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Hey everyone how's it going?
We are here with a brand new horror survival game called the "Blind Shrine Maiden" created
by Nickel City Pixels and sole developer Michael Kelley. I want to point out that this game
has not been released yet and I have been given access to the game to try out and review
it. You are in a first person mode of not only yourself (a girl named Hoshimi) but in
the first person of your enemy as well - a demon.
Hoshimi was blind at birth and has to use extrasensory perception or ESP as the game
calls it and tries to exocise the demon and free herself from the clutches of the demons!
Now, you can only see minimal as playing from the eyes of Hoshimi (i mean...she IS blind)
however you have full view from the demons eyes. How will you play the game? Shoot the
demon and continue with narrowed, obscured vision or run from the demon with full vision
in the hope that he will never catch you? I've played this game many times and it only
gets more addicting the more you play it. The Blind Shrine Maiden has average graphics
but considering the game has had hardly any financial funding at all if any, it therefore
really stands out for me. Besides, graphics alone isn't the only thing you should take
into account when trying a game out, I mean, have you looked at Minecraft?
The audio alone gives an ominous paranoia feeling and the game gets more creepy the
further you go into it. It not only gives the player an impression that the demon is
going to jump out at you at any moment but it also keeps you on edge every second you
continue to play. For me, the audio is disturbing and sounds
twisted which is perfect for a survival horror game, especially this one. Why this one you
say? Because it sounds like ghosts are coming out of the graves and they're going to eat
your guts and that they're going to bundle you one by one. Even the chimes sound like
death is at your door the more it plays. I definitely recommend turning the volume up
at midnight and experiencing it for yourself. The main scene is in the cemetery which may
seem like a cliche but complements the audio perfectly as I've already explained.
I found that moving Hoshimi wasn't the easiest task especially when turning around but once
you've played a few minutes of the game, you get used to it. Besides, what other game allows
you to shoot a demon in the demons perspective? It's a completely different concept and mechanic
altogether from every other game out there which I find is awesome.
So how can this game improve? Well in my opinion, to improve with the audio it would be really
cool maybe to add something extra onto it. Like make echoing voices in the distance or
maybe an echo of some Japanese songs to give a feeling of real rich backstory and maybe
even some mystery in the lyrics of those songs with possible answers to why Hoshimi is the
way she is. Why is she in a place with demons and tombstones? Why is she in a graveyard?
Why was she blind at birth? Was that because of the demon or was it because of something
else? Any answers to any of those questions even hints of those answers would really give
a good feeling to the game. Is this game scary? Well apart from getting panicky from turning
to shoot the demon in time it doesn't really have the necessary ingredients to scare the
player...(yet).
There are no jump scares, no monsters which you can see, in fact there is hardly anything
which makes me want to be scared in the game except for the music which genuinely scares
me. I respect that the game is still being worked on and Mr. Kelley could easily add
these within a few weeks or months. If he added a few jump scares which are random even
then this game would already be one step closer to achieve its true potential. I mean survival
horror's are supposed to be scary right?
Now, shooting the demon isn't as easy as it looks. You need to quickly take into account
where the demon is coming from and turn to shoot him while avoiding all the obstacles
that you can bump into. There have been numerous times which I have been stuck on a gravestone
or a tree or any other object and panicked and lost a life because of it. It takes three
bullets to kill a demon but the next encounter could range from a few seconds to as long
as thirty seconds giving you no rest time which is excellent since you really can't
underestimate the power of the demon's urges to get you.
Overall, there is no doubt that this game could be the next Slender. However, this game
really needs a mixture of horror activities built onto it to give a real dread feeling
to move further into the game not knowing what could come out at you. So the scoring
is as follows:
I give this game...a 6/10 as the game currently is. It is a fun, addictive game to play and
I look forward to progressing further and further trying to get a better score. Who
knows what other monsters are lying ahead? Maybe even a boss fight could occur if you
progress well enough...