Reporter - Scary Horror Game, follows the story of a journalist who is investigating a mysterious series of macabre events. This investigation has taken him to this old, abandoned hospital. As the player, you take on the role of this journalist and must explore the hospital, solve puzzles, and uncover clues while avoiding monsters to progress through the game. The game features an unsettling atmosphere, mild jump scares, and a variety of Resident Evil 7 inspired puzzler gameplay.
I started the game, and immediately, I was thrust into the creepy atmosphere and tone of the game. The gameplay mostly involves roaming around the hospital and using your trusty flashlight to light up the mostly dark interiors. Not even a minute into it, and there was already a mild jump scare of sorts that scared the @$%# out of me. I normally hate jump scares as they feel like a cheap way to scare players and audiences, but this time it felt fitting because of the extremely creepy setting of the game — it is only used sparingly and not moment after moment.
The puzzle elements are pretty standard, which range from finding hidden objects and manipulating the environment in order to uncover hidden clues, to the usual “live” puzzles where in this case – you need to untangle the wire configuration given a limited amount of moves to solve it. If not for the creepy and panic-inducing setting, it would have been a cake walk in the park, but the horror aspect of the game has made the puzzles more challenging, perhaps even extremely difficult, depending on how easily scared the players are.
Aside from puzzles, you also need to run and hide from monsters, failure to do so will result in death. There is no way to fight back, no weapons, no attacks. Just plain hiding which makes these kinds of games extra scary — which reminded me of the game Amnesia.
So far, I can say that a lot of thought has gone into crafting the tightly packed horrifying experience and this looks like a solid horror game to be immersed in and get extra scared. It has console-level graphics, and the visuals really look good for a mobile game, even more for a one dollar value without any in-app purchases.
Full Review will be posted soon here on Taptap! Stay tuned!