Song of Horror (2019 Video Game) User Reviews

AMAZING HORROR GAME

[Pedroaarregui · 9/10 · 26 November 2022]

They were many hours playing with one of the best survival horror videogames. I restarted it several times because I wanted to see how all the characters could face the different problems and creatures.

The game play, the plot, the diferent characters you can play with, the music, the atmosfere of the places you play into, some jigsaws are marvellous... this is a real 10 in a videogame test, but the 3D modeling of the characters, sometimes, are not good enough.

This is the main problem I saw, but the experience playing it was very enjoyable. Sometimes I was very scared and I had to stop playing with this great product. I hope a second part would be released soon because it deserves many chances for being known as one horror masterpiece.

One of the best horror games,ignore bad reviews

[damirhaskovic-31073 · 10/10 · 4 November 2023]

I dont know why people say its bad,i just say ignore all that,and play it. You will enjoy it,the ambience,jumpscares everything. Pernament death is okay,it gives you the feeling like its real life,and you are acctusly scared of dying. If you make 1 bad choice and it leads to death,it will give you chills. Characters are cool,scenery,everything. People who played obscure games will be nistalgic cause of death system. Also quick time events are insane,truly scary,the tension and fear to make a mistake is insane. Every level is unique and has its own horror. Just ignore any bad reviews. Turn off the lights and play the game!

Why the permanent death?

[AvionPrince16 · 5/10 · 4 December 2021]

I really wanted to like the game but what i hate the most about it its the permanent death. It ruined for me all the experience. I really enjoyed the sound design, the level design, some puzzles and the story wanted make me to know more about it but i couldnt with the permanent death. Because sometimes you can died in a silly way because of 1 decision and guess what: when you have all 4 characters dead you will need to restart the game all over: its really frustrating: and some choices of yes or no can bring you to death and i can assure you that some deaths are pretty silly and the game want us to resolve puzzles too. Sorry but the game is clearly a die and retry and i dont like it. It ruin the exploration, the desire to know more about the story and i cant continue really even if i wanted to know how it will end but the permanent death broke the game for me.

Could have been great

[jimmycoffin-751-212853 · 5/10 · 12 September 2023]

This horror game is difficult to pin down.

There's equally much good and bad ideas cramped into one game. Song of horror also outstays it's welcome and is far to much of a slog that it looses my attention span.

I will keep this review short of what worked and what didn't work.

Cons: 1. I will never understand why so many horror games are so focused on puzzle solving? I don't play horror to be reminded of school. Puzzles are the most boring part in any games, in any genres. It works in RE,SH, DS because they contribute to the overall mood piece. Not overly obtuse puzzles that slows the whole gameplay to a crawl.

In this game they are an absolute confucing mess! I had to rely on wiki and gave up solving them completely just to get through the game.

2. There should only be one character to play.

It makes no sense at all to send his best friends to an early grave, I was laughing at this. I send "my soon to be" girlfriend to a haunted mental asylum. Haha 3. The many silent hill references gets in the way of the atmosphere 4. The hauntings should have been realtime and with means of defending yourself. Not annoying puzzles.

5. The game is simply to long.

Pros: 1. Beautiful backgrounds and house design. The first two chapters are the best.

The haunted house, the dingy apartment blocks are fun to traverse in a silent hill 3 kinda way. Sure, there are some setpieces within the levels that gets overrused. But the first two levels i was on the edge of my seat. The rest of the later labyrinthic levels are simply to long.

2. The music and effects are actually great in places, and the haunting activity can be rather creepy and fun. I also died deveral times and the hauntings happened in different places.

I don't know if those where random bugs but there where almost never the same scares wich was a great idea to keep players on edge.

Conclusion: song of horror can feel nostalgic in places and the first two chapters are the most focused ones. But they could have cut out many of the annoying beyond belief puzzles they wouldn't be missed. The terrible, voiceacting, permadeath, ghost puzzles and switching characters all contribute to making the game alot more confucing that it ever had to be. I would still recommend playing through this game, cause the graphics are fine and the rooms and hauntings are creepy if the correct ones are triggered. There's a really good horror game under the hood. But it couldn't reach it's potential.

The idea had potential, but the execution was a terrible...

[gamesorgtfo · 3/10 · 19 April 2023]

I gave this game a fair chance, as I was expecting it to deliver from my POV given that I am a big fan of survival horror. I love many installments of the resident evil series as well as LOU, Evil Within, etc. Unfortunately, this was not up to snuff with the standards I have for the genre.

I knew not to expect a game with any action to the gameplay going in, but even with that standard, this is a tremendous disappointment. The quick time events, unlike better horror games such as Until Dawn, are unexceptional. By a few hours in, they feel more like a chore than an immersive interaction.

That being said, I could have given it a break for that if there was other depth to the game that delivered. Until Dawn, for example, allows progression of relationships and has actual story choices that determine the fate of its characters. This game's death mechanic is limited to absurdly cheap button press deaths. Accidentally press x instead of triangle near a door? Sorry, you're dead.

I'm a hardcore gamer...I have no problem with permadeath and have greatly enjoyed some extremely difficult games that include it (Darkest Dungeon for example). The problem is that a mechanic like the one in SOH should serve a purpose instead of being introduced solely to try to force repetition and use of the other characters. It should be based on story logic, or just in-general, something more satisfying and less cheap. It doesn't help that the story itself is incredibly bare bones and has extremely minimal player influence. If you want a horror story game, I can't recommend Walking Dead and Until Dawn enough over this shallow, undercooked experience.

The one piece of this game that does deliver a bit is the environments. They're classic resident type levels, although I feel the puzzles are lackluster comparatively. Still, they just aren't even close to enough to carry the game for players who want more than a walking simulator. Even if I could overlook everything else and just focus on the environments, I'd expect the music to provide an exceptionally gripping atmosphere if that's what is supposed to carry the game. Instead, what was there was minimalistic and generic. One of the most forgettable game soundtracks I've ever heard.

Overall, between the aesthetic, the level design, and the character variety, there was the start of a good idea here. Yet, it didn't get the development and depth it needed to succeed. Survival Horrors are too plentiful for anybody but the absolute most niche to force themselves through this bust. Those games feel like eating a NY strip steak compared to this undercooked piece of flank. Dropping this halfway through and instead beating Dark Descent was a choice I'm incredibly thankful I made.