izigame.me

UPDATE: I changed it to thumbs up (but it is still mediocre) because I actually played one more playthrough on Easy (~2 hours) to tick off a few Achievements (No Hit Run, don't use a "thing", the good ending, all collectibles, everything explored...) which was way less frustrating than my first run on hard.
BUT it was still not super enjoyable. So why did I have a change of heart? I guess because a) I played it again even though I didn't enjoy it that much and b) I also tried the "Challenges" (at least the first one; now I know why they made Sker Ritual...) and actually had a bit of fun. In this mode you get weapons: Hatchet, Pistol, Shotgun, Rifle
But this is it for me, I am not playing through the Game 1 or 2 more times to get the other Achievements.
THIS IS A THUMB IN THE MIDDLE (leaning just a little more down since my experience was kind of frustrating) but it is also not bad.
I just wanted to get that out of the way first.
So I had Maid of Sker sitting in my library for a while. But since Sker Ritual came out and I wanted to buy that also (which I finally did because a friend of mine also bought it), I thought that this was the perfect opportunity to play Maid of Sker first.
Now a WARNING: If you play this Game for the first time, DO NOT PLAY THIS GAME ON HARD FOR YOUR FIRST PLAYTHROUGH!
I will elaborate on that later on but just trust me on this.
So yeah, started up the Game, checked the Options and jumped right into it on Hard.
Graphically this Game is decent looking, it is no masterpiece but it is good enough.
What I noticed in the beginning - which was kind of annoying to look at - was a strange "blur" effect on everything (trees for example). Also there were some minor graphic glitches in some areas which was not really that bad.
At first I found the breathing sound when you are running a bit annoying but I got used to it. Overall I'd say the Sound design is really good, in some areas even excellent. And the Music is fitting as well.
Both let the tension rise and you feel uneasy most of the time.
In the beginning you seem to be hearing footsteps all around you and I think the beginning is the best part.
But later on, at least on hard, the Game became more of an annoyance.
Now let me dive a bit deeper on why I was so frustrated and why I gave you the warning to NOT play it on Hard (on your first playthrough).
You only have 10 Saves and you can save in set saverooms on a grammophone.
Of course as a first time player, you don't know how long this Game is, how far apart the savepoints are and what will happen in the Game.
You just don't know how the Game works yet. How will enemies behave, how many are there, can you find a weapon to deal with them (I think in the Options was the "Hint" that you can actually shoot, so I thought you might find a weapon) and what will happen in general?!
Let me tell you one thing without spoiling it: On hard there is a TON of enemies around almost every corner. And many places are VERY narrow. For a long time you have no means to defend yourself apart from holding your breath when they get to close. Enemies only react to sound but they can't see.
So you will sneak a LOT and this is slow. Sometimes you also get sandwiched between enemies and there are few options to escape them.
Let me just tell you, in the end I had only one save left and when that was wasted (which I didn't know because it was my first playthrough) I had to play almost half of the Game in one go.
No dying or your whole progress is gone and back to the last savepoint it is. And the last half was the most difficult part.
Now that I know what happens, yes, of course, I wouldn't use up my saves like I did. But this is hindsight, my first experience was frustrating because I didn't know what to expect.
That also meant that I didn't collect everything as I had actually planned. Because I couldn't afford to die, so I just tried a straight route to the end and missed out on a ton of collectibles and thus also lore.
This is why: Play on an easier difficulty.
Also the Game came out in 2020 (4 1/2 years ago) and the Achievement that I got for completing it on hard is still rare. Only 2.4% of Players have this.
Still overall there is a lot to like. The atmosphere is pretty good, the music and sound design is good, it is easy to control and the locations are also quite nice.
It is also pretty short. Steam says I played for 4.5 hours but ingame I was told it was 03:13:17hrs.
This also means that there is a Chance that I maybe play this again someday on an easier difficulty to get another ending and collect more things and read a little more lore.
But I also have to be honest to myself. Even though it is kind of my fault that I didn't enjoy the Game as much as I could have, well, I just didn't enjoy it as much...
I think that I got this on sale and some people maybe got it for free on EGS but I don't think it is worth the 20€ asking price.
Closing words: Not a bad Game but you can destroy your own experience with it...