I enjoy playing small budget horror games, and keeping an eye out for ones that might surprise me. This time I’m checking out Yellowcreek Stories: The Cabin Watcher. A game made by Carloz Azugua, and published by JanduSoft. You can grab it on Steam £9.98, and it looks like it might be the start of an anthology.
Don’t go to a cabin alone… or maybe ever.
Gameplay
The basic plot is that we are a writer who has travelled out to log cabin, in hopes of finishing a book. But as you would expect this goes out the window. Yellowcreek Stories: The Cabin Watcher doesn’t have a lot you can interact with, except for story reason. So with that you will be walking most of the time. When stuff does kick off, you will have to sneak around the killer who will walk in a set pattern and try to do tasks. At these points you can run but doing so will fill up your visibility meter, but you do have hiding spots. Using them even if he has kinda seen you will make him return to his searching state.
Graphics & Audio
Yellowcreek Stories; The Cabin Watcher tries to give off slasher vibes with a VHS filter and low resolution graphics. It also seems to be set in the eighties, judging by the technology present in the game (extremely green screened chunky computers and landline phones). Some of the music is heavily eighties inspired, while the rest attempts to build tension (but ultimately fails). There isn’t any voice acting which isn’t a problem for me, but there’s very little else either.
With a killer looks like Jason Vorhees if he joined the greasers, and the overall looks of the game is very simple. Coupled with an extremely tiny roster of characters and areas, and some typical clichés, it feels overly simplistic. Some of these small things alone or in slight combination of something is fine, but visually and audibly it feels like something is missing, like there’s something you’re waiting for which never happens or piques your internet.
Longevity
Assuming that Yellowcreek Stories, is aiming to be an anthology, don’t expect a lengthy game. The whole thing only took me just a smidge over and hour. There are 11 achievements to get, with maybe replaying to get two that require a specific unlock. And with how short the game is you can easily do that.
Final Thoughts
Yellowcreek Stories: The Cabin Watcher doesn’t do well when trying to build suspense. After the initial first couple of tasks, everything just moves so fast. Hell, even the killer does not do what the title says and even “watch” the cabin. He just goes for it. The price tag seems a little steep for something that isn’t even an hour long. So I’m going to give Yellowcreek Stories: The Cabin Watcher, the Thumb Culture Bronze Award. If it is a first episode, it wasn’t one that pulled me in.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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