izigame.me

Just finished streaming and I'd say this has been a solid game that I'm glad to have played.

Story

I feel Maid of Sker has a unique tale to be told, not necessarily that its plot beats are anything novel but the way the narrative is presented is as engaging as it is fascinating. Utilizing its Welsh setting and drawing from Greek mythology establishes a creative story that keeps the enterprising player intrigued right up to its conclusion, even culminating in a decision which feels genuinely difficult to make even after the lore discovered throughout the main character's foray through the hotel.

Setting + Sound

An eerie atmosphere is established right out of the gates. From the moment the main character, Thomas, steps off the train that has brought him to the outskirts of Hotel Sker and through the entirety of the hotel itself, Maid of Sker is oppressive in ambience. Due to the nature of the game's cult antagonists abhorring sound the player becomes hyper aware of every sound in the hotel. Does the creak of floorboards come from old wood warped from age, or are those the tell-tale steps of a cultist shifting about? Thomas's steps seem to thunder in the hotel's quiet, the ruffle of shifting carpet is a din in the player's ears as you are acutely aware of every step forward you take.

This quiet lends itself well to the setting as the sound-sensitive cult has ensured a brooding atmosphere that is remarkably broken by the songs of the Maid of Sker. Placed throughout the hotel in the form of collectible and objective items are "music boxes" which cut the silence. The music in Maid of Sker is as beautiful as it is haunting, thoroughly fitting the somber tone of the game while being excellent pieces in their own right. Finding the songs is as much part of the reason to play as is pushing through the story as the player feels compelled to seek out more of this tune whose presence remains a constant, yet seems never fully finished, so the player continues pushing onward to hear more.

Gameplay

The weakest element. Granted, Maid of Sker has 4 difficulty options and I chose to play on Normal. After my experience I feel like Hard would offer the best reactive tension to the game, but due to clunky pathing issues it's hard for me to suggest playing the game at its highest difficulty setting.

Simply put, enemies in Maid of Sker are dumb. At the Normal option the game advises that enemies are attentive to the player and fairly aggressive should they be alerted. Though never pleasant, encountering a cultist in the hotel isn't a death sentence. More often than not (every time in my experience) after opening a door and coming face-to-face with a cultist the player can escape by covering their mouth & simply walking backward; even at a crouch Thomas moves faster than the lumbering cultists ensuring that, so long as your path ahead is clear, you will always be able to out-crawl the enemies around you - save for one terrifying monster later in the story. After a certain point most of the tension in the games comes from waiting for enemies to pass their patrols rather than whether they will actually find you. Even at Normal, which suggests enemies will give some chase, there was a moment I ran RIGHT past a grunt and, though alerted, the AI didn't bother to chase me around the corner despite it being close to the path I took.

However, I can't recommend Hard because the pathing in Maid of Sker can be downright clunky. Generally moving isn't an issue, save that Thomas moves at a snail's pace unless he's running, and even that feels slow - the character in Outlast would run marathons around Maid's MC. The biggest crux is that Thomas will catch on the most random clutter on the ground and it completely disrupts his pace. Further, if this happens while you're actively holding spring to run Thomas will not automatically resume running even after you've freed yourself from whatever you bumped into. This can add some tension and frustration to encounters where the player is trying to be quick in their movements, only to have to move Thomas robotically over the floor terrain. On top of this, it's incredibly easy to become stuck in place if an enemy does catch you in a bad corner. There are locations in the game that appear meant to be obvious spots to step off the path while waiting for enemies to pass, but if one choosing to come into your vicinity then Thomas will get stuck between the environment and the enemy with no way to escape, even using the stunlock weapon eventually acquired will not save Thomas from this predicament as he simply hovers over the now cowering enemy waiting for them to recover and pound his face in.

7/10

Despite some glaring issues with the gameplay itself, I feel the story, setting, and sound of Maid of Sker do the title incredible justice. My favorite part of horror games is often the story and uncovering the mystery of whatever led to the events that are now so terrifying to experience, and Maid of Sker keeps that thread going strong right up until the end. Even once the plot is all but solved there are enough counter-clues within the clues that will leave the player speculating what to trust within the narrative as the final curtain comes to a close.