At A Glance
Released: 4/25/17
Reviews: 37,097, net very positive, as of 8/2023
English Reviews:
Localized in:
Had Publisher: No
Majority of reviews:
Simplified Chinese ~29%
English ~21%
Russian ~19%
Price: $29.99
Review report:
Negatives: story is confusing, not that scary
Positives: good graphics, very scary, strong atmosphere, extreme shock value
Gameplay
On story mode, Marta never shows for the first encounter
In the path to the corn maze, two cultists slowly walk towards you, but if you run straight past them then a third takes position to auto-kill if you get too close (design decision)
Guy in a rocking chair points knife at player and rotates, won’t kill unless you get close
Guy in house insta-kills if you open door and go into kitchen
Can be broken if you run into the house
If all cultists are dodged you can go back to the mess hall
Got all cultists to chase me back to the house, and they stopped chasing when i got on the pedestal
In the shed, if you hit the floor twice and crawl, you can stay safe in a corner
Marta is forcing player through game on the way back, and as soon as the player turns away she is gone
In the cave area with jessica, player can’t look entirely up or down
Cannot survive jumping off hill into lake
There is a lantern by the raft, leads player
‘Dislodging’ raft won’t let you escape, must ‘escape’ 5 times then you will be free
Right before getting back on the raft a bunch of heretics hide in tall grass above the area
When you get closer to the raft heretics come down with torches
They punch really fast, about 0.5 seconds between punches
Trying to run back up the path spawns another heretic that one-shots
Heretics were dropping rocks from above and one hits the raft
Creature in the pool area starts walking slow but doesn’t get faster than you
Pool resizes itself at least once so you don’t reach the edge too quickly
Only the size you are walking towards gets resized, not the whole pool
Seems like the pool is still just in the same school area, except there was no lighting
The water near the mines kills
There are chutes that can be either climbed or crawled under
2 heretics appear at the staircase, one blocks and the other breaks open the door
The breaker goes back upstairs and disappears
Seems that once the player gets upstairs the downstairs heretic disappears
Once player squeezes through gap, a heretic blocks the way back and another breaks through the wall (takes a few hits)
Heretic slows down speed once the player gets hit
The lights act as an unconscious guiding point
Once you are trapped in the room, heretics will eventually slip in
One starts breaking the window, a lot more noticeable
There are multiple entries into the library maze, then they all close once inside
Monster chases you slowly
Has a smoky trail behind to make it more noticeable
Disappears about when you come to a deadend in the wall
Jessica is at the start of the hall, disappears when player dies (leads the player to goal)
Area leading back to the lit room is also blocked by books
Heretics can pull you out of squeeze spaces
Heretics can’t reach Blake to hit him while hanging
Second one came and was able to land a hit
When the 3 heretics are running, one stays behind to guard the way back, making sure player doesn’t leave too early
Val drops through a hole in the ceiling, which is connected to the first flooded encounter
Spawns near the bottom, and quickly
Rocks fall in a crawlspace the way you went, and Val goes the opposite
Player is supposed to fall into flooded cave
2 heretics drop in with you, not Val
Val is walking on planks up above outside the lake area
Sounds
Some bulbs popping and creaking audio plays
On the path to the burial site, there are noises and twigs breaking
Listening to the ambient noises in the throne room they sound out of place, like civilized people in a breakroom
When reloading battery, there is a soft jingle at the end
When getting knocked off the raft and in the water, if blake goes under the water with ctrl, he pants as if he was above water
Back on land after recovering from raft fall, there are strong breathing noises from above or out of sight and there is no heretic (that i could see) present
Blake can die underwater, but the death animation that plays has his panting as if he’s above water
Voices are speaking in a shack in the mines but there are no bodies around
When going into the tab menu the music is muffled, big drum beats gone (A moment of respite)
Art
The background is intentionally blurry the farther away you are (the closer, the more detailed)
From where i freecam’d in the valley, the school area is far away and below the world
This area is actually far below the crash site, for some reason the lighting gets really bright sometimes (EMP blast?)
Hands on the clock disappear when not being ‘looked’ at
Optimization? Is it really necessary? (Every little bit helps)
Jessica appears as the doors slam shut
The trees on top of the mountains are meshes, but the branches are billboards
The moon is a full 3d sphere
Clouds in the area are tilted billboards
Some leaf particles are blowing into the first house
Once the onlookers are out of view, they instantly disappear
When crawling, the camcorder arm isn’t there when in use
If the player looks off the path to the burial site, there are actually people on the rocks
These ‘people’ are all the same woman, but they are far enough away that the player would never know
The burial site is below the dirt if reviewed from above, impossible to find
A layer of foggy wind obscures Marta so she can disappear
When i watched the throne room from the beginning and freecam’d all this way, there were far fewer people, but they were still there and animated
Right outside the door, freecamming inside i see many more
There is also a light right on the door to make it harder to see inside
Same for all ways to look inside actually
Once ethan leaves the house, his animations are barebone, then he disappears
From what i can see, the shadows on the corn stalks are baked in, not dynamic
LOD on a dead guy changes based on position of freecam
There's a cube of fog that encases the whole cornfield area and barn
I think fog is there to make the world look brighter (Through NV?)
Animations of cultists were staggered when player is not looking in their direction
Animations appear to be skipping frames, only updating every 0.5-1 second
The birds that die spawn above the trees, kind of in a random square pattern
Grabbing and sidling has the same animations from first game
Jessica on the branch disappears as soon as player view is obstructed
Inside the well there is an air duct, but the player is in a different position
Legs are firm when crawling in air duct
Light is attached to player when music box is held
Cultist with the pitchfork isn't actually carrying it above the floor, but they did render and animate a cultist
The main door inside the shed is getting bashed, but nobody is on the other side
Marta’s animations don’t get cut in any way when not looking at her
In the barn encounter, at a certain spot the player walks to she will auto-appear
A door leading out from the hook barn is not architecturally correct, if it could open it goes right into the ground
When looking at the mines, the cable car wires are meshes, but not detailed and very stretched
The moon is still a full 3d sphere
In the house that climbs into the school, the immediate beginning is inside the house already, but there aren’t any hallways
As soon as you jump in player is teleported to a different section for lower in the school area
Black tendrils and smoke particles appeared in peripheral vision
When blake puts the hangman on the projector, he doesn’t actually animate at all, the hand animation is separate
In the part with the locker jumpscare, the entire monster shows up behind you but in shadow form
Soon after, the fully textured version is there but crouching
If you wait long enough, he just disappears and the next door opens
In the air ducts when the tongue grabs your legs and you turn, the player gets transported back to the town map and away from the duct
When the camera looks back i believe this is where the teleport occurs
Fog obscures end of railroad tracks, so player can’t see where it’s unfinished
Locusts spawn from beyond the fog
Nick and Laird are already standing off screen
The arrow shot spawns away from them
When blake enters the squeeze space there is already a locker on the other side, but the player is teleported to the under school area
Jessica model is animated down the hall and still, but the animation seems to be of her breathing
When the camcorder is in the middle of raising, there is a green-ish light that appears in dark areas
Nick moves faster at a certain point and doesn’t match with his walk animation
The cross isn’t actually being pushed by people, they disappear and it animates on its own
The scalled camp is empty while blake is on the cross
When the camera is near blake everything far goes out of focus, but when freecamming away it becomes clear
Is this a PP effect layer?
When blake picks up the camera and the blue screen shows, he is teleported instantly away from the house
The school creature kill animation shows it killing Blake then impaling his head
One blake enters the locker he is teleported back to the real world
Laird isnt actually rendered when shooting arrows and Blake is still inside, must be for spooking the player to take cover and sneak out the back
First 2 shots always miss
On a dead body maggots were put into the mesh, but they are static
When the player is hanging from a ledge, a small point light activates (maybe spot light)
The school monster has an apparition that stays behind you, and only moves when you do
When the father walks into the lake, once he is submerged he starts running
When blake watches a video with tab, the camcorder is pressed right up to his face so it can be seen
Covers whole screen
The batteries bandages are only visible when tabbed
Cultists near raft sprint quickly out of view and disappear near cave
When freecamming to the house by the raft, there was a battery and bandage inside, but when i actually went there was nothing
In the fog right before a blast occurs, the player is transported to a separate map
The area looks like a landscape of water, no longer in main area
After getting knocked off the raft if Blake dies before getting back on the raft it disappears while he drowns
When back on the raft it moves forward automatically
Carried by river
Auto crashes into rock
Heretics come in, wait a few seconds, then run at the player
The area with heretics is a wall of tree billboards,and it’s right at the edge of a fog box
The murkoff facility also has billboard windows all over the building (same everywhere)
Got stuck on a rock before the heretic, allowed me to freecam
River moved it left and right but not far enough
Lights and torches in the throw area were inactive by the first heretic
Turn on when closer
Guy that gets set on fire is still there under a bunch of dead bodies
Another thing the fog boxes do is bring the general color up to a more bluish hue
When swimming through the bodies, some of them react with physics and others are submerged further underwater
A couple heretics in the rocks are running with torches and the animations were choppy (didn’t see much besides legs moving)
When blake gets knocked off raft again it turns 90 degrees left and he goes into the river
A couple heretics jumped across the river but they weren’t really animated
Another heretic running above was only updating animations every second
The raft capsizes out of nowhere and disappears
When the creature pulls you below water, you are teleported to the school area
The bloody toilet activates even if you hop the stall
In the raising camcorder animation, some of the blood doesn’t appear
The stuff that does show up appears to be a mesh along with footprint decals
The stuff that doesn’t show up looks like a mix, but i can’t tell
When the school creature chases you, the veins cover the doors you aren’t allowed to go in
Some of the bits coming out of the blood alarms look like particles but they seem too big
For the most part, the blood is spattered everywhere as decals
When climbing up the ladder, the hatch requires an interaction
This tells the game the exact moment to transport the player to the mines
There is also a fake hut built at the top of the school ladder in case the player sees anything
When climbing back down the ladder you get stuck going down, maybe the game is still using the school ladder
Entire area seems separate from when the raft and river were there
Can’t freecam to the river, it’s gone and the level is cut off
The freecam NV looks gray-ish red
There are some water particles falling off the metal roof of the shack
There's a small layer of blood rain that appears outside of the door
Once you step out more rain surrounds blake
The outside ground/floors seem to be a material/particle effect combo (makes the raindrops more believable far away)
Once under a roof or awning the blood funnel disappears
There are some blood particles that drop from the roofs
Inside a blocked door, the house is completely empty except for some sand and a barrel blocking entry
Past a fence on the right there is an open door, but later you get closer and there is more detail (wood, planks, a light)
A heretic closes the door behind you, stays there fully animated for a few seconds
Jessica is standing at the end of the bleachers behind a glass door, and her animation is very subtle except for the end when she kind of jumps back
As soon as Blake takes a step closer she runs away
The light before jumping out the window gets really bright, and obscures vision long enough to teleport
Hanged ropes go really, really high up
When squeezing through the shelf a heretic grabs you and you teleport to the mine
When squeezing through another shelf, a heretic was rendered running above on planks, then disappears
There is also a heretic from above that watches the player
Heretics are pacing above, some fully rendered and others only shadows
Once the cart is pushed to the wall, 4 heretics jump down
If you jump up and hang, the heretics get stuck and can’t hit you
Once you jump over, the heretics disperse and disappear around corner
When blake walks on stairs you can’t see his legs
Avoids bugs being seen
Blake slips out of roof and falls on jessica
While he is near her teleport happens
Blake then lifts her body, but back at the mines that same body is being moved (why?)
Creature blinks visibly when running in the hallway
Some of the veiny parts in the bathroom look like mesh distortion
Jumping out of the window instantly teleports to the mine, on an edge
The room blake jumps from is architecturally inaccurate, impossible to reach
Door that is getting slammed leads to nowhere on the inside
When blake is injured, i think the gash on his arm is a decal/texture, not separate mesh
Once the hatch is locked none of the heretic models are rendered anymore
The entire mines area (lake, innards, coal, roof, building) are all in the same level just loaded are different times
3 heretics show up in the elevator, don’t render until a few seconds after hitting the switch
A minecart destroys the wall and still animates for a couple seconds so player can see it
More heretics show up in the window, nowhere for them to stand on the outside and they are floating (High-speed area and typical player will not stop at all to analyze)
Elevator to the mines teleports to an entirely new area
Elevator is duplicated, and so is tunnel
Player is probably teleported when light goes out
Blake descends a long staircase in the mines, not generated
About to fall into Vals lair, nobody there
As blake falls in the water two heretics appear
Val is also at the edge with a torch
The sex room is behind Val, most of them seem to be fully animated
There's a layer of darkness in the pit to jump across, prevents player from seeing bottom
Like a black fog box
Lynn starts to animate once blake can see her
At the school most of it is normal except for blood decals in the stairwell
Jessicas body is already prepared in the stairwell, and the door looks odd
All the lockers are empty, no shelves
The insides reflect the hallway middle
The father walks through the wall and misses the door
Once the door closes they both disappear
As blake gets closer to the classroom, Jessica and father walk by and stop at the corner together
The picture of jessica, blake, and lynn is still on the desk in the classroom
Back in the mines, jessica and young blake models were present, but disappear as blake gets up
Lynn t-poses for just a second while picking her up
When marta kills blake, lynn disappears but she still talks
When marta dies, her mesh doesn’t change with a wound hole, looks like a mix of decals and particles
One of the rock walls is stretched into a wooden hut
Lynn has genitals rendered before the birth
Knoths wound shows up all at once when he presses the knife to his neck
Think it's just part of the texture on his neck
When blake wakes up the back of the church area is gone
Most of the chase scenes through the village are here but they are missing a ton of detail (not needed)
UI
The NV stays on during freecam, not just a light anymore
When reviewing inventory there is a point light to help you see
The camera doesn’t record in this game (unlike OL 1), only records when there is an event
When zooming in with the camcorder, a vignette layer around the corner appears
Right before the hall of blood, the screen starts shaking a little bit
When pressed against the wall, the camera bobs
Outside the windows it is very foggy (provides cover since all of the details and props have been culled away)
Guy comes from nowhere and knocks Blake down
His legs kind of move but not much
He runs out of the exit with no animations and disappears
Screen zooms in a little bit while talking to the Father in school
Writing
A letter at the foot of a door sheds light on the death of a child, and there is a hanged woman inside
The lights within are positioned so player can see inside
When forced to run into the bathroom, the veins determine where the creature is
4 heretics greet you when falling down the shaft
Heretics on either side running up and yelling at blake
Climbing up the coal pile takes awhile for enemies (slow crawl)
Surrounding heretics corral player forward
There is a big hole to traverse for lore and at the bottom is just a plain rock floor
On the path to the next area, 2 heretics show up, 1 guards the way, and another attacks
The guard heretic doesn’t appear to be animated at all while Blake is being attacked
Rocks falling from above in cave system conveniently crush two heretics and not the player
Once cutscene is over the bodies disappear
In the sex room the dust person appears from the left side, takes the camcorder, and disappears to the right
Blake has the camcorder again (where did it come from?)
Extra cultists present stop player from going the wrong way
Once through most of the house, the last door collapses and Marta waits until player progresses more
Scare Factor
Head is stationed above in a bin, supposed to roll down and scare the player
Computer in the school prompts you to leave once Jessica says to turn around
She is hanging even before you leave
The model has blood spots on the back of the legs, not very detailed
Pupils look oddly large
Her hands also have blood spots
Extremely scary
Extra
When falling off the bridge, next level is down there below, no teleport
Overall
A worthy successor to the original with more of everything and a few added mechanics to make everything a little spicier
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