Stairs

This is a horror-themed Walking Sim. It's psychological, immersive, dark, and suspenseful. There are a few minor attempts at jump-scares, but they probably won't frighten anybody over the age of ten, so I don't think it classifies as a true horror game. There is only one section, in the mines, where "monsters" will chase you, but they don't see too well in the dark, and thus are actually quite easy to avoid.

In this game, you are playing as journalist Christopher Adams. Starting out, you go to an abandoned factory, where police discovered the body of a girl who had been reported missing a couple of years ago. In the factory, you find a set of mysterious stairs going downward. Of course, as a curious journalist, you want to investigate where they go, and therein the "fun" begins.

The overall story is decent. The graphics are pretty standard for a 2015 game of this type. The devs are foreign (either Swedish or Danish, I think), and they forgot to translate a few things, but that didn't slow me down any, so I guess those things were not that important to the core of the story. The ending was pretty abrupt, and unsatisfying. It could have been done with a little more flair and/or creativeness.

The game has several checkpoints, and thus periodically saves itself. If something happens to you, or you leave the game and come back later, you will continue from the last checkpoint you passed. If you don't encounter any crashes or game-breaking bugs, the game should take you 4 to 5 hours to finish. There is no timer though, so you are free to explore at your own pace.

The game plays as you would expect for this type of game. You will wander around (sometimes aimlessly), solve a couple of puzzles, get a few codes, listen to audio clues, read notes, take photos, and find ways to open locked doors as you search for a way to escape. You have no inventory to manage, as you are only carrying a flashlight and a camera.

There are both trading cards, and achievements, but the game has no replayability once finished the first time. If you are an achievement hunter, you will probably have to play it twice, as some of the achievements are missable. According to the forums, two of them are broken and don't work properly. However, there is a guide for one of them showing you how to force/trick it to pop.

Other people have reported some bugginess and some crashes, but I experienced none of those things myself. The game ran perfectly fine for me. I bought it on sale for only $1.29, and I feel that the hours of entertainment the game has provided was well worth my money.

Just too many bugs for my liking to be honest.

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-2 achievements are broken.
*1 I discovered how to fix it and am still working on the last.*

-Some of the other achievements are out of sync (unlocks too early or too late)

-1 of the note is bugged and will not register that it has been picked up.

-There are times when the character stops as if it hits a wall (I think it has something to do with opening the journal while moving or VSYNC)

-A spot at the end game where a chunk of the level disappears behind you and you can fall off the map lol

-Pressing "T" opens either a chat box (SINGLE PLAYER GAME) or a CLI ..either way...doesn't work

-Sometimes when you load your save or start the game ..it doesn't start and will keep playing the menu background movie...dont worry...you can fix this by pressing "ESC" and press "Restart Last Checkpoint"

-Sometimes if you have a save at the end of the last level, it will not save, and spawn you at the beginning.

-Sometimes if you have a save at the end of the last level, you will fall through the map

This is not an attack just honesty...

The Devs have not fixed these issues...Nor do I think they are still current...and the game has broken since 2015-16 and its up to the people to solve the solutions to a $12.99 game they bought.

Stairs could of been better if they added on check points when you reach certain part of the mine maze, made it controller friendly, and not try to make it all dark all the time no matter how much you turned the gamma up.

Broken Achievements, which is a shame as it had potential

I didn't mind this one. Decent exploration and environments, a few interesting puzzles / races, and a nice mechanic in the form of the main controls being equipping the camera, and taking photos.

For a game that is supposedly Action-adventure and horror, the camera being the only thing you can do besides interacting with switches and notes is disappointing. Movement controls feel sluggish and stiff as well, which is not a good mix when the mouse-look is fast and there is no sensitivity option in the settings.

I could have started this review by talking about the four options for starting the game, but you probably didn't read past the fact the achievements are stuffed anyway. I imagine this is why SAM (Steam. Achievement. Manager.) is still a working thing - for situations just like this, so if you already own this game and it's past the point of refund, then that is my suggestion.

So I could type and talk until I'm blue in the face but at this point no one cares enough to read this, so I've decided to write a short story. I hope you like it.

Gible's War

Gible landed in the garden with a thump. It was a typical landing for him, he'd never quite got it right. Folding his wings away awkwardly, he peered around surreptitiously, hoping no one had seen it.

A kookaburra laugh echoed through the nearby trees. It started slow but Gible could hear it getting louder. He made a show of preening his left wing, but inwardly he knew it was too late. Within moments, the sound of several kookaburras laughing raucously filled his ears.

He abandoned his erstwhile preening and glared into the trees. The laughter continued for some time, as other birds swooped in from the surrounding area to see what all the fuss was about. Finally, as the noise subsided, one of the kookaburras made an appearance. It sat proud, appearing to grow momentarily as it puffed its feathers out. The one eye Gible could see seemed to sparkle with mirth.

'Gib, my fella,' the kookaburra said, 'you should know we're always watching you. You and your... landings.'

Gible's eyes narrowed. It was Bagon. Always Bagon.

The kookaburra's huge beak opened with a grin. 'I hear tell Farmer Brown isn't happy with your lot, you better watch out.'

Gible screeched loudly and flapped his wings at him. 'Go away.'

Bagon almost burst into laughter again as one of his friends landed beside him. 'Me? Go away? Bahaha, you're as funny as ever. Farmer Brown doesn't care about us - because we don't eat his crops. Shouldn't you be going? Before something bad happens to ya?'

Gible made a big show of yawning before walking boldly to the edge of the crop. 'I go where I want. I do what I want. No gangster filth tells me what to do.'

Bagon conferred with his friend for a short time, before calling back down to Gible. 'Say, have you seen your flock today?'

Gible paused. 'No, but we cover a large territory. They'll be around.'

'Don't be so sure.'

'What is that supposed to mean?' Suddenly, Gible could feel the eyes of a great many birds watching him, and he felt cold. He looked at Bagon, but Bagon seemed distracted, looking over to the farmer's house. He raised his crest briefly, and Bagon's beak split open in a huge grin again.

'Time's up Gible. For you and all your greedy kind!' Bagon opened his wings as if to fly at him, but a noise from behind startled him. It was the local magpie couple swooping - at him! Gible could hardly believe it. They were always so timid around him and his mates. No matter. As he rounded to face down this threat though, the kookaburras dived. A flurry of more black and white to the right. Magpie larks! Overlapping images of multiple black wings signified ravens to the left. They'd joined forces! A concerted attack by the whole territory!

In the split second he'd figured all this out, Gible decided now was a good time to panic. With a tremendous screech, he took flight again, his great white wings beating as fast as he could to gain altitude, to lift above the threat. With a start, Gible realised he was still screeching - a horrible noise audible for miles. As he recognised this, and as he climbed higher, Gible also filled with dread at Bagon's words. Where were the answering screeches? Where were his friends?

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Bagon looped around with his mates and landed back in the same spot. As he folded his wings, he looked to the house. Sure enough, Farmer Brown had emerged. He was fumbling as he clutched the shiny metal, muttering to himself as he stared angrily at the screeching bird emerging from his fields.

'Here it comes, fellas,' Bagon crooned. His mate Shelgon stared in anticipation as the man pointed the metal at Gible. Even the magpie larks seemed to have forgotten their endless feud with the magpies as they settled down on a power line. The ravens had gone already, no doubt off to find some other mischief, or garbage bin to break into.

Finally a sharp, short thunderclap sounded. Bagon hooted in triumph as Gible tumbled out of the sky, his screeches cut short.

Shelgon hooted with pleasure. 'Look! A double rainbow.'

Bagon fluffed up and grinned enormously. 'I feel like chicken tonight.'