Camp Sunshine

I absolutely LOVED this game! Despite the playtime registered it took me 6h:45m to complete, but this was spent offline while travelling.

I had just finished Terror at Oakheart and was looking for something similar and this more than fit the bill!

Where to start? At the beginning I guess. I really liked the premise and concept, it grabbed me from the off and never really let go. The story was strong throughout.

I LOVED the Easter-egg type references to the movies that inspired it, and it is a testament to the wonderful pixel artists that I was able to recognise the tiny pixelated movie posters - great job!

I did find the antagonist a bit annoying at times - the way he could spawn right next to you at times, but I soon learned that if you kept stocked up on food this was bearable (no pun intended :).

As well as great graphics the sound design was BRILLIANT - I particularly loved the strangulated sounds some victims made. The game was full of humour, and I found one hilariously brilliant easter-egg just by chance (think of the age old struggle between men and women in the bathroom).

I also found a bit of help along the way. The 'heating engineer' had extremely deep pockets (at least during my playthrough).

The puzzles were not too taxing - apart from one end game one, which required a bit of trial and error - but they were all enjoyable.

Finally, I have to admit I almost shed a tear at the end!

To sum things up, when I love a game I always look to see what other games the devs have released and I was over the moon to see they had made a prequel (Sunshine Manor) so this was an instant purchase and I cannot wait to play this, and will keep an eye out for future releases from this team.

A simple 80's slasher-inspired romp. There's not too much going on here. Most of the game is just walking around, searching for objects, and running from the killer.
There's a couple of enjoyable puzzle-sections that are the standouts of the game for me. But even in the other sections, Camp Sunshine manages to entertain. The horror is played for laughs, in that flash game kind of way so your enjoyment of the game may hinge on your opinion of that kind of humor.
The story is simple, with most of the game involving finding journal entries and watching backstory cutscenes.
For the price, it's worth the try.

Very spooky and has an interesting story! I found flashlight quite useless but I bet using it would have made game scarier (it attracts the killer?). I recommend it!

Though this top-down adventure looks and plays like an RPG Maker game, the finer touches set it off. The creepy lighting is good at generating jumpy moments despite the overall parodic nature of things. Your map of slasher-haunted Camp Sunshine is easy to use, and quest locations are marked so you don't ever need to whip out the ol' notebook. The horror movie references are sincere and don't feel forced (most of the time).

While the humor is of the jejune, gross-out variety that ever appeals to eternal children like me, it's occasionally undercut by unpolished or just plain flat writing -- the team could certainly have used an extra editor or two. A few rough patches, however, don't detract much from the experience. The story is actually pretty damned decent for the slasher genre, and there's always some new place to go, some new thing to see -- and that, friends, is one of the true strengths of short, well-made games like this: you'll never get bored, and the padding is never such that the fundamental feel of the adventure has time to slip through your fingers. Mini-adventures for the win! We need more of 'em!

I loathe Five Nights at Freddy's, but I don't regret spending my Saturday morning running from this evil bear. I can't wait to see what the beefier prequel, Sunshine Manor, has to offer!

Surprisingly decent, though a tad overpriced.

I'd describe Camp Sunshine as a modern horror game made in a JRPG engine. You search for the 8 pages of a diary to learn about and to defeat a masked serial killer. Along the way you encounter NPCs who need you to fetch stuff, corpses and drawers to loot for items, and evade the Killer by running and hiding in bushes.

Obviously, the gameplay isn't deep but the developers put a ton of work into the theme. The atmosphere is top notch and the developers played to their strengths. While the story is stereotypical and shallow, they literally hang their green and red sweaters of inspiration on the walls. It's full of references without compromising the tension they've created.

At the end of the day, this feels like a passion project. Just like the movies it's tries to emulate, it has more heart than it does budget but this helps it shine. The devs didn't set out to win GOTY, but to create a fun horror experience and they succeeded.

It's not deep, it's not long lasting, but it's well-made. If you love horror games and movies this is well-worth a sale purchase.

This is not a must of the genre, but it's a really nice game. The creepy atmosphere is very clean and the few light makes you feel vulnerable. The game is a little short(you can end it in 2H if you know where you have to go, max 3H) and easy, but it's enjoyable. Maybe the story isn't perfect, but Fossil Games did a pretty good job with this game and I liked the credits with "the special level" in the end. Mainly, You should buy it if you like the genre and the pixel art : 7.5 / 10

Camp Sunshine, a retro horror game that let's you explore and maneuver your way through the dangers of Sunshine bear, and the remains of the camp. Only learning the tragedies that led up to this point through diary pages.

Here is a checklist for those who like short reviews, it follows my 10 game commandments.

⚔ Gameplay ⚔
☐ Frustrating
☐ Sleepy
☐ Boring
☑ Fun
☐ Challenging

✐ Story ✐
☐ There is none
☐ cliche and/or filled with plotholes/unfinished
☑ Decent, enough to keep things interesting
☐ Pretty good, will keep your brain entertained
☐ I....WANT...MORE

☃Characters/World☃
☐They are just pixels to me
☑Somewhat ....interactive/interesting?
☐ May have talked to them out loud once or twice
☐ Yes, I will protect them, and keep everything else in order!
☐ NOO! DON'T LEAVE ME!!

⚡ Graphics ⚡
☐*watery eyes* this hurts...
☐ Potato
☐ Ok for its time
☑ Easy on the eyes
☐ Pretty crispy
☐ Real life

♬ Music ♬
☐ No music/1 track
☐ Nails on a chalkboard
☐ Generic
☑ Snug for the series!
☐ Bro Imma add this to my MIXTAPE

§ Bugs §
☐ Bugs destroy the game
☐ Lots of bugs
☑ Few Bugs
☐ Only funny bugs
☐ Nothing encountered

♲Replay Value♲
☐You probably won't even finish it.
☑One and done.
☑Maayyybbee after a couple years...
☐Yeah I wouldn't mind doing that again
☐Any time baby!

❢Memorabilty❢
☐I'll only remember it for how BAD it was!
☐This game is not any different than *insert genre or other game*
☐I don't remember this being in my library
☑Yeah I've played that game before
☐Bruhh that moment was awesome!
☐*constant fanboying/girling*

♡Enjoyment♡
☐Falling down a mountain of legos
☐It was a pain to get through
☐Up and down's, not too bad
☑Had fun majority of the time
☐YO THIS GAME IS THE SHIZNIT!


$ Price / Quality $
☑ Worth Full price
☐ Wait for Sale
☐ Don't buy
☐ Have them pay you

Bonus checklist!~

☹ Audience ☺
☐ Beginner
☑ Casual Gamer
☑ Normal Gamer
☑ Expert

☑ If you are a horror fan

☠ Difficulty ☠
☑ Easy
☑ Average
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Hard
☐ Unfair

⌚ Game time / Length ⌚
☑ Really short (0 - 3 hours)
☐ Short (4 - 8 hours)
☐Few hours (10 - 20 hours) [if you focus on the main story]
☐ Long (40-60 hours) [if you complete everything]
☐ Very Long (61-100 hours)
☐ Extremely Long (101+ hours)

Here is more insight with my experience relating to those categories.

Gameplay is slender-esque and has typical aspects of RPGMaker horror games. Explore, find items, do things...
With the decently sized map, it gives variety with the different buildings, and incentive to go into all of them (You pretty much have to explore everything anyway) whether you wanna see more spooks, or need more resources. Overall, a lot of exploring, foraging, and running away. Since there are so many things to collect, I sometimes forgot what I had to do, but fortunately for me I had a friend on call who was playing the game as well, and we helped each other for the collecting.
GAMEPLAY: .90/1

For the story, the notes you collect on you journey keep you a bit compelled, but it is nothing too special, however it works for this type of game. There are story aspects of the game that never really get clarified, and no closure about the few other characters that might have survived in the end. Especially around the end, the story gets.....weird.
STORY: .70/1

Camp Sunshine doesn't take itself seriously sometimes, which can be quite amusing. The main character Jez, seems like one of the few normal people out here, as you meet many other weirdos who somehow survived. This isn't the kind of game where you would have major character development or anything. The Camp as I said before, is fun to explore and does have a tense atmosphere in the beginning. But like many other horror games with monsters that hunt you, once you get good it's not that scary anymore. You remember the paths that have sticks, and ones that don't, and you have mastered the art of escaping Sunshine Bear. (Who's voice in amazing btw)
CHARACTERS/WORLD: .80/1

These retro graphics for an RPG, are polished and nice, even though you will most likely be in darkness for the majority of the game, it's not difficult to travel around places, which is a huge plus for me.The music that does play is reminiscent of classic horror movie music and fits the game very well. I also only encountered 1 bug while playing through the game. At one point, Jez would be facing forward every where he moved (for example if you moved down he would be moonwalking) it didn't affect the game really at all, and it fixed itself once I saved, it just made it slightly harder to interact with objects that way. There was also a scene at the end that lagged really badly on my computer for some reason. I could see myself helping a friend to play this game, but there is not that much replay value to it, which is expected.
GRAPHICS: 1/1
MUSIC: 1/1
OPTIMIZATION/BUGS: .80/1
REPLAY VALUE: .60/1

This game was quite memorable since I sorta played it with a friend. Especially hearing Sunshine Bear's voice for the first few times was terrifying! In conclusion, this game did not have much down time and progressed smoothly, leading to a fun experience that didn't get very boring. For the 2-4 hours of fun you could get out of this, it's worth the full price of $3, definitely pick up on sale if you like these sort of games.
MEMORABILITY: .80/1
ENJOYMENT: .95/1
PRICE VALUE: 1/1


Score bonuses/penalties-
+.25 for having snes gamepad support, definitely helped enhance the retro feel for the game!

FINAL SCORE: 8.8
If you like RPG Horrors, and want to spend an evening filled with grizzly spooks, lots of dead campers, and demon rituals, then Camp Sunshine is for you!

Bonus tips-

Trudging through the map at times may get repetitive depending what you're doing, so make sure to utilize the holes in the ground for travel.

Usually you can break Sunshine Bear's ankles pretty easily, but sometimes he spawns in cramped areas so watch out for that.

Make sure to save often, especially in the beginning when you don't have many resources, and you're probably still scared.

While the pixel art is nice alongside the soundtrack, the game itself is just boring with of the gameplay just running around doing fetchquests while being chased by an easily avoidable killer mascot whose intimidation rating was murdered by his voiced one liners.

As for the plot? It's not bad but not good, it's like some of Stephen King made for TV movies, good build up (but not great) ruined by bad pay off in the end minus the hillarity of how asanine that pay off was. I give this a 1/5, only for half the plot and visuals, but the pop culture reference diarrhea never helped the score.

Maybe if it had more puzzles, no voice acting, and better work on the plot this might have been a 4/5.

I really, really, truly, thoroughly enjoyed playing this game. I've played quite a few horror games recently, just looking for the right one to get me even slightly startled. This was it. This was the game that did the trick. The story was great, the gameplay was fun and engaging, the controls were simple, nothing was overly complicated to figure out but it still required some thinking, the throwbacks to 80's horror movies was awesome, and overall, the game was just a massive hit for me. I loved the animated scenes, I loved the theme, I loved everything about this game. The voice acting was spot on and the Scene in the house with the woman calling for help was brilliantly done. 10/10, Very well voice acted and very realistic. Well thought out, well done.
I can tell that a lot of hard work and planning went into the creation of this game, and I can appreciate that. I can't wait to see what comes next!

Meh. It startoff really strong with the whole builtup, gore, flashback and slasher film thingy but then it goes to semi-openworld kinda game where there is absolutely nothing to do but to find a piece of paper to connected the dot of the whole story, I mean the idea of finding paper is ok but it just that this shit trying too hard to be some kinda slasher film but the gameplay is just unthinking af I would rather play a linear game with great story rather than a sem-openworld where u wasted your time just wandering around.

Short sweet and a good way to waste a couple hours. The game is rather simple and not very challenging (the only things i spent more than a moment on a couple of the puzzles) but it's a fun casual horror game. I enjoyed it mainly for its simplicity and I think it is worth the small price tag (especially since it's nearly always on sale. So yeah, if you’re looking for a game that is both fun and simple, this game will be great for you. Have fun while the horror community waits for the bear trend to run its course.
P.S. I love the little horror image references hidden throughout the game. It was fun to see what they'd reference next.

For those who love a good bit of post-modern Horror revisionism, 'Camp Sunshine' is the tongue-in-cheek 80s slasher gem that you never knew you needed but absolutely can not live without.

The story is your standard 80s Horror affair. You play a boy named Jez, who as luck would have it looks suspiciously like the tubby kid from 'Stranger Things'. He's been sent by is mother to a Crystal Lake style summer camp and before too long, campers start winding up cut to ribbons. It is then up to Jez to piece together the story as best he can to find out exactly why this strange phenomena is occuring and unmask the killer before Jez joins the ranks of his victims.

Created using an RPG emulator similar to the ones used to make 'Pokemon' and the early 'Zelda', the game is mainly exploration based with the odd pick up thrown in. The references to some of the late 20th Century's most beloved Horror movies come thick and fast, proving that this is very much a genre fans' game, and it's interesting to be able to digress briefly from your quests to search for some of the more obscurely placed Easter Eggs littered throughout the environment. All the while, desperately trying to avoid the grinning vision of 'Sunshine Bear', a sociopathic theme park mascot who wants your guts for garters.

If you're someone who misses the good old days of blood and gore, visceral Horror gaming, this may help to provide some degree of sustanance. Just don't go expecting to hack and slash your way through hordes of undead. Like so many Indy titles these days, you are not a fighter. You are helpless kid with no means of defense beyond your own two feet. This will no doubt annoy some players, as will the 'Zelda'-esque way that the villain can literally appear from out of nowhere. However, when you're dealing with retro-movie logic, anything can happen.

As a Horror fan through and through, I personally adore 'Camp Sunshine'. It's probably not to everyone's taste admitedly but then you can't please everyone all the time.

While at its core it's a Slenderman clone, the game does enough storywise and gameplaywise to make it stand out.

Word of warning to everyone: This game is short and fairly easy.

That being said, it is also quite fun. The story is well put together and full of great horror tropes. The story is where this game shines. It is well paced and slowly reveals itself through a good narrative. It keeps the player interested and engaged.

The music and sound effects are top notch. The sunshine bear's voice is great.

The pixel graphics are outstanding.

You should be able to complete this game in about 2.5 hours at most. Recommended if you like fun horror and exploration.

Normally I don't write game reviews but I really liked the game, not only because of the homages and references to other classic horror movies that are scattered throughout the game, but it has a good story. For the most part it is a generic horror movie esk game where you take the role as Jez who had just been sent to summer camp only to soon for the entire camp to be attacked by a mysterious killer in a bear costume. The story starts to progress by finding diary notes all around the camp that explains the background of the camp. Although these notes can be kind of annoying to get because most of them are from "fetch quests" it kept me playing because each diary page contained more cutscenes about the past owner and a mysterious curse with his child, Isaac (kinda reminds me of Lakeview Cabin Collection). Another thing I would have to compliment it on is it's soundtrack and how it could make for some of the creepiest momments throughout the game. Aside from the pros, the game did have a couple of problems with crashing when you would activate a secret cutscene, how hard it was to find some items, and the walking was a little rough at times but it did create funny momments walking into the wall after being hit by the killer. Overall, in my opinion, this was worth the $7.99.

Haven't finished the game yet, but so far am enjoying it.
Don't go into it expecting high-strung action, but if you're okay wandering around a
spooky campground while being stalked by a giant bear, then this game is for you.

OVERALL: If you like Horror, and 16bit graphics, give it a go, it's cheap!

PROS:
- Sunshine bear is surprisingly frightening, especially when he gives chase.
- Dialogue is witty
- Atmosphere is well designed, graphics are wonderfully retro
- Story is interesting and unfolds at a nice pace

CONS:
- Movement can feel awkward, however this does add to the thrill when being chased down.
- Don't find the puzzles difficult in a "sit down and think about it" way.
- Most tasks are "fetch quests", however, this is done in most horror games.

Okay, I saved writing this until I finished the game. So the plot is cheesy, and the dialogue can be a little cringe worthy, and.. I really loved it! 16-bit style visuals are near and dear to my heart, and so is the horror genre. Toss in some more general geeky and 80's references for seasoning and it shows that these developers really get the kind of stuff I'm into. This isn't a long game. I think I finished in ~2 hours. But it was well worth the price of admission and I had a great time playing through it. The visuals and music I really appreciated, and the cheesy horror plot served it's purpose. Bear mascots are now even creepier, yet again. (A note to aspiring devs. Focus on another mascot in the future!)

One thing I will say is that the game is NOT terribly forgiving. I mostly wanted to just enjoy the experience, and wound up playing at the loweest difficulty after dying a lot on normal. The two hit kill mechanic fits, but in practice it means "get hit, eat, repeat" for a good chunk of the game. That being said, it didn't detract from the experience for me at all.

Happy Halloween! I did a video review of this game for Halloween because I feel putting my thoughts to video would be more fun this year.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-O-91jKGWKM
Video Review Here (You can skip the skit at 0:56)

Any Horror Film Fan will appreciate what Fossil Games has done here especially if youre a fan of 80s slashser flicks.
But if you want a short version
Pro
-Great Story
-SoundTrack is Unbelievable
-Great shoutouts to youre favorite horror movies
-Passion-you can really see the devs love for the genre
-btw play this with a SNES controller its so much fun

Cons
-Makes you figure out everything on youre own which can slow down the pacing
-Unfairly difficult at times

Fantastic game!!
I played for 4 hours last night until I got stuck trying to find the cross and the sock. Currently out of food and batteries but I know that if I continue on I will find the items! It only crashed once for me when I first entered the swamps but I luckily saved just before that. I'm so excited for the end of this game and I hope to see more games from the devs in the future. Thank you so much!!

p.s. I squealed in happiness when I saw the green and red sweater ;)

Pros:
++Quite intriguing killer origin story, with nice cutscenes and solid writing

+Good pixelart, some pretty gory details

+Surprisingly, there's some voice acting here and there and more surprisingly it is actually well done


Cons:
--Basically a long collect-a-thon like a Slender game, I literally spent the last hour of my playtime looking for what I guess are the last two items you need before finally giving up due to boredom

--Remaining survivors, instead of sticking together give you retarded "quests" like "Turn up the boiler, my bed is too cold!" or "Put out the fires because I drank 18 cups of coffee! This is funny right?! Laugh, please!!!"

---Killer is a hilarious FNAF clone at best and utterly annoying at worst (which he is most of the time). He turns up way too often (approximately 2 times a minute) and when he does he's just sort of there. No musical cue while you're being stalked makes it pretty drab - some of the lines he says when he appears are somewhat funny, though this can be seen as a good or a bad thing)

--Has the typical signs of lazy RPG Maker devs such as being able to walk through walls and out of bounds of the level area, player sprite turning invisible, events interrupting one another etc etc

I really wanted to like this game since RPG Maker games and slasher movies are two my passions, but I just can't recommend it the way it is... Rework the killer mechanics, streamline the collect-a-thon, fix the worst bugs and I'd probably change my mind.

A fun game for fans of 80s slasher films.
There are quite a few references to these movies throughout the game.
It reminded me of an old "Nightmare On Elm Street" game I used to play as a kid.
The game was actually a lot creepier as I thought it would be.
If like me you are a fan of movies like Friday the 13th, Sleepaway Camp, The Burning,... then I suggest giving this game a try.

After chewing it over, I think I can actually recommend this one despite its rough edges.

Camp Sunshine places you in the shoes of Jez, a surly teenager who is sent to summer camp by his parents for initially unknown reasons. When he gets to the titular Camp Sunshine, he says farewell to his mother and meets his bunk mate, who says Buddy an uncomfortable amount of times. Then Jez goes to sleep and wakes up to find almost everyone in the camp murdered in bloody fashion. It's not long before he finds the freak in a mascot costume repsonsible for the murders, and he soon learns that in order to stop this supernatural being, which can teleport at random, he will have to find several diary pages and corresponding items and destroy them.

The game, as you can tell, is a mixture of Slender: the Eight Pages, and top down pixel horrors such as Mad Father. You have to scour the open environment of Camp Sunshine in order to find all the items you need. Each note unviels the back story of what the hell is going on at the camp. It's a fun premise, but the game does have a lot of rough edges.

For one, the dialogue feels really poorly written and rushed. Not only are commas misused all the time (either to combine two independent clauses, or they aren't used in spots where they should be) but the dalogue itself feels incredibly basic and on the nose. But that's okay, right? Plenty of horror games have great stories without great dialogue. Just look at Silent Hill 2. Sadly, the story proper is disappointing and predictable after a certain point, but there are also elements near the end that don't make a whole lot of sense (some more explanation would have helped greatly in this regard). There aren't really any interesting characters to latch on to, either, except maybe one of the ones from the flash backs that come with picking up diary pages. The reason for the main conflict is also never really explained in a satisfactory way, either (I'm being vague to prevent spoilers, just take my word on it). Characters also don't react to the situation at all half the time. You'll meet people in need throughout the game, and many won't even acknowledge that everyone's been slaughtered, and Jez will make no mention of this fact, either. It's jarring and bizarre.

There are plenty of problems with the gameplay, too. For one, the mascot can appear anywhere. This means whenever you're outside or in a building, regardless of whether or not you have a place you could feasibly run to. IE, you'll be going down a one way hallway and hear the mascot spawn, and there's literally no way for you to get out of the situation without taking damage. The spawn algorithm could have used some work in this regard, because pretty much the only time you'll ever get hit is when the game spawns the monster at an inconvenient time rather than through any fault of your own. The second is that Jez movies really slowly, making walking across the camp a chore. I don't need it to be a super fast game, but after a certain point, the back tracking felt like a chore rather than enjoyable explanation. Lastly, I would have liked more hints as to where the items you need to find are. Some are located in logical places (like a emdical bracelet being in the nurse's office) but others you really have to stumble upon through blind luck, which can be annoying.One side note, you save by sleeping in beds. Which makes no sense. Why would you sleep when there's a killer that can teleport at will? And why would you sleep in a bed covered in blood, something you can do regularly as long as it's furnished? There's also a myriad of glitches, from audio skips that are fairly common, to hard crashes that require a restart of the game (I had to play the ending sequence twice because the final few scenes wouldn't trigger and instead the game froze).

The game's not all bad. I really liked the open ended structure and exploration driven gameplay. The game also looks pretty nice for pixel art, with plenty of stomach churning gore and solid sound effects that sell the gruesome atmoshere (unfortunately, Jez's whiny and casual way of dealing with things often cuts the atmospheric effect off short; seriously, he goes to search a dead body and acts annoyed that he has to do it, rather than disgusted or horrified). I wouldn't mind seeing this structure and atmosphere improved upon in a sequel or follow up. One last thing, the soundtrack is kickin and feels like a classic 80's slasher movie.

There's a lot to like about this game and its concept, just be aware that there are a LOT of rough parts that could be smoothed out. I'm curious about what the developers can cook up for a sequel (or even potential DLC) and see how they improve on their solid foundation.