I really did. I went into It Moves with substantial amounts of expectations. This game didn't meet any of them, but that doesn't mean it was a bad game. Quite frankly it does horror in a method that other games are scared to do, but the gameplay and the atmosphere itself just gets boring at times. I guess for this to be a proper review, I'll have to dig into individual topics.

Topic 1: Gameplay
Easily the weakest aspect of this game. It's a game that focuses on story-telling and atmosphere but doesn't give the player anything to do. At some parts of the game you run into puzzles but those are abysmal compared to how much walking in straight lines you do at any given point in the game. There is two instances of repeating rooms where the player simply walks in a line until something eventually happens and it really ruined my immersion at points. It was hard to care about what was going on if I couldn't actually do anything.

Topic 2: Visuals
Easily the strongest aspect of this game. Visually this game is phenomenal. It's astounding what was done visually with this project, despite being a simple 2D story this game packs fear into pixels that puts Triple-A horror titles to shame. There's nothing too cheesy, nothing feels out of place nor sticks out. Everything flows together in a smooth visual manner that is pleasing to the eyes at time... but not all the time. Some small incidents where the screen flashes harshly in a full flash. I feel like softer flashes would do more, and not feel as jarring as the screen going instantly white for 0.5 seconds and then back to darkness. It's one of those things I physically ":/" at while I was playing. Sometimes the game has simply creepy or strange events that quite frankly aren't interesting to me.


Topic 3: The Horror/Scares
The main subject for a horror game, always, is the scares. This is a game that has great instances that make your skin crawl. Overloaded with eerie visuals, chilling sounds, and well timed suspenseful events brings the player to a feeling of tremendous fear. If only, however, it did this all the time. Aside from those great instances, this game has some rather cheap or otherwise silly events that might make a player laugh more than cry.

This is one of them. Honestly this face got so boring to look at that I was more annoyed that a giant face was on my screen making this already frustrating maze to navigate worse. My personal solution would've been to have the face pop up each time a doll was picked up, and suddenly get more and more intense as you found the dolls. In the end however we're left with a creepypasta style face staring at us while we run around at breakneck speeds to find dolls so we can get rid of the face that's been staring at me for the last 5 minuets.


Topic 4: Music
A short topic because there isn't much to discuss. This game chooses silence over atmospheric and pressing tracks which some might find as a strength, but for me left me with a dull and hallow feeling as the only thing to accompany my adventures through this boys dream was a buzzing desktop fan that blows throughout my room. This game does have some musical tracks but I can't say they're ones that leave a lasting impression on the player.


Topic 5: Story
I can't say that the source material for this would be something I would enjoy. I'm picky when it comes to books, especially horror books and the story that is contained in this game feels so lacking. There's no overarching lore and things are simply missing. We never see our brother, we're not really connected to the player or his family. Everything feels scattered for the sake of horror or for simplicity sake but it became frustratingly hard to become attached to the boy, to care about him enough to finish the game. Nothing going on made sense as we traversed from dream to dream.


Topic 6: Final discussions
This game is good, it's by no means a bad game in my opinion. But I didn't want GOOD. I went into this game expecting greatness. I wanted a GREAT game. After playing Miserere, a game that immersed and devoured my attention, I expected a similar level of suspense, atmosphere, and gameplay. Which in the end is my own downfall, and not really a plight of the game itself.
This game also has a leftover bug. I'm assuming its a 'developers event' that triggers a switch. But I was capable of getting to chapter 3 before chapter 1 started, among other bugs.


Aside from the hiccup in the immersion and the slight flaws in coding, It Moves is a game that really challenges the Horror Genre but didn't really move me in in the way I wanted it to.