izigame.me

edit as I play through the game (Hard difficulty):
How good is it? Well I was supposed to go to sleep but I wanted to play for an hour just to check it out. And I haven't been able to put it down. I keep finding so many clever design decisions which improve and innovate on this type of hide and seek gameplay. For anyone who cares I'll list them at the bottom.

... Finally finished the game now. I would recommend playing on hard though, because it will be more intense and your experience will be longer.
I never once got bored, each location offers new challenges and new tools/mechanics
Maybe I do like horror games after all. I wanna play something similar now
Alien Isolation walked so A Quite Place could run. It tightens the level design, provides more in depth challenges and interesting ways to solve them with constantly learning the monsters behaviour. While Alien seemed so novel at the time, this game really makes it pale in comparison. You would just walk from A to B, flip switches. My second playthrough of Alien was rather laborious and that 'story' was just a repetition of the same problem every time.
I would say "Hard" mode is mandatory though. The game was clearly designed around it and then later made easier after playtesting. If you enjoy normal then by all means, but if you feel the game isn't fun then you shouldn't be playing on normal. It completely sucks the tension out of it
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Finally a game that lets you turn off the yellow paint marks. With all due respect to their utility and the people who like that stuff, .. I'm very happy to turn it off.
I find horror games boring in general so I don't play them often, but this game is good so far. Minor annoyances exist, but nothing as bad as Callisto Protocol
Some people say their pc has trouble running it properly, so be aware of that. The game has plenty of graphics options so if you have a basic understanding you should have no issues
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- You can't fight the monster (at least so far) but you do have an HP bar. It serves as a multi purpose stress indicator. For one, it helps to guide the player to stay away from the monster, since you can only get so close before even the smallest sounds alerts it.
Secondly, it adds an extra layer of obstacles, since you often need to take actions that create stress, such as carry certain objects to a specific location. Overall, I find this system adds a meaningful layer of complexity to the experience that feels like an improvement on this type of gameplay
- The game keep introducing new mechanics and utilities as you progress which keep the challenges interesting. I won't spoil what they are
- Individual areas function as a sort of stealth puzzle, teaching you each mechanic and offering multiple solutions
- Monster AI feels good. Not too predictable, but not too random either. I haven't encountered any situation where it felt like I had to wait for it to move (Lookin at Alien Isolation with its boring hide-in-the-closet for several uneventful minutes until the Alien finally leaves so you can resume the game)
- The door/drawer opening mechanic is fun, and designed so that it has a threshold. Instead of having to sit there opening it all the way, they made it so you just need to reach a certain spot. Kinda hard to explain, but you might notice this and appreciate that they thought of this and fine-tuned this kind of stuff
- Do you keep your eyes on the monster's location but give up the ability to see what you are stepping on? Or do you turn your back to the monster to make sure you have a good route but lose the awareness of where it is walking to. I really liked this dilemma. It creates a situation where you have to first perform a reconnaissance of the area to plan ahead. Because once you are carrying a puzzle object you will have to act fast and won't have room for errors.