With the absolute abhorrent lack of new horror titles this Fall/Halloween season, I was taken by surprise when I saw Cold Dreams appear on the Steam store. Equipped with a decent price and a promising trailer, I decided to give this one a spin on an overly windy, chilly evening.
First off, this game uses the Cryengine, so that is already a plus in my books. Far too many recent indie horror titles on Steam rely on the awful and notoriously unstable Unity engine. The graphics here are wonderful and the atmosphere is immersive; at one point I was actually getting cold whilst playing the game. However, disappointment soon arrived at my fingertips.
I realized very early on into Cold Dreams that nothing was actually going to "hurt" me, and that there was no pressure to make storyline progression. You can stand around for hours looking up at the snowfall if you really want to. I came to the conclusion that this is yet another walking and key finding simulator, like so many other indie games that boast the tag of "horror" have ended up becoming. The "scares" are extremely predictable and provide nothing more than a little jump during the first couple of attempts. As well, the story is excruciatingly basic, with little to no inspiration.
I have to wonder, when and why did horror games become so standardized? The genre is becoming a lost art. Developers need to realize that true horror does not come from jump scares, walking around 'creepy' forests only to solve puzzles, or natural sounds. Anyone can create a jump scare, but it takes a true artist to instill long-lasting fright.
The game lasts maybe an hour. There is no save feature. At this time there are still bugs that are being worked out. Sadly, I cannot recommend this title whatsoever. The graphics are nice to look at and the game is very stable, despite random framerate dips into the 40's on a high end gaming rig; check my profile for specs. The "horror" aspect of this horror title is just not there.