ENKI

I was expecting this to be scary but it wasn't really. Just a shadow,
loud hisses and doors slamming behind you. It was quite tense with
the time limit. I beat the game with about 2 minutes to spare. From
start to finish it's about 30 minutes but there's some replay value
for achievements and different endings - I'll probably check them
out. In a nutshell, the game is about escaping and finding objects
scattered around the environment to achieve this. There's stuff to
read as well. Short and sweet I guess - not every game has to be
20+ hours. I would recommend waiting for a sale. I got it for 69p
- nice. It was definitely worth that. Cheaper than a Mars bar innit.

I actually really liked the puzzles and the atmosphere. The documents in the game were also really cool. However, the first time I played it, the game crashed about five minutes in. I read a comment in the discussion section to move the anti-aliasing to either 2 or 0, which ended up working (I moved it to zero). I was able to play through one time without problems. I wanted to play the game one more time to finish up a few things I missed and ended up getting a fatal error message about 20 minutes in which crashed the game again. If the game didn't keep crashing, I'd recommend it.

Fun. Puzzles\escape room on a timer.

But incredibly buggy, crashes all the time.

Enki is a puzzle horror game, where you are trapped in the cellar of a serial killer and have to find a way to escape.

Story:

As stated before, in Enki you play as an unnamed person, who is trapped in the cellar of a dangerous serial killer, he has left you and will return in 30 minutes, so you have to find a way to escape as fast as you can.

That's about all the story you get. You can collect things to learn more backstory, but I never understood how it worked and never learned more than what the game gives you.

Graphics:

The graphics in Enki aren't that bad, but there are some problems with it. I'll start off with the good. The environments are actually quite well designed and I liked walking around and looking at things. But that's where one big issue arises. The environments are way too dark and sometimes hunting for puzzle pieces becomes a pain in the ass. There are times when items are pretty big and you will spot them easily, but sadly some of the smaller items you might miss if they end up in a hard to see spot.

Audio:

This is the games strongest suit and it helps to build a solid atmosphere and paired with the time limit that is constantly ticking down makes the game quite intense. The jumpscares aren't that loud and are far and few between and when they happen they slightly catch you off guard, I actually quite liked the audio design.

Gameplay:

Enki is pretty much and escape the room type deal, you have to solve puzzles and escape your environments in the 30 minute time limit you're given and some of the puzzles I actually quite liked, like looking for medals throughout the environment and translating them into a code to unlock a door.

Also the game has multiple endings to witness so there's slight replay value, but the one thing that gives it barely any replay value is the advertised random generated puzzles each playthrough. All this feature does is change the order of puzzles and item locations and in my opinion that is not enough to warrant another playthrough.

The only replay value comes from the different endings, but to experience them all you can do it within an hour, since once you figure out what solution each puzzle requires you can quickly wrap up a single playthrough, even with the random generated item locations.

Verdict:

This is another situation where I wish Valve would give me a neutral option for a game, I don't really despise Enki, but sadly there's not much value in this package. The story is really unimpressive, not much replay value and overall the good puzzles and creepy atmosphere are not worth it alone, since a single playthrough lasts barely 15 minutes if you know what you're doing, however on a sale, I suggest giving this game a shot.

Pros:
+ Creepy atmosphere
+ Good puzzles

Cons:
- Random generated puzzles don't provide any replay value
- Some locations are too dark and make spotting items hard

Final Rating:
5/10

If you liked this review please consider joining https://steamcommunity.com/groups/completingthebacklog and https://steamcommunity.com/groups/ImperialReviews

I hate ending up giving thumbs down to a game which is actually not bad at all, but that's going to be it, unfortunately.

The GOOD stuff are - I actually quite liked the graphics. The game sets a good, unsettling atmosphere which totally does the job. Puzzles are cool (the ones I've solved as I didn't even finish the game - more about that in a bit), and basically this is potentioally a good game!

BUT -
*Not sure if it's just my monitor or if that's intentional - but seems that the game is WAY TOO DARK, even with highest gamma settings, highest brightness possible, and even on Youtube videos of the game.
It ended up hurting my eyes, mostly.
*IF you've got super-eyes and you somehow see through it all, the game is actually rather short - You're actually given 30 minutes to finish it. This is not necessarily bad if it wasn't so overpriced, relatively to what it has to offer.
*Seems like they tried to put some reading material around to give some more info & story, but really - When would I even read it when I've got 30 minutes to wander and find very specific stuff among many others in complete darkness...?
The game ends up being a nice "escape-the-room" thingy. Which, again, is not bad, but does the game description truly reflect it? I think it leaves this tiny detail somewhat vague. Or perhaps I shoul've seen it coming since they've mentioned the word "escape" so many times?

Oh well.

A REALLY good game, really scary too sometimes. The puzzles are challenging and sometimes even change, as locations of items and certain words. The beginning room was funny, I had no idea what to do, took me at least 30 minutes to get out of that room.

The atmosphere, the sounds... If I had hair on my back, they would have punctured my shirt and even though I love it when that happens, on the other hand I don't, because I am running out of shirts.

You make one failure or you don't do it in time before your kidnapper comes back, you have to redo everything again as in a new try.

The BLOOM is maybe a bit too excessive, but I just pretend that my kidnapper gave me a thoroughly bathing with too much soap. :D

I recommend it most definately, it's an experience for both of your special senses: Fright & Wits-Under-Pressure

[quote]
Grade = C. Worth a buy, for those who want challenge speedy escaping in a dark atmosphere. However, for who want large content, don't buy it

⚖️Check Scoring Scheme
[/quote]

[table]
[tr]
[th]GRADE[/th]
[th]SCORE (17)[/th]
[th]WORTH BUYING?[/th]
[th]OVERALL[/th]
[th]DISCOUNT[/th]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]A+[/td]
[td]57 ~ 70[/td]
[td]Worth a Season Pass / Deluxe Edition[/td]
[td] -[/td]
[td]No Wait[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]A[/td]
[td]43 ~ 56[/td]
[td]Worth Regular Price (Base Game)[/td]
[td] -[/td]
[td]No Wait[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]B[/td]
[td]29 ~ 42[/td]
[td]Good Value[/td]
[td] -[/td]
[td]Wait 10%~35%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]C[/td]
[td]15 ~ 28[/td]
[td]Overpriced[/td]
[td] ✔[/td]
[td]Wait 40%~90%[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]D[/td]
[td]0 ~ 14[/td]
[td]Not what you need[/td]
[td] -[/td]
[td]Wait 100%[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

THE UNIQUE:

PLAYER REQUIREMENTS:

HIGH RATED NEGATIVE FEEDBACK:

MORE INFORMATION:

Very Short Collect and Escape game.
Clunky Controls, Stutters, rather poor graphics and audios.

Interesting on first playthrough,
much small details to pay attention to that tells the story and for suspense.
Soon after, all the rest is a breeze.
Endings are just so short and simplified.


With doubts, there is helpful guide in Community Guide for tips.
A quick Perfect Game Achievement.

Playable.
Buyable only at Good Discounted or with Coupon.

For what it is, Enki is alright. I hesitate to necessarily call it 'fun' - the multiple endings and general story are cool however the Keys can be a real pain to find. The game is very dark in terms of lighting and the Keys are so tiny... then there is the added bonus of them potentially spawning in hard to see places - at a certain point, you might just need to restart the game and pray they appear elsewhere with another try. Also, I rarily experience motion sickness when it comes to games but found myself feeling nautious whenever commanding the character to run around corners.

My playtime says that I put in almost four hours but really I only played two seeing as I left the game running on my computer as I messed around doing other thngs. But yeah, I purchased Enki on sale at a great price, got two hours of playtime, and the game is ultimately an interesting experience so for that I'll recommend it.

Worth it in a Steam sale for 69p. Very short, (although not a surprise as the description says "in only 30 minutes". Nice graphics and atmosphere, wish it had been longer, they could have easily fleshed out the concept to a 3-4 hour experience.

Glad I paid $1 or I would feel like I was robbed.

The game is small so I can't give much detail without it being a spoiler. That said. The first play through is kind of interesting as you have no idea what you are looking for outside of gaining entry into rooms to ultimately escape the basement. I wouldn't really call them puzzles to solve though. More like a scavenger hunt with a dying flashlight.

If you are into completion of achievements. This game is just monotonous in my opinion. I would have probably thought much higher of this game if not for the pointless achievements that make completionist feel compelled to clock more hours beating this random spawning object scavenger hunt with the gratification of reading a different news paper article on the closing screen.
Also, for some reason, some of the achievements that you would think would trigger together, didn't. Like reading all the pages and books....not sure how i escaped the house with 5/5 on everything but didn't get these on my second play through (since the first i did the ritual versus escaping).

Not to mention the crashing annoyances.
The game randomly froze and I couldn't even tab off the black screen it left behind or end task it. Logging out of windows got rid of it. Then it exited 3 other times. The last being when i was waiting to complete the escape with 0:01 second on the clock...and i had 0:28 seconds and the game just decided to exit. Lastly i fell through the world once and watching it shrink in the distance as i fell into the blackness below the game world lol.

a pretty short game, unless you are the type that goes for the achievements. lighting is rather terrible, considering you only have 30mins to locate all the items required to get out and find as many mysteries as you can at the same time. it kinda kills the mood since you are basically running around like a mad man looking for the items.

there isn't any time for me to read the notes after failing the first time, i pretty much just speedrun it to beat the game, so be prepare to do multiple runs.

plus, it doesn't let you pause the game so have your bathroom breaks before hand. =P

scare rating 1/10

Set in the dark, gruesome basement of a serial killer, ENKI is a horror title that is solely based around solving puzzles. You will have 30 minutes to figure out your escape route, and find all of the items that you need in order to do so. The game boasts a high replayability factor due to randomly generated item placement and multiple endings that depend on how much you've learned about your captor, his previous victims, and his occult interests.

The set up for Enki is fairly decent, the basement that you're locked in is creepy and has a very obvious Satanic vibe to it. There are books on demons, alchemy, and sorcery scattered throughout the area, along with cryptic symbols and notes. You have 30 minutes to gain your freedom, and to do so you must solve easy puzzles; most of them simply involve finding keys, but some require you to find other items such as sharp nails, fuses, and large circular tokens. If you happen to find the certain key that unlocks the cellar prior to the end of 30 minutes, you will have made your escape; if you fail, you will ultimately die. It's a simple concept with a simple execution, but the random item placement does make the experience different every time. Once you know what you're looking for and where it goes, the game gets a lot easier.

While the store page does talk about multiple endings, there are five, the only difference is the headline of the newspaper at the end; escaping with mild knowledge, all knowledge, no knowledge, and two deaths. There are fifteen total "collectibles", for lack of a better term, to find in order to piece together who the killer is; five drivers licenses for previous victims, five demonic books, and five pages about the murderer himself. This does add a bit more to the story, but not very much. More in-depth endings would've been welcomed.

The last time I reviewed ENKI, I completely crucified it for its abysmal optimization. Since then, the developers released an update that fixed that. I'm happy to say that on my 6700k/GTX 1080 rig, I ran at a flawless 60FPS with full graphic settings, at a 1080p resolution. I cannot say with certainty that this patch will help lower end systems, or AMD builds; my last rig was AMD and ran this game so poorly that I never got out of the 25 FPS zone, even on low settings, and my hardware was current at the time.

After a total re-evaluation, I'm happy to say that I can recommend ENKI now. Being able to actually see what you're doing in a fluid framerate really helps things, and the developer has even seemed to fix the random crashes that used to occur and totally ruin your run. The only real improvements here could be having the timer pause when you're reading documents or when the game is paused. Other than that, ENKI is a great little escape room title and escaping from the clutches of a serial killer in a timed environment does make for a rather intense gaming experience. It's sure to appeal to puzzle enthusiasts, as well as horror thrill-seekers.

Rating: 4.0/5.0 - Excellent, highly worth playing.

I had 5 hours of playtime for steam cards only.
The game took me like 25 mins to finish it on my first try. I played it again, and it took me around 5-6 mins to beat it.
It doesn't tell you the story and what you have to do, no voice acting, unpausable, and worst of all, the FOV is so low (which you can't change it) makes it difficult to find for the items.

few things I liked are the graphics (Unreal Engine 4 awesomeness) and how the count down timer made me panic thinking that I won't make it.

but yeah, its really short and I don't think it worth $10

I like the setting, I did like the puzzles and I even like the graphics, but the advertised "extensive randomization system" is a total joke so there is actually no real reason for playing it again and 9.99€ for 20 minutes of gameplay is clearly overpriced. On top of that comes that it has been crashing for me three times before I could finish my first game (no save feature, so I had to restart every time).

Without the crashes (that seemingly not everybody has) I would recommend it for 4,99€ or less, but for 9,99€ I would have expected more randomization or a second map.

ENKI is a repeatable first person horror game that relies soley on atmosphere. You awake in a small room and basically have thirty minutes to escape the house. It has a few small amnesia like "puzzles", fairly simple to decipher. Item locations as well as puzzle answers change each game play. Story is interesting enough to keep you playing until you find everything. (for me 4 times) but the game itself leaves you wanting more. It is far too short of a game and is lacking a lot of content. The atmosphere is creepy, but after your first death..you barely notice it. Certainly not worth tha full price, but would make a nice bundle game.

I only have one notable criticism to make of this game, and that's that the price is a little overboard. Depending on how lucky and/or smart you are, you may actually "finish" this in under an hour or two. But for all you penny-pinching fuddy-duddies out there, there ARE these things called Steam Sales, and they happen a number of times a year.

All that aside...WHAT A GAME! The ATMOSPHERE! The GRAPHICS! The SOUND! The SETTING! The SCENARIO! Enki is, essentially, a first-person adventure game in which you have thirty minutes to find your way out of a Satan-lovin' serial killer's lair, and despite the fact that there is no strict "danger" until that thirty minutes is up, the fact that the clues/objects get spread out randomly each time you play (and are often in pretty dark nooks and crannies, easy to miss the first or even second time) means that it will probably take MOST of us several efforts to find success.

So in theory it's very short, but the idea is that you should probably learn a little more each time about what kind of clues/objects are required to escape, and you won't just be able to bee-line it to each object and get the fuck outta Dodge by your second attempt or anything. I personally found myself getting a little "further" every time, until I finally succeeded on my third attempt (and even then, with less than five minutes to spare). It's certainly a tense race-against-time, even if it's low on the ever-controversial "jump-scares". And there's plenty of achievements to get - I'm still only at 40% as of this writing - so there may well be some replayability if you're determined to get your value-for-money.

Oh, and for the first time ever: You know how a lot of post-Amnesia games have objects you can pick up and hover and rotate in front of your face, for no discernible reason other than to add a bit of "world"-y atmosphere? For once, this actually seems like a RELEVANT MECHANIC...you'll understand when you play. Which you should, if you're in any way interested in horror and/or adventure games. Let's hope the devs keep going in this direction, and make a more full-length game of roughly this style and calibre. I'll be first in line to buy it, I tell ya. Even if it's NOT on sale.


Verdict: 9/10.

Not scary, not challening, not fun. They say that it is replayable, but all that means is that they annoyingly scatter the same clues to the same boring (and easy) puzzles over the small dungeon-cellar map you find yourself in. It crashed a few times for me before I perservered in finally getting this game over and done with. They give you 30 minutes to "escape" - it can be done in under 5 minutes. The graphics are bad. The sound is bad. The only thing I liked about it were the pencil drawings you find scattered around the cellar.

An overall intense ride, ENKI is a decently made survival horror. Sure, the graphics are amazing, but the audio is what will really get you. I believe it is more of a psychological horror rather than a jump-scare type horror. The game is only repeatable to a certain extent - once you have seen all of the endings or believe you have seen them all, you lose interest. This feeling also furthers when you solve all of the puzzles. You have 30 minutes to escape the hideout of a serial killer who also deals in rituals and summonings. In the end, this game is more of a puzzle game than a horror game, but the work put into it is good enough to deliver.

Here is my full playthrough:
SPOILER ALERT. MY VIDEO DOES INCLUDE ONE OF THE ENDINGS, I RECOMMEND PURCHASING AND EXPERIENCING THIS GAME YOURSELF. IT IS EXTREMELY SATISFYING TO SOLVE THE PUZZLES.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sjX6qxuT6ZQ

I do recommend this game.


Although only on the first level:

Pros:

*good graphics.
*use of Xbox 360 / Xbox One controller compatibility
*also out for the XBOX One so made 'Next Gen'
*spooky Atmosphere.
*developers put a lot of time and effort into this. making it look nice, but also immersive gameplay.
*puzzles - can see them getting harder as gameplay commences.



Cons:

*same old story.... The Devil, Jesus, Crusification, some SAW concepts too.
*not always obvious what you can pick up and what you cannot (although this could be a positive too)
*not been really scared yet, but only on the first level, expected more Jumpy moments even on the first level. I think I’m too impatient though.
*crashes/ freezes/ bugs (the random gameplay idea is great and a positive, however when it crashes and you have to play over again, it's annoying because you can't just repeat what you did previously to get to where you were when the game crashed.)

Overall, I want to play more, I want to be scared, I think it will defo scare me, I'm gunna play again when it gets dark. The bugs haven’t been too bad for me - compared to what I’ve heard from other people, I do use a powerful PC so I don't know if that may be the reason; anyway once they get that fixed, as mentioned by other people, the concept of the game is good. I say this but the story/concept is nothing you haven’t seen before and is not original enough (for me) to make it stand out from the rest... For the price it is, and the enjoyment I’ve had so far - it gets a 'YES - I do recommend'

*****************EDIT*****************
After more play time/research.
I now know that there are no 'levels' however there are multiple ways to play/complete the game. Having finished it, I don't think I’ll be returning to try the other different /alternative methods.

So, in conclusion, if you have a few spare £ or $ and are bored, this is a great time killer, sadly nothing more.