The Midnight Walk Review (Lugubrious)
I do feel bad saying I wouldn't recommend this, but ultimately, I felt bad about paying what I did for the game. I'm not against video games as an art form at all; I do like and recommend Little Nightmares, but it's $20, and I understand that to be a stretch for the average person.
There is plenty of stuff to like about this game, of course. Its clay aesthetic is strong, its character and monster designs are good, and I like the world and music. Seeing Moon Mountain rising over bent landscapes was quite striking. It was cute, but there are some good scares. I appreciate what the developers were going for and I commend their efforts.
However, the game just isn't super substantive. Six hours to get both endings and most collectibles is quite short for a base $40 price point. There aren't a lot of mechanics and those it does have are somewhat one-dimensional. Its puzzles are easy, achievable through trial and error almost as fast as thinking through them, but the game still holds your hand a bit with reminders and guiding lights. Despite this, some sections felt a little stretched out. I understand if the price point is necessary due to the inclusion of voice acting and the effort of sculpting and scanning in the clay models, but it would have definitely felt a lot better for $20.
I also ran into some technical issues. Both my controllers exhibited camera drift in this game for the first and only time. There were some issues with the menus. The spacial audio didn't always work. I got stuck inside invisible walls and had to exit/reload. There would sometimes be big frame hitches and pop-in when loading new areas, which I didn't expect with a computer like mine.
All in all, again, I'm sorry to leave a negative review on an artwork with clear love and effort put into it, but the negatives just barely outweigh the positives to the point where I personally can't recommend it. Forgive me!