If we were reviewing the St. Dinfna Hotel for Tripadvisor, then it would be a bit of a mauling. Old fashioned décor, a serious damp problem, monsters, rubbish WiFi, and a smug receptionist that didn’t even offer to carry our bags to the room. We simply couldn’t recommend staying there.
But here at Push Square, we’re in the business of reviewing games. And when it comes to games — particularly survival horror games — a strong setting goes a long way. Fobia – St. Dinfna Hotel’s titular guest house is a wonderful setting for horror.
The game is at its best when you’re wandering the halls of the old girl with no healing items in your inventory, hoping that there’s not going to be something sinister lurking around the corner to jump out and get you. Usually, there isn’t and the game is better for it. Sometimes a creepy little girl wearing a gas mask will pop her head out from behind a wall just to freak you out. It works.
There’s combat but it’s nothing special. You’ve got guns; monsters have glowy bits. As a first-person shooter, Fobia is pretty rough around the edges, but the combat is infrequent enough that it rarely frustrates. If you were feeling charitable then you might even say that the slightly awkward shooting helps to heighten the tension in the same way that old-school Resident Evil or Silent Hill games were made scarier because of their rubbish controls.
We’re giving Fobia - St. Dinfna Hotel the benefit of the doubt. It’s flawed for sure. But the ten or twelve-hour playing time is mostly a good time thanks to the effectiveness of the titular guest house as a setting and the oppressive atmosphere it manages to conjure during your stay there.
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Comments 21
Oh boy, another 7/10 AA game! Looks like it could be a fun enough time over a weekend though.
How does this get a 7 & the quarry gets a 5!! Wtf! This game looks terrible
@Ryany I give your comment a 3/10. Others might give it an 8/10.
@Ryany Because I'm nice like that.
I am really excited about this! Definitely purchasing it for a Friday night of fun this week!
@Ryany As much as I loved The Quarry it is of an acquired taste. Also, compared to Until Dawn and the Dark Pictures Anthology they really dumbed down the QTEs which to me was a mistake. For a cinematic, story-driven game with minimal gameplay, it is best to at least have some complicated inputs to increase engagement.
Removed - flaming/arguing; user is banned
Balan Wonderworld got a 3/10. So this has to be game of the year 😂
@jmac1686 Yeah I haven't played but that's what I weirdly noticed, there wasn't much gameplay compared to the other games when watching playthroughs.
The review was pretty much what I expected. I’m still interested and I’ll be picking this one up in a few months once I clear out my back log. Thanks for reviewing!
I’ll try any console survival horror that’s got inventory management and heavy puzzles. At 30 bucks it’s probably worth a go, nice review
@jmac1686 Have to disagree, I hate qtes and always disable them if there's an option for it. I play those games for the choice systems, I'd rather have no gameplay than a qte system. It takes away from the cutscene and sometimes I miss stuff cause I'm focused on pressing the right inputs.
How are the puzzles and the story/voice acting compared to the modern Resident Evil titles?
@Amusei Puzzles are mainly down to navigation - corridors get blocked, rooms locked, etc. due to events in the game and getting to where you need to be is never as simple as just going up a flight of stairs, there's keys to find, codes to work out, and a few more elaborate ones - these are similar to stuff like the classic paintings puzzle from Resident Evil or something. You're not going to be doing any physics or anything. Top level: I never got stuck because of anything other than navigation for more than two or three minutes and I'm bad at puzzles.
Voice acting is obviously low budget. Like, it's not offensive at all. But you hear it and you know this ain't AAA. Story is unobtrusive which is a nice way of saying there's not many cutscenes and it kinda takes a back seat. It's one of those that doesn't beat you over the head but there's some interesting ideas. It's probably not about what you think it's about.
But in terms of cut-scenes etc. this very much has the BioShock thing of we need to go to this place and see this person but oh no they're not there now, call them up on the radio instead, presumably as a budget thing.
Love the trapped in a building horror game. Things just get really tense, such a rush.
I saw this game and I said, "looks neat, like a potato", so I will purchase it Tuesday.
@johncalmc Alright, thanks for all the info! Sounds like it might be my type of game. I might give it a shot later when I'm itching for some horror again.
@Ryany which one of the two have you played? I would hazard a guess the answer would influence your opinion. Key word being opinion.
@GhostInAJar I wouldn't buy this game all the other reviews I have seen say its not good. It looks awful
@Ryany good for you
@Ryany While I don't agree with the Quarry getting a 5,even though I was a Lil disappointed by it compared to Until Dawn,I will say Fobia is farfrom terrible, it is actually an extremely enjoyable atmospheric survival horror game easily worth the 30 bucks and 12 to 15 hour playtime,don't judge something unless you try it or have more info,you look ignorant that way,..play Fobia and you'll see its greatness
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