In Nightmare

Despite the confusing narrative, In Nightmare is still fun. The puzzles are varied and delightful to work through. And while not the scariest game I’ve played, there’s plenty of anxiety to be had sneaking around enemies and solving puzzles under duress.

In Nightmare may provide a decent plot line with enjoyable, heartfelt moments, but outside of that, it really is a hard game to recommend to anyone. The technical issues alone are enough to say wait until an update comes out to address it, but even so, the gameplay, while does offer some enjoyable moments, proves to have more issues that only the most patient of people can really deal with. You might have some fun with it for sure, but this is one nightmare you probably don’t want to jump into, at least right away.

In Nightmare could have been great, but the atmosphere and environments aren’t enough to make up for the woeful frame rate, frustrating enemy encounters, and overall tedium of the gameplay.

The horror genre is a finicky one. When there’s a flaw in a horror game, it stands out like an open wound. If you can’t nail its atmosphere, if you can’t fix its bugs, or if you can’t make it engaging, then you know you’ve created a dud. There is a reason why there are tons of bad horror games some people like to enjoy as “so bad it’s good” titles. Other bad horror games, on the other hand, feel so apathetic it’s not even worth making fun of. That’s the case with In Nightm...

In essence, In Nightmare is a narrative heavy puzzle game where all too often you must engage in more action heavy scenes in order to progress. That coupled with frequent sections where you must navigate a room of either a single monster or multiple and avoid detection caused the game to wear out its welcome sooner than it should have. When it's just puzzles you have have all the time in the world to reason out is when the game works best, and I found myself wishing for more of that as the game went on.

In Nightmare is a frustrating and dull horror experience that can't live up to the many ideas it tries to set up. This left me not only bored, but disappointed in what it could have been.

A quaint art direction and an occasional well-conceived puzzle are not enough to redeem this painful slog through a child's living nightmare. Trial-and-error instakill sections and some of the worst hide and seek stealth since Sanity of Morris ensure the greatest nightmare will be your own.