Shines Over: The Damned is a unique gaming experience that combines elements of adventure and horror to create an immersive and emotional atmosphere. With its stunning visual design, captivating soundtrack and minimalistic narrative, the game offers a unique and different experience to what we are used to.

Es erübrigt sich zu sagen, dass dies kein Spiel für jedermann sein wird. Es ist unheimlich, es wird deine Geduld auf die Probe stellen, es ist ein Horrorspiel, das nicht gruselig ist, aber es hat etwas an sich, das mich genug gefesselt hat, um das ganze Spiel durchzuspielen. Vielleicht war es aber auch nur der niedliche Hund, der einem ans Herz gewachsen ist, denn er ist die einzige andere nicht-antagonistische Figur im Spiel. Letzten Endes handelt es sich um einen kleinen, schrägen, experimentellen Arthouse-Exklusivtitel für PlayStation, das sich nur für Arthouse-Horror-Nerds lohnen wird.

In summary, Shines Over: The Damned falls short of its ambitious goals, offering a brief but ultimately forgettable experience. While it may appeal to fans of the more experimental side of horror, the game’s flaws outweigh its strengths, resulting in a game that struggles to leave a lasting impression. With a lack of compelling gameplay and narrative depth, Shines Over: The Damned ultimately fails to distinguish itself in the competitive landscape of psychological horror games despite a decent first impression.

At the end of the day, this is a small, weird, experimental, arthouse PlayStation exclusive title that came out in the same week as the much bigger horror title of Alone in the Dark. It isn’t likely to break through into the mainstream and will probably fly under the radar of most, as its target audience is clearly arthouse horror nerds much like myself. I reckon if this was a full priced game, then I would be far harsher on it, but for an asking price of $14.99 I’d say that Shines Over: The Damned is worth taking a punt on.

En definitiva, y sin poder alargarme mucho más, he de acabar advirtiendo, de nuevo, que si dudas en adquirir el juego, has de saber que la experiencia jugable es muy corta y limitada. Pero si eres de aquellos jugadores que quieren probar todo tipo de experiencias, atrévete. El juego ofrece unos buenos gráficos y un buen apartado sonoro que te darán una experiencia inmersiva, aunque te sientas desubicado a nivel de historia.

It can hardly be called a game since it does not have a story or coherent gameplay elements, and the mysterious atmosphere crumbles without any anchor points. If at least it would have been so outlandish that it became interesting, but alas. As it stands Shines Over: The Damned is a 30-minute complete waste of your time.

Shines Over: The Damned è un’esperienza più che un gioco. Anche perché ludicamente non funziona quasi niente. Il gioco dura pochissimo e in quel pochissimo riesce a sbagliare le fasi platform, a offrire un enigma ambientale abusatissimo e un momento in barca da dimenticare. Peccato perché se graficamente il titolo presta il fianco a diverse critiche, il sonoro è utilizzato discretamente bene ma non basta per un titolo che fatichiamo a consigliare.

Shines Over: The Damned non è nemmeno definibile gioco, quanto forse una demo: l'idea di un progetto, che pur avendo un inizio e una fine è privo di identità e non si capisce cosa voglia raccontare. O dove siano la sperimentazione e l'horror in un'esperienza estremamente breve e per nulla stimolante.

Non sappiamo cosa sia andato effettivamente storto nello sviluppo di Shines Over: The Damned, sta di fatto che è impossibile capire cosa voglia offrire un titolo simile che sembra, a tutti gli effetti, una tech demo di qualcosa che non esisterà mai. E se il risultato finale era simile a quello che oggi è disponibile al pubblico non possiamo che essere grati di non avere tra le mani il titolo completo.

A broken first-person walking sim that you should avoid

Shines Over: The Damned is not the atmospheric and uneasy horror title I hoped it would be. It's not much of anything actually, offering no scares, no story, an eerie soundtrack that leaves as quickly as it starts, and some rough visual design. Despite it's brisk pace, I can confidently say your time is better spent elsewhere playing any other horror video game.

If it wasn’t clear already, Shines Over: The Damned is a really bad game, which isn’t worth your money or your time, even if it lasts just half an hour. It’s a short, but definitely not sweet experience, completely lacking in scares, story, atmosphere, or inventive ideas. To make matters worse, it costs way too much for something so short. The easy platinum trophy you can get from it is not worth the price tag. At its worst, it was a frustrating gameplay experience. At its best, it is an experimental snorefest.

Pienso que el autor juan mod, que tiene varios juegos de esta saga en su haber, está experimentando con el Unreal Engine 5 en consolas y PC, ha demostrado que esta demo técnica o prueba de concepto es factible pero debe ser pulida en muchos aspectos para llegar a ser un título comercial de cierto renombre. Probablemente necesite una fuente de financiación importante, una apuesta de verdad por el estudio. Pero es un diamante en bruto, esperemos tenga suerte.

Hay muchas alternativas mejores en cuanto a títulos de terror se refire. Más completas, seguro. Y más baratas, probablemente.

SO: TD is a short but sweet game that delivers an interesting horror experience. It does suffer from being too short and the abstract narrative left mostly unexplained. In its two-hour playtime, there are stunning visuals and solid audio to go with it. And for a linear game, it delivers a compelling plot to ponder and revisit afterwards. But I do wish there were more answers than being left with mostly questions. I enjoyed my time playing SO: TD and am curious to see what Juan-Mod brings us next.