izigame.me

Excellent Claymation, Great Story, Too Simple Gameplay

The game's trailer hooked me. The dark, eerie vibe created with claymation is eye-catching, and the people behind Lost In Random make it. All these factors are enough for me to purchase the game on its release. After eight hours of gameplay(six or less if you just want to finish the game), I am confident to say that The Midnight Walk is a wonderful package full of atmospheric scenes and interesting stories. Every single character is memorable. The narrator does a great job telling tales of the denizens along the road. All of this is made in claymation, which to me is already a mind-blowing fact. However, this game is not without its flaws. Being a walking simulator takes its toll, and the uninspiring gameplay doesn't help either. I could easily see some will say the latter does not justify the price, but to me the art style along is enough. I still recommend this game to those who are looking for a sad, dark tale to play through.

Things I Like About The Midnight Walk:

1. A Dark Tale In Clay
Knowing Lost In Random, I know I am in for a treat.

Again, the claymation is amazing and mixing up with Tim Burton's cartoonic gothic style is just brilliant. The details of each creature are jarring. The environment is fantastically eerie. Each zone has a distinct color and foggy effect to make the scenery atmospheric.
The stories are great. Just like Lost In Random, it's like connecting individuals fairy tales with the overarching themes of light, dark, the warmth of fire. Yet unlike the former, The Midnight Walk has a general focus on sorrow and regret.
The VAs and The Narrator work wonder here. Voice actors breathe lives into the denizens of the dark road, and the narrator's soothing voice really sets the tone of bedtime fairy tale, albeit a sad one.
It's up to you and Potboy's duty to listen to people along the road and help them as much as possible. You may not redeem their mistakes and sins, but you can at least bring comfort and warmth to their cold, dead hearts.

2. Other Compliments

I love how often the music is in-sync with the emotional bits of the stories.
Potboy dances every time you feed him coal.
Collectibles are nice additions to collect. Shellphones shed some insights to the past events of the land, figurines allows you to inspect the amazing clay works, and film tapes are nice audio books.


Things I Dislike About The Midnight Walk:

Simple Gameplay
Almost as if it is a curse for horror story-driven games.

Unambitious may be harsh for this game, but the gameplay is really simple.
The hiding mechanic is hilarious. All the monsters lack object permanence. Even if they are right on your tail, you can still hide in the closet and be completely safe from any harm. The monsters just like "Oh woe is me. Wherever does my prey go? He was right between me and this suspiciously out-of-place closet a second ago. Better luck next time then. "
The mechanical puzzles desperately need some tension. Monsters lose interests way too quickly. It is way too easy to hide from them because of the abundance of hiding spots, which to me dwindle the horror element a lot.
The "close your eyes" mechanic feels underutilized, only stopping at spawning and despawning stuff.
Despawning monsters by closing your eyes is a neat mechanic, but I wish the effective distance could be a little shorter and in an uncomfortable range.
The movie parts in Craftsman chapter need rework, easily the least engaging part of the game.

中文小簡評
→用黏土動畫做成的恐怖冒險遊戲，由Lost In Random部分開發人員所作。
→當初看到遊戲預告就被其詭譎的氛圍和獨特的畫風所吸引，成品果然不負重望，場景刻劃陰鬱，薄霧的壟罩營造出一股朦朧美。
→黏土製定格動畫配上類Tim Burton那歌德式卡通畫風簡直是天作之合。
→故事方面玩過Lost In Random就知道，作者喜歡用將獨立的小故事串以來，再用同一個主題編織出大故事的主軸，這款則是以光明、黑暗及火的主題描述一個個關於後悔及贖罪的故事。
→當然故事有趣少不了旁白及配音員的盡心演出。旁白渾厚柔和的嗓音彷彿在對你說著床邊故事，而配音員也竭力為遊戲中的NPC塑造形象。
→巧妙地將音樂的抑揚頓挫與遊戲劇情的起伏融合，讓玩家在看故事的同時也能有用聽覺身歷情境。
→這個火甕小鬼頭真的是越看越喜歡，餵他吃煤礦還會欣喜地跳舞。
→遊戲也藏有許多收集品，貝殼電話會跟你講過去的發生的事件、模型可以讓你好好觀看怪物的造型、而膠捲則是以投影片講故事。
→可惜遊戲本質還是一款走路模擬器，重故事就容易忽略遊戲性。怪太好躲也太容易追丟玩家不說，許多關卡橋段我覺得少了被追的刺激感，也不需要隨時注意怪物的動向。
→閉眼的機制發揮得不夠徹底，僅僅止步於生成或去除物品。
→閉眼去除怪物的想法不錯，可惜判定範圍太廣，少了點貼臉的恐懼感。
→第四章故事敘述的部分有待加強，比起其他章節手法太過於被動。