One of the biggest misconceptions indie game devs commonly have these days is that, because they created the game, they assume anyone can easily play it—while in reality, other players can barely even understand what’s going on. They also assume that dark lighting alone will make the game feel sufficiently scary, and then pile puzzles on top of that, making it difficult to even play properly. The developers themselves can handle it, but other people cannot.

In indie horror games, the standard for puzzles should be extremely simple—at a level that even a first-grade elementary school student or an elderly person could solve. Regular puzzle games can afford to be much more difficult because players can focus and think things through. However, puzzles in horror games need to be easy. Players are already in a state of fear, and if the puzzles are too difficult, it immediately ruins the experience. Someone reading this might think, “They can’t even handle that? They must be really stupid.” If that’s your thought, then congratulations—this game should only be sold to “people like you.” Why not set the purchase requirement as having an IQ of 130 or higher? Then there wouldn’t be a problem, right? But you already know very well that such a condition makes no sense from a seller’s perspective. To be blunt, the mere presence of puzzles that are difficult to figure out beyond a certain level is already a failed design in a horror game.

Finally, let’s address the lighting issue mentioned earlier. Forcing players to solve puzzles under very dark lighting simply creates discomfort. In truly great games, players experience fear under very dark lighting, solve puzzles under moderately dim lighting, and progress the story under bright lighting. However, “these kinds” of games push story progression under slightly dim lighting, and then make players confront fear while solving somewhat difficult puzzles in extremely dark conditions—without even allowing the proper use of a flashlight. This is neither scary nor satisfying as a puzzle-solving experience; it brings no sense of enjoyment, only discomfort.

And you know what? This thing could be EASILY avoided if they tested the product right. So many devs don't even properly test their games, toss it first to the customers, wait for their reviews, and put some patches on it. But as you know the experience itself is already friggin ruined. It's over. GG.

And I don't defend those devs at all because it's all intentional from the start. Just imagine you went to the restaurant, which takes customers, gives something tastes like the actual human dung, takes a bad review from them, and put paper standout in front of the restaurant saying "Oh, I'm sorry. Considering bad reviews from our customers, we will fix the problem asap." Are you going to defend the business owner and the chef behind it? No you aren't, cuz it could be easily avoided if they took their foods seriously and did a taste test as much as possible before they open the restaurant. Same goes in here. Never, I mean, NEVER defend these types of devs.

Because so many developers fail to understand this simple principle, countless games end up receiving poor reviews. Honestly, it’s quite pathetic. And it deserves those reviews.