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Writer's pictureJonathan Ribarro

Harthorn




At A Glance

  • Released: 10/27/20

  • Reviews: 140, net very positive, as of /2023

  • English Reviews: 109

  • Localized in: English

  • Had Publisher: no

  • Majority of reviews:

    • English ~69%

    • German ~9%

    • Spanish ~4%

  • Price: $3.99

  • Review report:

    • Negatives: waiting 10 seconds to restart level, sneak sequence was poor, issues with movement in the beginning not working, spelling errors, glitchy, not that scary

    • Positives: good tension, sound is perfect, gameplay is fantastic, good story, good voice acting



Gameplay

  • Forced to check on certain rooms before others, really takes me out of experience since I’m always lost

  • Got stuck in the infirmary trying to go into a curtain room, gap looked big enough

  • After getting into other wing, player says someone is coming

    • Music cues play and even a tutorial dialogue pops up, but nothing happened

    • Was it all just a lie? Pretty effective

  • Code for storage room written on stall door, then lady in the toilet starts crying

  • Come to a sneak section (for real), AI patrolling, gives you a few seconds before he gives chase

    • Had to grab a key and unlock a door to escape

  • Got batteries, talked to lady, acting professional

  • Enemy appears to do a charge then sprint, possible to get away (never seen a horror AI do that)

  • Got a hammer from lockbox and got boards off final door, pulled really quick

  • It takes 10 seconds to reset game, pressing button did nothing

  • You get to shoot bad guy, he ragdolls and takes ~4 bullets

    • Body also disappears

Music

  • Ambient music, kind of upbeat but menacing, appropriate

Sounds

  • Stinger occurs for control overlay

  • VO for main character and other security lady

    • Sound like they’re trying too hard to sound natural, happened in Swine too

  • Door opening sound is a bit wooshy at the end


Art

  • The light in the classroom is obtrusive, like a layer of fog

    • Lighting in all the rooms seems a bit messy

  • Character animation for walking backwards is a bit off, looks like sliding

  • FPS dropping when looking at lantern, optimization problems?

    • Lit lanterns to guide the way, helpful but confusing. Why? Who?

    • Seems to be a small point light on player

  • A gate rises from turning a valve, goes into ceiling

    • Valves are in odd places, like a stall in the bathroom

Writing

  • Starts on morning shift in 1994

  • There is an entire missile in the enemy studio

  • Cop is in building and dies, you get his pistol

  • The end

    • These characters were kind of lackluster, maybe focus on character development for next games?

    • Big surprise killer got away

Scare Factor

  • There was an old pair of boots in a stall with closed door

    • Looked like someone was in there, smart

  • Killer finally shows his face, big lad, masked

    • Player didn't have a reaction to it at all

  • After showing the killer stakes are higher, but maybe the killer doesn’t show up at all?

  • Behind door that lady showed in basement was bad guy, jumpscare, ran at me

    • The guy talks, really takes his strength away

    • Monologues, he is the artist and wants to blow up the school

Extra

  • Found a glitch where I could walk up a tree, next level is the school grounds

    • Skybox looks nice, a bright moon and blue surrounding area, gets darker further away

Overall

  • Okay voice acting

  • Large school environment that worked as a horror locale

  • A story that i will never forget


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