Die alte Metzgerei

Years have passed since the doors to the butcher closed. Yet locals swear they hear screams. If asked, nobody knows what happened to the old butcher. He simply vanished. Not ones to pass up a good mystery; we find ourselves inside the old shop. One of us should have held the door, since we’re trapped in here now.

I have mixed feelings about this game. Let’s look at the positives first, ignoring the problematic aspects.

The atmosphere is incredible. This is an old butcher’s shop, filled with aging equipment and dark storage areas. I appreciated the ghastly smell of the toilets, though a teammate did not. They made good use of the space, integrating puzzles into the rooms, and keeping a consistent theme.

A few of our players were still out of sorts from our previous horror game that day. At their request, we played a somewhat subdued version of this game. It nonetheless provided for nonstop creepiness and unease. I don’t doubt the unrestricted version would satisfy any fear junkie.

Unfortunately, there were two problematic areas in the game. Some wretched treasure hunting put abrupt brakes on the fun and ripped us out of the atmosphere. Endless searching isn’t fun in the best of conditions, but combine it with low lighting and you’ve got a recipe for failure. It’d be so easy to fix these game elements. It’s a shame, really.

While the game has a solid base, it’s unfortunately those broken elements that drag it down. The downturn of fun in the final room is sits strongly in our minds.I don’t want to forget the positive aspects though. It’d take only a few minor additions to make this a spectacular experience.