A MidHorror Night

A MidHorror night is a game I've played a bunch of times now. I played it once a long time ago when I came across it on gamejolt. I was really young, maybe around 10-12 (two nostalgia game reviews in a row! Badabing badabong). I liked it on my first playthrough, despite finding it really difficult (it isn't I just sucked) and a few years later I replayed it. Surprise surprise, I really enjoyed it that time too. I do feel like I replayed it one more time since but I don't actually recall if I did, so basically this is either my third of fourth playthrough of this game, each playthrough a few years apart from each other. This playthrough is special, however, because I'm finally moving my lazy ass and writing a review!

A MidHorror Night is a short game that, even as a 10 year old, took me about 1.5 hours to beat, taking 40 minutes in my most recent playthrough. It's always been a game I occasionaly came across on RMN and thought ''Oh hey it's that game. That one was good. I should replay it sometime.'' which I finally did. Was it as good as I remembered? Sure was!



The game is about these four friends who are getting too old for trick or treating and they go on their last trick or treat. Not getting any candy, including from their sassy ass friend Fate, they decide to try their luck at the old mansion on top of the hill. Surprise surprise, it's haunted.

There really isn't much here story wise. It's an extremely basic storyline that mainly feels like it's there for a placeholder. I do like the setup with how they're about to get too old for trick or treating. Though, I definetly do not have a problem with the lack of a story either. A MidHorror Night is definetly not meant to be taken very seriously. It's lighthearted and definetly not scary, which the developer themselves says so by calling the game a ''B-movie horror'' which is probably accurate. Think of the game more as a little halloween themed adventure game. Pretty much the only thing here that might disturb players is extremely minimal blood and death.

You know it actually reminds me a lot of those halloween games they make for kids. There was one with Garfield in a haunted mansion and this isometric adventure where you were in a mansion and the entire thing was actually a really clever ad for halloween costumes (you came across these characters in the game you had to help like a jester, and helping him basically made an ad of the jester costume pop up). I really do feel nostalgic for games like that, I've always enjoyed horror that doesn't take itself too seriously and has kind of a lightheartedness to it. So yeah, bonus points for both being a game I'm nostalgic about AND remind me of other games I'm nostalgic about.



The game's got some really nice visuals. Most of it is stock, obviously, but the game still looks great, mapping included! There's a few eh bits here and there, like a few rooms that are shaped very weirdly or objects where they definetly should not be (like in the first challenge with the spikes, there's a room with just random three beds in it placed in very weird spots) but nothing really made me look at the game and think ''das ugly.'' Animations are used to make every scene feel a lot more alive. Another really cool thing was how the game had black bars during cutscenes. The game actually feels super cinematic which I really love. I really felt like I was playing a game-movie. It also makes the game a lot more memorable, which it already is, by the way.

I can't really comment as much on the soundtrack. It's all Kevin MacLeod music that I've heard so many times that I can't really appreciate the quality anymore, but there's no issues with music or sound so all is good.

But the gameplay is where the game really shines. Seriously, I don't think I've ever played an rpg maker horror game that has as much gameplay as A MidHorror Night, to the point where I have trouble calling it an adventure game because it's more like challenge after challenge with adventure segments in between. You'll go through obstacle courses with time limits or dwell in dark basements looking for keys while avoiding skeletons, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. The coolest thing has to be the spectacles though! You can use them by pressing S and they show you hidden things in the room. This is used a lot for various puzzles or finding items. One problem with most rpg horror games is that whenever they introduce a new mechanic, they don't seem to make enough use of it. A MidHorror Night is an exception. You'll find yourself using the spectacles (and also the throwing star, which is another really cool item that lets you reach things that you cannot reach on your own. Think of a grappling hook from zelda) a lot throughout the game and the game does not fail at using it for a variety of things throughout.

The only thing I had a problem gameplay wise was that at times the game has some bad design choices. For example, there's a few times you can get hurt because of failing something that's trial and error or for interacting with something that looks completely innocent, such as some teacups in the kitchen that will throw themselves at you if you go near them. There was also a bit in the red orb challenge where I kept getting cornered by these boulders that do some serious damage to you and repeatedly died because I couldn't escape. It would have been awesome if the spectacles showed you what objects not to go near or what paths not to take, and if there were more paths to avoid getting driven into a dead end, but it's not that bad. Like I said, gameplay is still the game's strongest aspect despite these few minor flaws.



I really like how polished the game was too. Every cutscene plays out like a charm and I couldn't really find any bugs at all. There are a few things here and there that could have been polished better, like how you can run into an enemy and see constant flashes until you respawn which was kinda annoying, or how the HP bar bugs out sometimes if you take too much damage at once, but the game still felt very professionaly made. (Also one of the characters' face sprite is half transparent while none of the others are for some reason?)

Oh yeah, and it was made for a game jam, under a month I would assume, so huge kudos for still having such high production value despite that.

A MidHorror Night has a criminally low amount of plays and definetly does not get the attention it deserves. So if you want a short game that's super entertaining, definetly give this one a spin! I give it four corpses out of five.