The Painscreek Killings

It's a really great game, and well worth playing if you enjoy murder mystery/detective games. It sets the atmosphere well, with the eerie music and abandoned town you get the idea that something unsettling happened here - you can't quite shake the feeling of being watched. However, my main (and really only) criticism is that after doing such a great job of story telling and creating intrigue about what happened, the story basically dumps exactly how it all happened on you in the last hour or so of the game, so you don't actually have to figure out what happened from different clues like the game implies at the beginning. Instead it's more about finding keys/figuring out codes and exploring to find all the different letters/journals/reports that explain to you what happened. It's still enjoyable, but I'll admit I felt a little disappointed that I wasn't trusted to be able to solve the mystery myself and instead explicitly explained everything. This then makes the end where you have to select the murderer and the murder weapon a little silly in my opinion. Also, without spoiling, the ending sequence is quite different from the rest of the game and not what i expected and it didn't really fit the story/make sense in my opinion. But overall I did love the story, and for most of the game the plot is really intriguing and when you start to make the connections yourself (before the game just tells you) is really satisfying and well worth playing - i just wish they felt confident enough to let the user do a little more detective work themselves!

Not only did this game give me the worst motion sickness of my life (even with all settings typically adjusted) but the writing is just awful - the diary entries, letters, etc - no one writes like that it's just subpar. Furthermore, it doesn't look great and the controls are extremely janky. Overall, not fun to navigate and the writing will leave you far from immersed.

Silent Hill is bad. This is like Silent Hill, but not bad. You should play this, instead of Silent Hill.

This game makes you a detective in a once lively abandoned city that experienced multiple murders/unsolved deaths of citizens in a short time frame which caused the population to dwindle and forced the remaining citizens to move away. I absolutely loved it, the story telling was phenomenal, the character and plot development are really well thought out. An amazing plot twist, that makes you think about it while you're away. If you're into murders/unsolved mysteries and old abondoned towns, this game is for you. In a way this game feels like a giant escape room. I just completed the game and have 13 hours put into it. I wouldn't go too deep into the reviews because one of the reviews has a major ending spoiler with no warning.

Wholeheartedly recommend this game. If you're looking for a legitimate, mostly realistic murder mystery investigator-type game, then this is a superb example. The graphics are dated and the movement system leaves a little to be desired, but the story and the intrigue more than enough make up for that.

I wanted to like this game a fair bit. I've been getting into puzzle games and this was one that looked like fun. First half was brilliant, when I was unsure and was piecing everything together. But then I felt like the game became less of a puzzle game and more of a visual novel. By the end, you just HAVE the clues. You don't need brain power or deduction. That and it became increasingly obvious by the 3 hour mark.

There is potential there, so I'd like to see the next game the dev makes but this one isn't quite it.

first got the chills, then thought i was gonna have a heart attack near the end, would recommend.

At times a bit predictable in its puzzle-solving/item finding and it requires a spoonful of suspension of disbelief, but overall a very gripping story with interesting characters. I also like how you have to figure things out yourself, though at times I felt things were a little bit *too* on the nose, as in, you come to a conclusion, then are hit over the head several times with that very conclusion by 3 different characters hinting very strongly towards it. Another thing I did love was the freedom the game gives you, to pretty much progress and explore as the player wishes, there is not as much set up linearly as to be overbearing, but just enough to keep a clear sense of progression for the player. Additionally, you can choose to close the case at any point, if you feel you have all the information you need, which I think is a very good decision from the devs.
I think I'll still be thinking about the game for quite a while, (one of) the ending(s) was, in my opinion, incredibly well done - the voice acting is haunting.

Loved this game so much. The story was exciting and thrilling and the atmosphere was strange and kinda cozy. I really enjoyed playing it and exploring the story which is full of plots and betrayal. It was nice to play and I want more.

Wow this game is incredible. There were some moments where the story truly blew me away. There were also some moments I got stuck and had to look things up just because I missed the one key item or forgot where I got something, but the game is still 100% worth it.

I found myself very bored very quickly. the walking around was honestly tedious. if you don't mind the walking you may enjoy the game but i personally didn't.

Would definitely recommend if you're into murder mysteries. At the start of the game, they advise you to take your own notes as you go and I did. Kept a doc by my side and jotted down every new entry I got through diaries, news articles etc. Helps a lot in setting the mood of a real murder investigation and since the game doesn't progress in a linear way, taking notes is a good way to keep track of all the clues and information gathered.

Unraveling the whole timeline of the different events and how they're interconnected was a lot of fun even if you kind of figure out most of it 1/3 into the game if you pay attention.
The music and overall ambience make it anxiety-inducing at times but play into the experience the game is trying to give you.

Spoiler for the ending:
Other reviewers have pointed that out too, but the ending felt a bit jarring at first. Taking into consideration the story, I get it makes sense from a narrative standpoint but going from a walking simulator to a timed chasing sequence made me overly stressed lol. Although, I spent a good amount of time feeling like I was observed or uneasy while investigating the town so I can check that out as the murderer observing me before the finale and the ending makes more sense to me that way.

Really enjoyed this! Got stumped a few times, but nothing stood out as "moon logic". Looking forward to more from this developer.

I sat down to try it before bed. It told me to take notes, so I did.

Next thing I know it's 5 hours later and 4AM and the only reason I'm stopping is because my brain's slowing down; if it wasn't I'd keep going just to figure more of it out.

This scratches an itch I haven't had scratched since Gone Home first came out, and it goes much further than that. The feeling of canvasing the different areas searching for details, taking notes, and making connections between something you just found with something you wrote down a few hours ago feels incredible! It does a fantastic job at building dread too as you learn more and more about what's gone on...

My only complaint? Its music needs to be longer. A 20-30sec loop isn't nearly enough to not make it annoying while taking notes. After awhile I muted the music and just had something else playing in my ears.

Give it a shot if you enjoy deduction. The "Aha!" moments this game has is second to none, and I don't think I'm close to being done.

I felt that this game held a lot of promise, but didn't live up to the expectations it set for itself. I will say I enjoyed some of the character themes explored, if not the character writing itself so much. The role of one particular character dooming himself to yet again be a "bystander" was something I found really compelling! Others have written about the repetition of the puzzles, which I found true but is admittedly subjective. (There's only so many ways to utilize a four digit code.) But I think I can identify a few broader design issues that hamper the game.

The Open World

Puzzles, but no Sleuthing

WAIT WAIT WAIT

Don't buy the game because it's cheap and you think it'll be a fun detective experience. See my hours up there ^ ? Inflated by unnecessary walks around the city with the promise of cracking a cold case, only to be spoon-fed the answers by the end. Also went afk on the game but that's a different issue. TLDR: Spend more money and buy Scene Investigators instead. Absolutely worth it. This? Avoid like the plague.

You see, the game has some charm to it, but I cannot recommend it at all. It sells itself as a "No handholding" game, that "Mimics Real World Investigation". This could not be further from the truth. Most of the playthrough will consist of fighting against the game's poorly designed city (who numbers doors like that??), and doing crazy amounts of walking back and forth from places because you found a key that finally lets you open a drawer with another key to a drawer across the map. It is simply a walking sim.

Don't lose focus just yet, I'll get to the story (without spoilers in case you decide to ignore this warning). The story has you trying to piece together what happened in this town, with multiple red-herrings and conflicts that fit into one story. Except, it's all told through conveniently descriptive diaries, in a literal ghost town. No, literally, there is no one else (except for one person at the end who confesses to all the crimes before any input of yours), and your only company is one ghost who occasionally appears around the city (again, completely mute, might as well not be there). Could have been an interesting story, but some elements at the end ruin it completely.

The game starts as one with endless possibilities about who the killer may be. By the middle, you start to get some good ideas as to who it may be. By the end, everything is thrown in the trash because someone confesses out of nowhere that they did everything (for understandable reasons), but with absolutely no build up whatsoever. Hell, you even see the blood-stained weapon they used. And then the game has the audacity to ask you who you thought the killer was, and what their weapon was. HUH??? YOU JUST SHOWED ME THE ANSWER WHY ARE YOU ASKING ME THIS???

Game felt like a chore, the puzzles were easy with answers given on silver platters before you can begin to think too deeply, and there is Too. Much. Walking. I'm sure the protagonist can climb a 1.3m high wall without needing a key, or a hammer to open a slightly stuck cabinet. I know this sounds like a lot of whining, but after traversing for hours for goofy reasons, only to have the fun sucked out because the game wanted to give me the answers by the end instead of letting me think, I'd be inclined to believe I'm entitled to a little ranting.

Don't buy the game, even if it is just a measly price of £3.79 (or equivalent). Even with that price, I feel scammed and almost regret not refunding the game tbh.

PS: No wonder the crime rate was so high in this village. People left keys to houses and revealing personal diaries everywhere with no security systems. Also, does nobody move their stuff before leaving a ghost town anymore?

I solidly laid-out open-world mystery! I cut my teeth on games like Myst so reading a ton of journals is perfectly comfortable for me, as is taking my own notes on paper. The Painscreek Killings does a great job of feeling ominous while also kind of like a soap opera! Each new piece of information realigns the previous bits of information like a kaleidoscope. It was a lot of fun to speculate about what it all means.

Other reviewers have mentioned the abrupt tonal shift in the endgame. While it does make narrative sense, it's frustrating to have a timed chase sequence at the end of a dead-world walking simulator game. A lot of us who choose walking sims don't LIKE high-adrenaline sequences like that! That being said, you do get an achievement if the bad guy catches you. Also, once you figure out where you need to go, the chase sequence is very manageable on the second or third try. There are also a couple occasions when you can get spooked by an apparition. It cannot harm you, but it's great for weird vibes!

The reveals are paced pretty well, but the game will confirm your guesses in a mildly heavy-handed way. I didn't like it so much, but my husband who played with me enjoyed the confirmation that we were right! Overall, I highly recommend this game if you want a complex drama llama mystery story.

12 hours to 100% achievements, which was taking it kind of slow.

A litany of locked doors and dead ends. It became extremely boring after 2 hours.

Good game, but beware - it's real investigation. Put your gamer-sense aside and play like a normal human being aka combine information and not just randomly click things or input codes. If you can do that, the game is awesome.



... also keep a guide ready, you will most certainly get stuck once or twice. If you can't figure something out, try the forums or guides - they are really good at hiding spoilers and it's no fun if you frustratingly stop playing just because you overlooked a little detail.

A great mystery that subverted my expectations, but in a good way. Great graphics, great soundtrack, great story. Puzzles are mostly great with some exceptions. With a remaster this could be perfect. Otherwise it's a wonderful game for Halloween season.

An excellent mystery game that makes you think carefully about your next move. One clue leads to another, then another, then all of a sudden you're at a dead end, retracing your steps to find what you've missed. The story is brilliant and there are multiple endings. Clever puzzles , beautiful graphics and a compelling story that makes you want to keep digging. There is a lot to read, but it doesn't feel like a lot. Almost everything is either pertinent or interesting. You get to feel like you know the characters as you progress, even though you don't meet them. There are a few minor issues, selecting things can be difficult, especially on a controller. And there are some other minor annoyances I can't go into without spoilers. Overall I highly recommend this one!

I absolutely loved this game. The atmosphere and environment was beautiful, eerie and definitely reminiscent of a good murder mystery show or book. It took me about 9 hrs total to complete the game and get all the achievements, and probably would have been less if I didn't get stuck at a point where I completely missed an item. Though everyone's times can vary, and it honestly depends on how observant you are of the surroundings, i.e noticing locked drawers, secret/hidden areas, how snoopy you are with all the drawers and cabinets, how fast you figure out puzzles, and how familiar you are with mystery type games. I, 100% recommend this game. The story was good and kept you wanting to know more. There are a couple "jumpscares" and I use that term lightly. Its more just you see something that wasn't there before and it might startle you a little but I wouldn't call the game scary. Unsettling perhaps, as some areas are a little unnerving, but not scary. The ending does get your adrenaline pumping. But the game was a wonderful story, and I wish I could experience it again for the first time. I'd love to see more of these games!
*SPOILER WARNING* As far as the ending goes be sure to save before you listen to the tape recorder in the attic of the church or you won't be able to redo it without starting a new game if you die. Look out for Sofia while you run.

Great, non-linear game with good suspense. I was legitimately creeped out once, jump scared thrice, and enjoyed nosing into everyone's business in between. Tried for 100% but I think I encountered a bug and I don't care enough about completionism to waste time doing the ending over and over lol

Non-linear, no quest markers, no item indicators, just an empty town, a camera, and a mystery to solve. If you can't get a corkboard and red string, get some paper and a pen; you'll be making connections and ruling out red herrings at every turn. If you love whodunnits, play this game!

For anyone who loves investigative games, this is the game for you. The exploration aspect of it was great, and the story was shocking in the twists and turns that it created. It is definitely recommended that you take notes / take photos with your camera (in game).

Overall, I highly recommend this game! I had a blast, and it took me about 6 hours to complete.

The Painscreek Killings is a first-person detective game and a personal favorite of mine. As the journalist Janet, you explore the deserted town of Painscreek to unravel the mystery behind Vivian Roberts' unsolved murder. The game requires you to manually take notes, track names, dates, and locations, and cross-reference clues to solve the mystery. While this system might not appeal to everyone, I loved the hands-on approach. You can take photos of clues in-game, but I found using pen and paper more effective.

The storytelling is exceptional, with each location revealing new insights into the town's dark history. Letters, newspapers and diaries scattered throughout the game reveal fascinating connections between the town's residents, making the investigation feel personal and engaging. It felt like reading a murder mystery novel at times, with each discovery pulling me deeper into the story.

Exploration has a semi-open-world design and feels very much like a walking simulator. There’s no hand-holding, hints, or map markers. You're free to investigate at your own pace, though you'll need to find keys to access some of the locked locations. The game is packed with secrets, requiring you to search everything thoroughly—opening drawers, cupboards, and finding combinations for safes and locks.

The town's haunting atmosphere is well crafted. Detailed environments and subtle ambient sounds add to the eerie, abandoned feel of Painscreek. There's one big jump scare and a few smaller ones, but the game's creeping tension relies more on psychological unease. The ending, while divisive, is kind of foreshadowed by many clues scattered throughout the game.

Walking simulator with a twist. This is not a detective game.

Walk around the town, trying to connect items and codes to something on the other side of the town.
Pick up useless items, open empty drawers to try to find the next key to a locker room which you need a key or code into, which you have deduce or connect in ridiculous ways sometimes.
Even if you have all the puzzle pieces, your deduction might be off. For example. 4 slot codes with 3 number answers. Birthdays, which are not their official birthdays.

This is not a detective game.

I grew up playing Nancy Drew games by Her Interactive and over recent years - as the company has entered a downward spiral - I have found myself unable to find something to scratch that good mystery itch. No more! The Painscreek Killings is a marvel of storytelling and a fun mystery solver! I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a good case this much and I really hope that the company will release a sequel in the future.

As a noob to games that actually make me think, I really enjoyed this! There were times i had to search things up, but oftentimes the dev's answers were hints that help you get unstuck rather than giving everything away.

There only negatives for me were that i fell through the map 3 times (thank days for the reset option), and that two diary entries were not saved when i first read them (even though i did not have to reset myself after reading them).

If you're considering getting this game, i'd say go for it!

100% Achievements Review

A tense and thrilling game where you uncover the secrets of painscreek village.

The gameplay is very simple and it involves mostly around reading and paying attention to details. You get to play the role of an investigative reporter trying to uncover the details of a murder that happened a few years ago in this small village. The goal is to uncover the truth and you have all the time in the world doing so by checking buildings, reading notes, solving a few puzzles and putting two and two together.

The game is not incredible challenging but you do need some patiance figuring out where to go next every now and then. Even though I figured out most things before reaching the latter part of the game I still enjoyed the journey a lot and recommend this for anyone wanting to pretend to be a detective for 10 hours or so :)

The only negatives I have really is mostly technical. Not a lot of options regarding limiting framerate or adjusting the visuals in the game. Plenty of small visual bugs throughout the game where assets aren't placed entirely correct and glitches can be seen. The audio is also sometimes annoying at times where buzzing sounds from lit lamps can be intrusive and sometimes I found myself turning lights off to avoid it.

Also cameras pictures are stored locally on your computer and not saved in the cloud which also is annoying when switching from PC to Steamdeck and vice versa.

Also the game seems too heavy for the visuals it provides since even on the lowest settings at 1280x800 resolution the steam deck could sometimes drop frames under 60 and tax the hardware quite a bit. This is not a gorgeous game but more a functional one with simple graphics.

Overall despite the flaws I enjoyed the story and the atmosphere immensely and wish for more!

I don't play a whole lot of mystery games, but I find this game very enjoyable and personally I believe it's a very underrated game that deserves more recognition. Sure it's not the most suspenseful game out there, yet I always find myself returning to The Painscreek killings.
Definitely worth playing to me, if not pick it up on sale.

Very fun and made me think! I honestly wish there was more games like this. I enjoyed the puzzles and there times where it was just so creepy

If you like a puzzle based game with mystery and murder solving, then give this a go

In a nutshell: everything about this game is great. I finished the game in around 6 hours, and in another two I collected all the remaining items and achievements simply because I was so hooked, and I would like to do it again.
And now in more detail (let’s try to avoid spoilers).
PLOT. When I bought the game, I expected something like a sequence of investigations of several unrelated or very indirectly related incidents. At first it may seem so, but later you realize how strongly the cases are interconnected, and soon they join into one whole. The story is breathtaking. It’s like a book you can’t put down. All the characters are perfectly written, as if you are dealing with real people. Plot holes or “elephants in bushes that have always been here we just never told you but now you know” often make it impossible to solve the case in detective genre, but this time it is certainly not the case. There are no plot holes, the details are cleverly connected, revealing some new side of what happened, and the actions of all the characters are logical, so it is easy to investigate, understand and move along the plot. In addition to the main plot line, there are several additional ones that form a complete picture of the events and their participants.
GAMEPLAY. The main advantage for me is the almost open world. That is, you hardly follow the linearity of the plot, except for accessing some locations, and each player reveals the story in their own sequence with their own guesses. You can always leave one place and go to another one if you need to add something or get distracted, and there is always an opportunity to return to what you have already found thanks to the inventory, photographs or pocket "archive" with all the diaries, newspapers and other. The special charm is that almost all objects are interactive: cabinets can be opened, lights can be turned on, doors can at least be tried to be unlocked (not all of them will be opened in the end, this is also part of the puzzle - to find out what exactly you can open and what is needed to be open), and also interact with other objects. That interactivity with the first-person view make you immerse yourself in what is happening, as if you were really there. To collect all the items (you can get a few achievements), you will need to open and examine everything possible - I liked it, because I like to examine absolutely everything.
LOCATION AND GRAPHICS. Great views, quite large and beautiful locations. As I progressed through the story, I never ceased to be amazed at how many places are yet to be discovered in this game. There also pictures of event participants so you can imagine them.
SURPRISES. Although this relates to the “plot” abstract, I want to highlight this separately. I got scared a couple of times because I walked around everywhere in relax, and I also thought that I was alone in the city. I was wrong. But this made the game even cooler.
I made several great screenshots, it's a pity that they can't be attached to the review. In general, the amount of words in this review shows how much this game hooked me. I really hope that I can find something similar, because it was really cool, and I'd been dreaming about something like this for a long time.
Thanks to the developers.

Imagine if someone put you in an empty room, gave you a really messed up, obnoxious knot and asked you to untie it while haunted house music constantly played. That is this game.
Gameplay is basically, "Hey you need to get in here, but to do that you need a key which is over here, but to get in there you'll need a key which may be hidden over here, but to get in there, you'll need a code, but to learn the code, you'll have to get in here which you'll need another key to open, and the key is hidden in this safe which you'll learn the combination by combining clues you'll find here and here, but you'll need the keys hidden over there to get them, etc, etc, etc"
This is a nightmare, and I'd sooner arrest the whole town for being assholes. Why can't I just break down doors? Its a ghost town. Everyone is gone and no-one is coming back. Just break whatever gets in the way. Most of the "detective" work is just finding keys so you can search for actual clues.
Graphically, its cheap. I don't mean low-poly cheap, I'm fine with that. I mean sometimes a tree won't have its branches attached correctly, or a chain blocking your path will have one of its ends floating mid-air. The kind of work that should have taken two seconds to make right in a game that is already *only* its environment.
I like mystery games enough that I stuck with it, but that doesn't mean I think its good. Its a chore. A tedious, patience-grinding chore.

You have to look really fucking hard for items, but piecing everything together yourself is worth it

An excellent investigation game. It's no linear; you can choose where to start your search and find multiple clues in different places which means each play can have a different experience as the story unfolds through letters, diaries, news articles, and documents found throughout this abandoned town.

I would be very excited to see another game from this developer that evolved to include questioning people. I say evolved because I don't consider the town being empty a con. The game neatly accounts for the town being devoid of people and frankly it adds a certain creep factor that wouldn't otherwise be there.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Painscreek, it has certainly left me wanting more. The game ran great and I didn't come across any game breaking bugs or issues. Though a tip for both players and the devs; I think, if a puzzle seems too difficult to solve or isn't working it is because you aren't at the point that you are supposed to be able to solve it. It's best to leave it alone and come back to it rather than giving into googling how to solve it and realising you're not supposed to be trying. To the developers, maybe find a way that players aren't introduced to unsolvable puzzles to prevent this frustration?

this game stuck with me! Atmospherically top notch, a great story, and a beautiful soundtrack.

I really like this game, it has a number of great elements to it and it's so easily immersive. I like detective games but I scoffed at the advice to take notes, then I saw the names on the grave stones and was like wait a minute, I know that name. Now I have murder mystery charts and graphs all over the place. The camera was really cool, I loved that it wasn't for specific goals or achievements, it was for your own notes. Actually, that's what made everything cool, it's an open world and really your own investigation to dig as deep into as you are willing to go.
All the characters, though you never meet them, are so full and separate that it does require some effort to keep track. Their homes and businesses and hospital are full of secrets and you have all the time in the world to poke through them.
I also like that this wasn't a horror game and there was no threats around, it's a kind of freedom to wander and investigate that I really enjoy.
I definitely hope the developer puts out more of these.

Simply one of the best story-rich game I've played. Hope the developers create more games like this.

A lovely detective game! I was particularly impressed by the degree to which you can solve the mystery in a variety of orders (not ANY order, since keys beget other keys). I really enjoyed getting to know all the characters through reading their diaries. Another standout was the (unnecessary but hilarious) ability to take photos with your ingame camera, which can lead to some very funny ending newspaper articles. Like all point and click adventure games, there may come a time where the guide comes out (it did for me), but nothing terrible.

A word of advice: while the game is full of combination locks which you can technically open through guess and check, I believe every combo lock in the game has an accompanying document hinting at what the combination is (ex: the margins to a diary might note that the combo to X's desk drawer is Y character's birthday), so don't go brute forcing unless you want to sequence break.

Ok so I enjoyed the first 60% of the game. But towards the end it felt like things were being more and more overexplained and direct. Like getting drip fed facts in an unnatural way, that made the characters feel less like people and more like paper dolls. I was prepared to overlook plot contrivances in order to let the story work, just like how you suspend your disbelief in an epistolary novel or mockumentary when things that wouldn't be written or recorded are included for the sake of the narrative. But it didn't feel like much narrative was there. And then the final reveals felt so stupid, with the fucking yakety sax ending as the topper that made the whole game feel goofy.

the moment I feel distills exactly why I soured on the game as a whole: when you find the tape and start listening to the Father Matthew's murder podcast. I was interested to hear his thoughts, not because I was interested in getting a blow by blow of the facts I already knew that he killed those people, or even how he would justify murdering several people to himself. but because I wanted to hear what he thought of how his actions led to the persecution and death of the boy he raised as a son. Who was the son of the woman he loved, and ostensibly the woman he was murdering all these people to avenge. instead we get a dry rendition of the facts of his 3 murders, with almost nothing of his thoughts and feelings beyond a simple. "It's all over now. why am I not at peace" and then the stuff about the investigator he murdered. The name Scott was not uttered on that fucking tape once. This tape made it impossible for me to ignore the flatness and poor writing elsewhere, and the cherry on top chase sequence that ends with you as a football, the ghost as Lucy, and Charlie Brown and his axe end up falling to his death, made the whole game feel stupid.

Overall I was intrigued by the format of this game, and I enjoyed a lot of it. But for me personally the flat characters and poor writing made the overall experience not worthwhile.

This game is really something... The story is amazing. It kept me guessing until just about the last hour of gameplay. I enjoyed my time there and will be returning for a 100% run.

Some of the geometry is a bit scuffed but it comes with the charm of the game. You wont go about solving some puzzles like you would think. Don't you worry though, you will almost always get a hint down the line to help you solve everything.

In conclusion, this was a fantastic way to spend my Friday the 13th!

P.S. this game will almost only be spread by word of mouth, so get it out there!

Great game. Definitely worth the money and will challenge you. Be ready to spend a lot of time combing through information and reading between the lines.

It was a great investigation game! A lot of puzzles, sometimes very hard to solve, but it was a great story.

What a brilliant walking / detective / puzzle experience! Loved this. Played first 7 hours without any help, then kinda needed some guidance (Shhhh, don't tell anyone, but there are loads of walkthroughs available). Graphics are good, Painscreek is well-thought-out and an immersive environment to explore. The story keeps you guessing and there's a nice bit of excitement near the end (I won't say anymore than that). Had this on my list for ages, bought it on sale for less than $5, and it entertained us for 11 hours, though fair to say this would have been much longer without a couple of helpful pointers.

If Steam had an option for "Mixed" I would have chosen that.
On the good side: the story is really cool, with lots of twists and turns. I played this together with my gf, and we would alternate turns in controlling the character and being in charts of the notebook, taking notes about things we found or trying to make connections to see where we should go next. We did finish the whole game.

On the bad side: the gameplay itself is often frustrating, with a lot of walking back-and-forth and having to very miticulously pixel hunt. A couple of times we would have just missed a certain object and get completely stuck, with the options being either going through the entire game to figure out if we missed something, or looking up a walkthrough (which is what we did). Many parts of the game require you to have one specific item or clue, with not a lot of nonlinearity possible.
The game would really benefit from an interactive hint system to let you know if you missed something, or otherwise at least the option to highlight all the objects you can interact with in a room (except for perhaps the ones that are deliberately secret).
Compared to other deductive games (Return of the Obra Dinn, Case of the Golden Idol, Chants of Sennaar), this game is a lot more frustrating and backtracky.

I enjoy murder mysteries, but this game didn't cut it for me. Too much going back and forth between buildings, map wasn't very good and you couldn't mark locations there. Also the clues sometimes didn't make sense to me (because in a murder case there is often passionate strong feelings involved and the clues were kind of cold and distant most of the time). Sounds were sometimes poorly made, for example the wind sounds in the cemetery and music was a simple loop.

It's a good game if you're the type to procrastinate life and prioritize curiosity for a well stablished period of time. There's lots of puzzles, a interesting story -- that makes you stay longing for more, nice plot twists, etc. That being said, I would 100% recommend the gameplay.
I would say the cons are: you'll be running around so much to get clues/keys it's gonna get tiring, some puzzles are really hard to do -- and if you're anxiously rushing, double it (or google it); plus there's jumpscares in two of the endings that got me a slighty anxiety attack, because I wasn't expecting it. So, I guess, just be ready for it.

I was really looking for a game like this. Something I could play over a weekend that would leave me thinking about it for hours after I finished it. The story they weave is honestly mind blowing to me. It had twists and turns that kept me guessing until the end. One thing I didn't like was all the walking lol it has you walking back and forth between points of interest for basically the whole game. Don't get me wrong that can be totally fine for certain games but it did feel a bit repetitive. Other than that this game totally satisfied me