really the best reasons to play this are if you find the character cute and like cute girls in survival horror. If you're entertained by her jogging slowly from one place to the next, you've got hours of fun here. And I did spend hours...

To give a basic idea, this game is kind of like if you were playing Clock Tower or Haunting Ground, where you run and hide from enemies, but with a little bit of Fatal Frame added in to photograph spirits. I was going to actually [i]not[/i] recommend this game, because it's unpolished and has some flaws, but the problem is that I kept coming back for more and started to have fun. So I'm going to start with the biggest problems first, and, if those don't scare you away, you can read on and see what I like about the game. First, you can drop items anywhere, which is important since you can only carry 4 items at a time (but at least coins can stack). Why is that a problem? Because I found that you can drop items in some pretty bad areas if you're not careful. One time I dropped a piece of a key near a door, and then nearly every time I tried to pick up that key the character would just observe the door again. It took [b]a lot[/b] of trying to just pick up that key item again. Second, the "real" game is locked behind New Game+. You'll get more enemies and they'll be more aggressive, new notes to read that explain the story, and you'll also see some new cutscenes. Honestly, I don't know why players should be forced to play the game twice to experience this, and they should be labelled what they are: easy and hard modes. Third, the fixed camera angles can work against exploration. I legitimately didn't know that some paths even existed until I checked the map, because I could barely see them with way the camera was angled. Fourth, once you take a photo in-game, you can't re-take that photo. Got a bad camera angle when taking a photo of the map? Tough luck! That's the photo you have to use now in-game. And finally, the game is pretty short, and the park that the game takes place in is pretty small. It won't take long before you've seen almost everything, and then you'll probably spend most of the game looking for items you missed. A lot of my gameplay was spent just running back and forth to find a 100 yen coin that was apparently bugged because it wasn't shining like every other item. It definitely is [i]supposed[/i] to shine, though, because I saw it do that. It seems like reloading a save can trigger the bug, but I'm not sure. [hr][/hr] Still reading? Then I'll explain why I like it. Honestly, I love horror games with fixed camera angles and tank controls, and running around finding documents to read. So that helped, and I'm certainly biased because of that. But I also like the puzzle design: the puzzles actually require a bit of thought, and you'll need to read through your notes and think a little bit. For example, when fixing some plumbing, there are red, blue, and white pipes, and you need to read the lore of a ghost called Aka Manto to learn which pipe is the right one. Also, I think the general concept was pretty interesting. Normally in horror games, the main character is completely isolated, and has to rely on their own wits. In games like Resident Evil 4 or Dead Space, you might get an occasional call to explain the story and give you your next objective, but mostly you're on your own. But in this game the main character, Kaho, is streaming everything that's happening using a drone that follows close by, and is constantly chatting with her friends. So, whenever you see something interesting, instead just having an inner monologue or talking to herself, she'll describe what she's seeing and chat with her friends. Sometimes the interactions are funny ("There's a dirty rag here!" "Ok?"), and sometimes they're helpful. One friend will tell Kaho how to fix things, another will offer moral support, and yet another will offer their occult knowledge. It was pretty cool to have all those different characters talking, yet still be completely isolated. So it's hard to explain why I like it, because honestly I have more complaints than praise. Overall I think the developer had a tough time transitioning from 2.5D to 3D. Their previous game, Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story, was much better and had more content. If you've played that and want more, check this one out. Give it some time, and you might learn to like it like I did.

There's some aspects I'd change - but that's personal preference (I like seeing the names of inventory items) Overall I'd say this is a solid 4/5. I haven't finished it yet, but I also restarted because I'm dumb and forgot where I was with my items. I don't know if it's a trap or if it's a ghost's attack but the hands feel like a cheap-shot which is, so far, my only real complaint.

From the talented indie devs that brought us "Sense - 不祥的预感: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story" comes "SENSEs Midnight" a short retro 3D horror game with the classic tank control and fixed camera horror games that we love so much from old school horror games. Love the ambiance, the artstyle, the dialogue as well as the overall cute aesthetics and especially all the classic Yokai inspired horror. If you loved the previous game "Sense A Cyberpunk Ghost Story" then I highly recommend you give SENSEs Midnight a try.

Short Answer: This game sucks and would suck if it were made 10 years ago. I’m flabbergasted that the team that made the last really fun Sense game made this one too. Did the lead dev quit? Did someone lose a bet and forced them to make this bland PS2 era game? Long Answer: I 100%ed their first game Sense a Cyber Punk Ghost Story. It was one of the handful of games I have 100%ed in my life. It was a wonderful little game with a good story and amazing art. Each room had lovely detail that I was excited to explore because I wanted to see how wonderful or disturbing the next room would be. This game is not that. I will go into the points below. 1. The art direction. I was wary when I learned this game would be 3D as the drawings of the artists were half the fun. However, I thought that it must be easier for them to do so that’s why they went 3D. Only to learn from the dev themselves when responding to another player; “Getting a 3d model concepted out, modeled, rigged, animated, etc is far more time consuming and expensive than 2D.” So this was more work. Why then did you do this? This game Sense Midnight is dark and bland. The models are janky and simplistic to the point that the main character has one expression. That being not one at all. It’s an emotionless face. I saw her being stabbed to death by a demonic umbrella and it was the same expression as when she is simply standing in the middle of the grass. No heart-warming smile like the doll woman from the last game had once you helped her move on. No look of horror like the main character from the last game when she was being dragged into some hell dimension. The land itself shares the same problems not that its easy to tell given the forced camera angles hide a lot of the empty space where there is nothing around. 2. Game Length. On this topic the devs have said this: “Based on playtests and QA, the game has a roughly 2-3 hour playtime per playthrough. It is a much smaller game overall than Sense: ACPGS. But we feel that the content within is more steady and refined. The quickest we can currently beat it as the devs is just barely over 1 hour, while Sense ACPGS was roughly 3.5 hours or so.” I’m not even going to waste my time going into the ludicrous idea that this game is more refined than the last one. Back to game length. 2-3 hours for a non dev. That is only because of the back tracking and how unbelievably slow the main character is. If she ran at the speed of a normal human, hell even if she ran at the speed of a normal child, I see no reason why this game wouldn’t have 30 minutes to an hour off its run time easy. The worst part of the first game was the back tracking, but I was fine with it given how nice the game was to look at and that going back to find secrets unlocked new outfits and such. Now this? A, by the devs own words, “…smaller game overall…” should not have these problems. Did no one in playtests and QA ever once go “Yo guys…its not fun to have to back track at the speed of a snail because you forced me to drop a bottle cap to make room for a coin.” When I reported a glitch where the coin items could be used over and over to unlock the swimsuit early, I asked the devs if her walking speed was also a bug. Its not. In a game with puzzles and items you are limited to 4 items and must drop something to make room for more. So if you drop a screwdriver on one side of the map to pick up an item you need for the other side you have to “sprint” slowly all the way back to get the screwdriver and then back to where you were before. The sprint is laughable. Its not a sprint. It’s a mild jog at best. The devs said she is that slow because if she were faster the main ghost would not be able to catch her. “For the ghost chase, make sure to juke and zig zag. If we make her any slower she won't be able to catch you at all, same if we make the player faster. We're open to suggestions on this though!” Make them both faster then. 3. The Pursuer. Rather than having several interesting ghosts and stories this game revolves around 1 main ghost. A centipede girl with nothing interesting about her. This includes the pursuer aspect to her. She isn’t scary she is just frustrating. Fun fact if you get tired of her you can save your game reload the file you just saved and she will bugger off somewhere else. Pursuer taken care of. She doesn’t pose a single threat. Also, on no less than 3 occasions the Pursuer just stopped chasing me and went off to do her own thing somewhere else on the map. 4. Lighting. This game can’t seem to find a middle ground. The map is too bright to read well and the game itself is so dark. That’s fine for the theme, but the whole place is so bland it can be difficult telling sections apart. I thought about throwing this out as a sort of “It must be just me” but no. While I was writing this review another player complained about the light. So thanks RadRanger. Cheers to you. Additionally, if you get hit by ghosts the screen almost goes black making it difficult to make your way out of group attacks. 5. Story. This is the most damning thing about this game. There isn’t one. It’s the barest bones of a bad B-movie…no let’s go with C-movie plot. Which its an absolute shame because the story in Sense ACPGS was good. 6. Bugs, game breaking no less. I hit quite a few bugs during play, but most didn’t seem to have that much of an issue. Though finally after putting in the battery, the wire, the tape, and the cap no prompts come up. Can’t interact with anything that’s not a dropped item or something in the pause/inventory screen. I reloaded the game from a previous save to see if it happened again and it did. I did extra work so I would be able to play this the whole day when it came out because I enjoyed the first one so much. Now I can’t even recommend the first one. If games like this, bland, buggy, and uglier than some games from the PS2 era is what they are going to be making now why on earth would I want more people to give the devs their money. I really hope this game is just an example of the devs biting off more than they could chew. Overestimating themselves, because if it isn’t than what caused this game to be made? Is Sense Midnight a cash grab? Is it an early access game pushed out as a full title? The devs themselves said this is a much smaller game than Sense ACPGS so where is the heart? Where is the detail? If the game is so much smaller why on gods green earth is it so much worse? The two things I liked about this game were the design for the main character and the chatting of the friends. The idea of using a group text chat was neat. Shame it wasn’t used to actually add meaningful story.

TL;DR - You have to play hide and seek in classic resident evil & silent hill style Security camera POV and control I can see dev were aimed for retro gamer's taste- but even if this game was released during 1990~2000 era, I wouldn't recommend this to other people. Security cam point of view makes you circle around the area because it confuses the hell out of you, even navigating simple playground(literally) area feels like walking in the maze. You have to run or hide from 3~5 ghosts that stands on every single corner. Since there are TOO MANY ghosts, even staying in safe spot does not make the ghost away from you. You think you are safe because you are hiding in safe spot? too bad! one ghost is 5 steps away from you, another ghost is 10 steps away from here, then super fast ghost will chase you from time to time! and THEY WILL CHASE YOU AS SOON AS YOU GET OUT OF THE SAFE SPOT For god sake give me a break! in this game, ghosts are nothing but pure pain.

Very weird, but in a good way. A mix of classic Resident Evil and Fatal Frame set in cyberpunk Japan, with a strong neon aesthetic. It's a "ghost-hunting" story, featuring fixed camera angles and tank controls, where you solve supernatural mysteries and classic survival horror puzzles while trying to avoid evil spirits on a night in a cursed park. One really cool thing about it is being able to take out your camera at any given moment and look at the surroundings to spot ghosts and other creepy things. It's kinda short, but has lots of replay value, with different endings/routes, unlockable costumes and a New Game + mode. Some animations and cutscenes are kinda janky, but it adds to the charm of it (I'm tired of overproduced AAA games anyway). The developers are true men of culture, and once you play this, you'll understand why. Will definitely try to 100% it. If you're into classic survival horror, buy it and enjoy getting lost.

If you're a fan of old school survival horror - you've played Alyssa and Tormented Souls and pine for the days of the OG Silent Hill and Fatal Frame and can't find a new fix - SENSEs:Midnight might be what you're after. It's a smaller project, a little unpolished and rough around the edges, and lacking some of the modern conveniences of the horror genre. But if you push through - it's a fairly unique and memorable experience you may even find yourself coming back to (I've finished it half a dozen times and I'm still looking for a few photos I've missed). The lore is interesting, but not overly heavy handed, with more to discover if you're interested, pulling from the same japanese folktale sources as games like Fatal Frame, and even including a ghost photo hunting side-quest. The puzzles are mostly what you'd expect, but finding what you need to use can be a challenge, especially when you're dealing with the constant threat of the main antagonist. There is no combat to speak of, with the main threat being a ghost that can one hit kill you, who spawns in random locations, and constantly pursues you akin to Mr. X - but a scattering of hiding spots and protective one use charms send her packing if you're in a bind (and there are a LOT of hidden charms so seek them out if you're struggling). And something I especially like - sidequests. They're short and not overly complicated, but they lead to extra lore, photos, collectables, and events that flesh out the world, and makes them satisfying. The game is also somewhat non-linear in its design, which I appreciate. It isn't a series of hallways that guides you by the hand as you move from set-piece to set-piece. It's more like a big open escape room that takes place in a neon drenched park after dark. You're scouring for items, clues, and ways to escape, and amassing a collection of things that may help you find the way out. Yes, you only get four inventory slots, which is painful - but you can drop items anywhere ala Resident Evil 0, and you're not changing location so much as expanding the location as you progress, so you're not stuck carting a dozen items from one section of the game to the other like in zero. Just remember where you put them, and come back as you need them, its a part of the puzzle. The park itself has a ton of little shortcuts that you can unlock and ways to bypass segments if the ghost is hunting nearby, so if you're quick on your feet you can usually get to where you need to be in one piece. I'm not going to lie though, the first time I played this I gave up an hour or so in. It's a big environment, there isn't a lot of guidance, and the ghost that hunts you can be very frustrating. I messed up a sidequest, and ended up in a really bad spot and just threw in the towel. But the second time I tried, I got super engaged. It took me longer than I'd like to admit knowing the progression now, around 8 hours, but it takes a while to get used to how the game works, dodging ghosts, finding items, hiding, taking photos, reading notes, solving puzzles - it builds up. Subsequent playthroughs were about two hours when shooting for the true ending, but that's only once you know exactly what you have to do. The atmosphere and vibe of the park is perfect, it's spooky in places, picturesque in others, and while some people don't like the look of the protag, I thought she was super cute and likable in the texts, and her unlockable outfits are great. The music and sfx are also wonderful and really help build a tense environment. This isn't a jumpscare simulator, its an old school tank controlled horror exploration game, and it's the whole package if you lean in to some of the jank - some interactions don't always work, sometimes you lose a charm when you feel you shouldnt have, the menus can be buggy, taking photos can be painful, sometimes you cant pick up an item you dropped (save often) and there are some strange bugs that havent been fixed (like being unable to finish a sidequest if you do one of the puzzles beforehand, even though they have nothing to do with each other) but its indie - embrace the occasional suck and you'll find overall it's a solid experience, with tons of extra content. Unlockable outfits, multiple sidequests, different endings, and a new game+ mode - well worth the price imo. Especially if you've been craving this sort of game. I just hope we continue to get support and updates. B+

Not worth the full price. Game doesn't even feel complete. Feels like a prototype or an early beta version of a incomplete game, and unfortunately for me i cannot refund it cause im past 2 hrs playtime. ===================================================================================================== I'm gonna add a list of cons and pros only because i like to review games this way: [h1] Pros: [/h1] - Cute MC - Cyberpunk aesthetic - Decent J-horror atmosphere - Music is nice especially the main menu theme. - Decent fixed camera angles. (I love fixed camera angles which is ironic because I hate tank controls) though i would of preferred a 3rd person camera instead which actually would of fit this game better imo ===================================================================================================== [h1] Cons: [/h1] - Not sure for the main character (Kaho) if they are trying to go for a anime or realistic approach here but it fails so she looks like a barbie doll void of any expressions, her mouth does even move when talking, dying, screaming etc. Ruins the Immersion. - Tries to be like Fatal Frame and PSX/PS2 era Resident Evil and fails with is gameplay and puzzles. - Way to much bloom to the point where it interferes with puzzle hints making them illegible, which in turn renders the "take pictures of hints" thing pointless. - Ghosts enemies are just annoying and not scary at all. They dont act like Ghosts either they act more like transparent zombies. - Hiding is kinda useless, Could of been implemented in a way that Supermassive Games does it in their Dark Pictures Anthology games or in Red Barrels's Outlast Series. Instead its just spots where you can sit behind something for an unlimited amount of time (if you've beaten the breathing control minigame) and just wait for enemies to wander back to their old patrol points, but even then they will instantly spot you again seconds later after you leave the hiding spot. - Tank controls in general are terrible I wish devs would stop adding this movement when making classic PS2 style horror games, It doesnt make the game scary or harder, it just makes it annoying to play - Graphics are mediocre, and not even on par with they previous game. - Too much post processing, Can barely see what your interacting with or looking at ===================================================================================================== [h1] Final Thoughts: [/h1] Honestly the Devs should stick to 2D, cause their previous game was actually damn good. I will try and beat this game but at its current state its bad. Which sucks cause i was looking forward to seeing how this game would turn out when it was announced. Hoping the state of this game as it is now isnt the final product, they need to polish it more and improve the game's gameplay and graphics