Roots of Insanity

老玩家诸葛亮戏评

此作《疯狂根源》设定颇为独特，玩家将扮演一位受癫痫困扰的医生，在充满恐怖与混乱的医院中求生。然而，老夫发现游戏虽具备引人入胜的故事，却在优化方面略有不足。正所谓：好钢需用在刀刃上，此作虽有潜力，但尚需打磨。

优点：
- 剧情跌宕起伏，充满心理惊悚与意外转折。
- 战斗系统多样，玩家可近战、射击，体验沉浸式求生感。
- 医院场景设计紧张压迫，氛围渲染出色。
- 随机战利品与可探索区域增加了游戏的可玩性。

不足之处：
- 优化不足，运行时偶有卡顿，影响沉浸体验。
- 部分战斗机制略显重复，长时间游玩后略感乏味。

老夫感悟：
《疯狂根源》虽在技术层面有些瑕疵，但在折扣期间购入，性价比尚可。此作凭借其独特的故事与惊悚氛围，仍值得一试。正所谓：瑕不掩瑜，打折亦是情理之中。

总评：优化需改善，但折扣价位物有所值。

诸葛亮
戊寅年秋于书房

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Short, but overall, a nice game.

Pos:
Good graphics
Good Atmosphere
Good horror elements
Fair Story

Cons:
Minor Bugs - Sound of enemies that are not even there or near remains
Fight is a little weird
Lame Hitbox (fixing, probably will help the fight weirdness)

Roots of Insanity

I had this game sitting in my library since a few months after it's release, finally decided to give it a try.

Story

You start in the office, as Dr. Riley McClein. You work the nightshift at the August Valentine Hospital.
Mysterious things are happening in the hospital and you have to figure out what is going on.

Gameplay

You walk around in the hospital in first person with just a melee weapon, dealing with zombies and hallucinations.
With a simple camera to help you in dark areas, you have to explore the hallways to find clues while scavenging batteries and medicine potions.
While you explore you will occasionally get a scary moment.

Overall

Roots of Insanity takes about 2 hours to complete the story.
If you decide to get all the achievements you may be looking at 4-5 hours depending on your luck.
The combat is very luck based, sometimes the zombies hit you from far away or take no damage from your weapon.
If you're looking for a game simulair to Outlast then this might be interesting, but I'd recommend getting this on sale, otherwise avoid it.

Pros

• Good graphics
  
• Good atmosphere
  
• Scary elements
  
• Achievements
  

Cons

• Combat is clunky and luck based
  
• Due to the luck, fighting multiple zombies can easily get you killed
  
• Sound issues, you hear zombies that aren't there
  
• You can hit zombies through the wall
  
• The zombie animations look pretty bad when fighting
  
• Crashed a few times
  
[*]Some achievements don't unlock in the current version

A Very short little tale that didn't really thrill me the way I expected.
I was expecting a journey through a fella who was trying to understand his conditions
and uncover mystery. Howwevvverrr, IT was more like
" HERES CREEPY HOSPITAL WITH UDNEADS
OH NOOES WITH THE ODD JUMPSCARE "

It's oright for a laugh, buuut I suppose I expected something more and longer.
Do have a peek if you wish for a short horror that may catch you out a few times,
a sort of ok story.. Not one I'd share with my buddies though...

This is just awful.

The sloppiest controls I've seen in a horror game, mixed with the most unclear instructions, and the most brain-dead writing. Normally I'd play for hours and write a long elaborate review, but this is not worth robbing myself of the time. How it has a "Mostly Positive" rating with so many red marks in its review section raises serious questions.

the game is good but is too short the idea if great
here is pros and cons list

pros
+ gameplay
+ the idea of the story
+graphics
+ trading cards

cons
- the story is good but there is some missing parts and it's too short
- not explaining why it happened
- 1.5 hour gameplay

I rate this as an average game.
The mood and the setting are really good, from the visuals to the sound effects and music. Very very reminiscent of Outlast, even the soundtrack.
I won't say it's a good game because combat is unfun and unbalanced. It's really really hard to fight, it's almost impossible to hit or kill an enemy without getting hit back. And you get a lot of situations where you are forced to fight, no stealth option. Either combat should be more polished, or it shouldn't be here whatsoever.
But well, it's an indie game, it's cheap, so it's good enough to give it a go.

I remember playing this game a long time ago.

Now that there is a remaster, I tried it again. And from what I remember the game looks, feels and plays way better now.

Granted the game is short(3 hours at most), and combat is probably a weak point. But I did enjoy the story (again) and would recommend this to any horror fan. The game is cheap so why not try it:)

This game was pretty fun!! I never played the original version but this one was pretty clean! It's gameplay reminded me a lot of Outlast 1 and 2, it wasn't a long game it just always takes me super long to beat a game...lol! I definitely say it is well worth the play and now I just have to replay it to receive all the achievements!

Graphics: (9/10) Very Crisp and Clean and still looks good if you have to turn down the settings such as myself.

Sound and Music: (8/10) The sound effect were very well done as well as the music. I gotta say the music really helped set that eerie horror feel! However the voice actor was a little heavy on the cheese but it still wasn't as bad as some of these other games out here.

Controls: (6/10) Now the controls were kind of all over the place and some buttons and inventory items just didn't make sense to me and why do I need a weapon attack button,kick button and punch button. I think it would be better to be controller compatible. Plus I wasn't a fan of the view switching to 3rd person when you used the gun, it just seemed weird.

Gameplay: (8/10) The story was OK but lacked a good connecting back story as well as good body to the story but still was a good story that actually shocked me. The jump scares and task are good and well placed. I also love the slow-mo kill cam on the final blow to enemies. There is a nice mixture of fighting,searching and story unfolding.

Overall Rating: (7/10) Short but not too short, Nice story, Decent controls, Easy on the eyes and has Jump scares! I say check it out!!

I'm sure this game had some love put into it, it's not some lazy asset flip or anything like that. But it does what it sets out to do in a sub-optimal execution in most places.
The melee combat feels like pure jank, I don't think I ever defeated an enemy without taking damage except in one spot near the end where I had to get enemies to glitch around a corner so I could hit them but they couldn't hit me. The shooting, as little of it as there is feels fine, but with the oddest choice of angle switching, this game has the melee in first person but the shooting in third person view, really odd.
Now the reason I had to glitch those enemies near the end is because you can progress without finding the gun. You get it once in a cutscene, then lose it a bit later, then the second time you should find a gun I just didn't, I found ammo but no gun, making some of the final fights nigh impossible.
The story is there, it has serviceable voice acting but it's nothing new. Mental hospital, main character with hallucinations, mad scientist stuff, zombies. The usual.

Honestly, this was a great game of horror and a great mix of fighting (PVE), I would definitely recommend this games to friends, if I had any. Overall, good game and can't wait for the new game to come out!

You know when you make a purchase for a video game and you totally forget about it?

Sad that this happened to this game, 17m in and I couldn't be less pleased with my purchase, tried for a refund but it was too long since I got it. 1/10, its a working game, but a total waste of money and time.

WHY IS THERE NO SOUND OPTIONS? just full audio, constantly.

It has good atmosphere, I wanted to like it but first I didn't get the nurses note and then the game wanted me to find a bunch of stuff in the dark cuz my camera batteries ran out.
It's impossible to find anything if you don't already know where to look, even more so in the dark.
The game rapidly went from terrifying to just frustrating :/

Game was alright. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely a knock-off of Outlast. My sentiments are similar to other "no" reviews. After the 3rd or 4th hack and slash of the same zombie, it became a snoozefest pretty quickly. Honestly they could have just removed the combat mechanics altogether and just turned it into a haunted house experience and it would have retained the same value.

I wouldn't recommend but if you're interested, make sure you get it at 80% off or more.

Still not something I can recommend, unless going out of your way to support indie developers is a passion. Even after the update I still find the game to be uninteresting.
The combat feels a little worse and the crouch control does not work.

What a shame. The game showed promise but one major bug ruined it for me. It's the combat controls. For some reason, the action on the mouse won't allow me to attack whether its with weapons or the kick. Midway through the battle they lock up or get disabled for some reason. I end up dying because I can't do anything. Even after reloading, they work before getting disabled out of nowhere. The loading time also takes awhile. I tried changing the controls on the option screen but the game won't allow me to do any changes. Despite this game being short to finish, I certainly won't bother completing it. The atmosphere looks good though.

Hey everyone and this is my review about the game!

This is a First person action horror game.

Interface/Menu/Settings

Video Settings information.

• There are some resolution sizes available.
  
• There are other graphical settings available.
  
• There is a Gamma slidebar available.
  

Volume Settings Information.

• None.
  

Miscellaneous Information.

• You can change the difficulty settings.
  
• You can change the mouse speed with the slidebar.
  
• There are different languages available.
  
• You can toggle the subtitles.
  
• You can change the keyboard settings.
  

About the game.

You will be playing as some kind of person with "epilepsy". However the gameplay is like a much cheaper version of "outlast". You will have a weapon to defend yourself against zombies and you will have to use your camera to be able to see in the dark. You can't use your camera if it has ran out of batteries so you will have to find new batteries from time to time to make your camera work. Unfortunately i dislike the idea to have these random noises or sound effects from time to time, They are getting stale easily and on top of that almost any "Horror" game is using it. While the atmosphere is there and i am really enjoying it.. One thing what i do dislike about horror games are the "Jumpscare" lameness. This game does contain them from time to time as well.

Combat isn't really exciting either. You will mainly hit them and walk backwards. You will keep repeating this until they are dead. Sometimes you are able to hit them through shelves and leave them vulnerable. The combat system does get old quickly.


Ingame Information.

• There are options ingame.
  
• No Logic.
  
• Has jumpscare moments but gets old quickly.
  
• Characters has the ability to wield weapons.. Makes the game less scary.
  
• Atmosphere is alright.
  
• Has random noises or sound effects from time to time.
  
• Battery drains like there is no tomorrow.
  
• Animations are somewhat interesting at times.
  
• Your character has stamina and a health bar.
  

Miscellaneous Information.

[*] Certain parts behind you will block you off to prevent you going back to previous area's. This will happen quite often.

Other things.

The game is alright-ish.. Not fantastic but not bad either.. The combat system and the "lameness jumpscares" thingies are the 2 downsides i have for this game. They are getting old really quickly and could make the game unappealing or uninteresting. The other hand the scenery/background is not too bad and i do like it in some way. Some rooms or area's are interesting or has good atmosphere no matter if this is located outside or inside. So this game is a SO-SO Situation.

-------------------

[quote] Reviews are always uploaded if i have at least played for 2 hours or more. Unless the game is really garbage and doesn't deserve the 2H limit.[/quote]

I Give this game a 6/10

Having finished this game in one sitting, I'm rather on the fence for this one. There's not a whole lot to say about it. It's a short first-person horror game with some combat. While you do have the option to go stealth in parts, the mechanics for it are very simple (just keep some distance and don't move too fast) and most of the time you'll be slicing at zombies. For me this is a positive as far too many horror games force you to be defenceless which gets irritating after a while. Here you are vulnerable but can still fight back.

There is certainly a bit of an Outlast feel here in its grainy camcorder feature, and just the overall atmosphere and setting. Though in this case it's a hospital, and your foes are zombie-like beings rather than mentally-insane asylum inmates. The atmosphere is extremely well done and though not particularly scary, was enough to keep me on the edge of my seat in some parts. Though I liked the ability to fight back, the gameplay feels unpolished with odd melee mechanics and even more odd shooting mechanics (the moment you first switch to third-person when picking up a pistol was more unexpected than any "jump-scare" this game had to offer). Due to some bugs and occasional lack of button/clicking response, the gameplay isn't all that good.

As for the story; despite a couple of twists and heavy moments, it isn't particularly complex and not something that would win awards. Wouldn't have minded something longer and more detailed, but given the game's overall quality that's probably for the best. Though it certainly has some themes that would be worth exploring in a larger, more in-depth title, the storyline's nothing to write home about; the first twist was good, but the one just before the credits you can see coming from a mile away.

Roots of Insanity is not expensive, but I'd still say it's only worth a look on special. It's in no way "bad", just a bit lackluster. One of those games with a few good features, worth a discounted single-sitting playthrough, then uninstall and not think about it ever again.

You might be wondering, from some of the screenshots on the Store page, if this is a third-person horror game, or at least a game with third-person sections. The answer is the latter: it's mostly first-person, with some brief third-person moments when you get your grubby hands on a firearm. Emphasis on "brief".

For the most part, though, it's more like "Outlast with zombies"; complete with the video-camera-as-your-only-lighting trope, and deja vu-inducing graphics that leave you suspecting that a Red Barrels team member - outraged at being fired in the early stages of Outlast's development - decided to exact his "revenge" against the company by recycling an early build into an entirely different game. It really does look and "feel" that familiar at times.

Which isn't to say, of course, that this game is in the same class as Outlast. But it's a fairly impressive effort, just the same; especially for something so clearly low-budget and, well, kinda short.

That's the first thing many of you probably need to know: this ain't a long'un. A couple of hours, tops, if you really take your time. Which the game doesn't exactly encourage you to do, given how quickly those pesky camera batteries run out...and you really are gonna need that warmth-giving green-screen glow if you're gonna make it out alive.

The next question many horror fans are wont to ask these days: is there combat, or is it entirely "stealth" and/or chase scenes? The answer to that question is: lots of combat, and a tiny bit of running. No hiding. In fact, the first time you encounter a zombie, the game warns you that you're "a doctor, not a fighter" (!)...then promptly ensures that you can't easily avoid any of the combats anyway, by denying you a crouch button and sticking many of the enemies in your direct and frequently narrow path (e.g. corridors).

That's another question I can happily answer for you: yup, it's pretty linear. Not to the point of tedium - there's still a mild air of exploration - but lovers of "open worlds" won't exactly be enthralled. The mapping, on the whole, is solid but uninspired. And the missions, suffice it to say, are exclusively of a find-a-key/fetch-an-item/find-gas-for-a-generator variety.

In short, if you're looking for originality, you've come to the wrong place. You've also come to the wrong place if you're a stubborn Achievement hunter, 'cause they're apparently all broken after the first two (and never liable to be fixed by the devs, judging by the forums). If, on the other hand, you can admire a well-executed game working with limited resources, and can ignore a few minor bugs and other shortcomings here and there, then this may well be worth your seven-bucks-or-less.

There's certainly plenty to recommend here: some decent scares, a tense atmosphere, some genuinely head-f*cking hallucinogenic antics, and combat that is suitably short, sharp and brutal for a game of this tone. My only semi-major complaint, really, is the story...which starts well, meanders in the middle, then very nearly ends well, but decides to convolute things unnecessarily in the last moments of the final cutscene. Oh well.

A bona fide good'un, just the same.

Verdict: 8/10.

(PS If you enjoyed this review, feel free to check out my two Curator pages: http://store.steampowered.com/curator/9284586-ReviewsJustfortheHELLofit/
http://store.steampowered.com/curator/10868048-Truly-Horrible-Horror-Games/?appid=398210
Cheers!)

So the good news is that after a very long time (years!) the game has finally been updated and now includes functional achievements!

The bad news is that upon replaying this game, I am reminded of how bad it actually is -Poor animation, janky design, predictable plot, unsatisfying combat and boring jump scares that don't actually scare.

When I originally reviewed this game I pointed out that it tried too hard to be like Outlast. Whilst I still think that this is true, it has absolutely none of the elements that made Outlast so good to play.

If you find it VERY cheap (under £/$/€ 1) then it might be worth it for you if you're a real horror aficionado that wants to play/own every horror game there is, but there are SOOO many better games out there that I would recommend playing first.

Roots of Insanity is publisher/developer Crania Games' debut title, released on April 5, 2017. Since then, a few updates to the game have been issued, and the developer is active in the forums, supporting the community and actively listening to the feedback of those who have supported them. With that said, some of the pictures on the store page are mildly misleading, as this game does not take place in third-person (except during a section of combat, better explained below) but rather first-person.

You take on the role of one Dr. Riley McClein, a doctor who suffers from epilepsy. As you attempt to control an oncoming epileptic attack, you decide to make your way back to your office to grab your medicine, only to hear a blood curdling scream coming from the B block of the hospital. Fighting through your hallucinations, you soon discover that many of the staff have been violently murdered, and it's up to you to find out just what's going on in this hospital of chaos. There are notes scattered about, and they're all doctor perspective patient logs that do not fully add to the overall story. The brief cutscenes contribute to some degree, but overall the developer does need to work on their storytelling abilities as much of the plot comes off as confusing; this is mostly due to the fact that the plot bounces from subject to subject. At one point, you're trying to figure out where a scream came from, and then you're looking for the main character's father; at times, it really makes no sense.

Although the plot isn't the strong point of Roots of Insanity, where it does shine is within its creepy, tense atmosphere. The soundtrack and effects that Crania Games chose for this title are superb, and they help to keep a constant feeling of tension within the player even when no danger is readily present. From distant screams, to groaning zombies, and random pounding on the wall, you're sure to be kept on the edge of your seat for the entire hour and a half duration of the game. Not to mention, the dimly, and sometimes not even at all, lit corridors, blood-soaked walls and floors, strewn-about bodies, feasting zombies, and foggy hospital exterior all contribute as well. There are some jumpscares, which have a 50/50 chance to be effective, but the true horror lies within the game's incredible ambiance.

Of course, those who have said that Roots of Insanity reminds them of Outlast are completely right. This title does have a camcorder mechanic, complete with the survival element of needing to find batteries to use it. It's not completely essential, but much of the game is dark, and the camera does help to light your way. You must also find medicine to use when you get injured from fighting zombies, who can take good chunks of your bar away with just a few hits. Traversing from area to area, you will be required to perform certain tasks before a new part of the game will open up, although you will find yourself completing circles and coming back to the same base areas a few times over.

It should be noted that right now, only two of the 13 achievements work. There was an update to the game as recently as May 16, 2017, but it did not address this particular issue. The update also improved the combat system, although it still is a bit janky and hard to get used to. During a fight sequence, your best option is to repeatedly move backwards while swinging your knife or axe at a zombie, and if you're outside you're able to use your gun. However, when using the gun, you enter a third-person mode, which is very weird since the rest of the game is in first-person. The gun provides very little feedback, so the zombie kills feel very unsatisfying to say the least.

Despite all of the downsides to Roots of Insanity, it's clear that Crania Games have poured a lot of love, time, and effort into their debut release. Their inspiration has been wholeheartedly taken from the Outlast series, but they've been able to put a unique spin on a pre-existing concept by meshing it with a deep psychological horror mindset. All this title needs is a bit more TLC via patches and updates to truly polish the product, and then it can stand on its own as an excellent low-budget indie horror title. It should also be noted that the game features excellent optimization, and doesn't suffer from any game breaking bugs or crashes.

Rating: 3.5/5.0 - Average, can take it or leave it.

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