If you bought this for Steam and wonder how it is on the Nintendo Switch, here are my thoughts. It’s not a gripe per se, however it would be nice to see a real hunt ensue to nab every last one, rather than seeing them presented to you everywhere you go.Welcome to Hanwell, Nintendo Switch Review. Now collectibles aren’t exactly difficult to find thanks to their glow, but it would have been nice to have seen them spread a little thinner and more creatively placed, instead of finding one right next to a second. There are however plenty of things to hunt down, with more than 100 DNA samples to collect. It’s nothing that can’t be fixed with a simple tweak, but it would be nice to see another game finally match the brilliant Alan Wake for quality use of the flashlight. Now I get the reasons for it running out of course – it assists with the element of fear – and it forces you to use it sparingly in a world in which freakish monsters lurk in the dark, however when you’re then being held up from progressing because you’re sat waiting for the light to recharge, the engagement is quickly broken and the pace of the game is slowed dramatically. Of course, as mentioned, these things become known through left over notes, but it’s nice to have the information slowly trickle in as it encourages the player to explore every nook and cranny for every last drop of information.Īnother issue unfortunately is the torch and how it persistently runs out before taking forever to recharge. From the start of the game, you know nothing you don’t know who you are, you don’t know where you are, and you don’t what’s going on.
One thing I do appreciate with Welcome to Hanwell however is the need to explore. Not to mention it’s much harder to do than simply running away, so for the most part feels quite pointless unless you’ve accidentally walked head on into a prowling enemy. Sure it works if your sole intention is to just swing until the enemy is no longer a threat, but even with an axe in hand, combat feels again rather clunky and unnatural. The next area in which the mechanics struggle is the combat.
Movement is a big thing in a first-person experience too, especially when it comes to keeping the engagement, but sadly Welcome to Hanwell falls flat here. Begin sprinting and things are downright unnatural with head-sway feeling forced, and the general mechanic nothing but clunky to say the least. In fact it’s pretty horrible and with each step taken, Hanwell plays out like you are moving wooden-legged. That’s where one of the big issues comes in.
Not everything comes down to fear factor, or detail to the visuals in a horror experience though you have to get the core mechanics right. What keeps things interesting is the unique feel of each area the stories are told through, with recorded diary notes left behind by the former residents. before being left to then flee from the lurking enemies. Each one has had a ton of detail put in to truly bring out the individual defining features, and that only assists in enhancing the horror experience.Īs you enter the various areas, the general objective is mostly the same with players required to explore, find passwords and codes for door locks, eventually gaining access to the room that holds the piece of I.D. Each location tells a different, yet equally horrifying story, with these varying from a school to a prison, church, hospital and more. card that your character so desperately needs. The real action and horror instead comes from the different locations in which you’ll be exploring, fighting and hiding, as you look for each piece of the I.D. Sadly though, open-world and horror rarely ever go hand-in-hand, and with very little to do or focus on besides exploring the creepy vistas and running from the weird and horrific anomalies that roam the streets, the world of Hanwell doesn’t feel quite as scary as it could. In terms of visual design, Hanwell certainly fits the bill for a perfect horror setting and for those veterans who have played through the Silent Hill games, it is highly similar to that of the iconic town Shepherd’s Glen, complete with heavy mist-filled streets. Want to win a 12 month Xbox Live Gold subscription? Enter now!
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