Stray Souls Review

ign.com:

On the surface, Stray Souls seems like it has everything a horror fan would want. In fact, its hellish creatures, townsfolk cult, and mysteriously empty main street with a malfunctioning fog machine are everything Silent Hillfans, in particular, could ask for, unabashedly drawing from Konami's iconic horror series throughout. But despite an effectively unsettling opening, pretty much everything else – from its dull combat and cringeworthy conversations to the uninspired boss fights and long, long list of bugs and glitches – fails to deliver. The most impressive thing about Stray Souls ends up being just how badly it manages to fall short of that inspiration by almost every single measure.

Stray Souls takes you to Aspen Falls, an unremarkable American town that – brace yourself for this shocker – hides a terrible secret. Your journey focuses on the newly relocated Daniel, who moved to the community after inheriting a quaint, if rundown, home from a grandmother he didn't even know he had. As he gets to know his neighbors and the legacy left by his delightful, definitely-not-involved-in-anything-dodgy long-lost grandma, you'll get to know Aspen Falls' sinister (if painfully predictable) past through boring combat, overly-long exposition dumps, and townsfolk that should really stop writing everything down and leaving evidence of their darkest secrets lying around for anyone to find.

And yet, this town can be stuffed with wonderful detail at times, and Stray Souls manages to open with a bang – quite literally. Without spoiling anything, the opening sequence is stunning in all the right ways, a deliciously grim (and very bloody) way to set the stage for what may follow. But for every one of Stray Souls’ positives, there are 20