Vlad Circus: Descend Into Madness Reviews

While not breaking new ground by any means, it's definitely just compact enough not to overstay its welcome. The story is something anyone can see a mile coming, but the individual beats are engaging enough to keep you going. The characters aren't phenomenal, but they're intriguing enough to keep your attention. What the game does do fantastically, however, is the pixel art and sound design. It's worth the price of admission, but just that.

I only recommend it on a big sale as I bought it for 80% off. I really liked the story and the build-up of understanding the protagonist's past, but that build-up was fallen short on the ending. I was hoping they would've done something with the twist they introduced and have more substance to that given the story confuses you of reality vs. madness. It could have been more interesting but reality wins. I liked the gameplay progression overall and the style is nice, characters are unique and well-developed from past and present. The order of quests isn't clear and need a walk-through for certain parts but it wasn't a hassle. If this was a longer game than 2-4 hours with a more fleshed out ending, I would definitely recommend it. I'd have to give it a 7/10 otherwise.

Sad clown pixel art horror with a strong narrative focus that sort of eclipses the gameplay. I did really enjoy my time with this game and I thought the story was interesting and well told with solid characters and very nice art. As a lover of survival horror games however, it felt like the game was actively resisting an innate desire to truly BE a survival horror game, which I found dissapointing. Despite flirting constantly with the nature of survival horror, Vlad Circus sadly pulls its punches on the genre fundamentals more often than not. I would have absolutely loved a 3rd difficulty in which the punches were not pulled - implementing save points instead of an autosave system, having enemies introduced earlier and used more liberally, entwining the gameplay elements a little more into the progression rather than spending more time being a story than being a game. I absolutely think this game is worth playing, just know that it isn't particularly challenging even on "challenge" mode, and if you are looking for a great survival horror game, you might find yourself feeling a little underwhelmed in that department. For more reviews on 3rd person/isometric survival horror games check out my curator page: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45050657-3rd-Person-Survival-Horror/