These scores are not intended to be averaged into a single overall rating. Each category measures a different part of what I value in a horror game, and different categories carry different weight.
They are simply a structured companion to my written reviews, not a replacement for them.
For aesthetic reasons, these ratings will not appear on Blogger. They will only be posted as comments beneath the Steam Group Discussion versions of my reviews, which you can reach through the Read the full review link on my Steam Curator page.
Is there a narrative context for the horror? Does the game establish why the situation is frightening, and why the player is caught up in this particular place or event?
Mechanics → Emotion
Do the game's mechanics, such as camera control, combat, repetition, resources and choice, actually produce emotions such as fear, tension, affection or satisfaction?
Pacing / Progression
Are events, rewards, chases, progression and repetition spaced appropriately? Does the game drag, or does it pile things on too quickly?
Encounter / Interaction Design
Are encounters with enemies, anomalies, chases, exploration, puzzles and object interactions enjoyable and effectively designed?
Character / Narrative Presence
Do the characters' personalities, relationships and motivations, along with the story itself, have a meaningful presence during play?
Distinctiveness
Does the game have ideas, a tone and an identity of its own that distinguish it from other games?
Memorable Imagery
After finishing the game, do particular scenes, monsters, locations, objects or images remain in your memory?
Genre Personality
Rather than simply copying established horror conventions, does the game reshape them or play with them in its own way?
Horror Effectiveness
Does the game actually succeed in making the player feel frightened, uneasy, disturbed or tense?
Fairness / Friction
Does difficulty and inconvenience feel like deliberate tension, or does it simply become irritating and cumbersome?
Polish / Presentation
How well finished is the overall experience, including localisation, UI, bugs, direction, audio and technical smoothness?
I realise that assigning numbers to things like this can look a little authoritative.
Perhaps some powerful desire buried deep inside me to play at being an authority has finally escaped.
Who knows.
That said, I have not won the Nobel Prize in Horror Studies, and I don't disclose any particular industry background or professional credentials here, so treating these numbers as authoritative would be rather generous.
I do, however, call myself a reviewer, curator and copywriter, which may still make it look as though I'm pretending to be an expert.
So please think of these scores as nothing more than one person who loves horror games amusing himself by reducing his own excessively long reviews to a little numerical nonsense.
They're meant to be fun.
There is another reason I started doing this, though.
Developers tend to feel good when a game they've made receives a high score.
That's really where the idea began.
Of course, developers probably don't feel very good when they receive a low score.
I don't feel particularly good about giving one either.
Some games will still receive harsher reviews and lower scores from time to time.
I found myself in a strange house and I'm scared was one of those.
I do feel a little bad for Quiet River about that.
But that only means that I personally didn't like the game very much. It absolutely does not mean that I found myself in a strange house and I'm scared is a dreadful or worthless horror game.
So if you were already interested in buying it, please don't change your mind simply because of my personal opinion and my authoritative little numbers game.
Anyway.
I'm also planning to become considerably more selective with Steam Curator Connect from now on.
In the past, I had a habit of accepting almost anything that looked remotely interesting.
The result was situations like me giving I found myself in a strange house and I'm scared a fairly harsh review, or refusing to review Paper Pusher at all.
Neither is a particularly nice outcome.
So from now on, if a game looks like it probably won't be a good fit for my tastes, I'll simply press Politely Decline instead.
That should also mean there will be fewer reviews where I spend most of the time complaining.
If you do see me becoming unusually grumpy about a game, there's a reasonable chance it was something I received through Curator Connect rather than something I actively chose to review myself.
I would much rather say nice things about games.
I want games I enjoy to reach more people.
And while we're on the subject, looking at the categories above might give the impression that I care more about auteurism and artistic identity than straightforward entertainment.
That isn't really true either.
I like plenty of commercial, mainstream games.
In fact, I'm not particularly fond of independent films.
I curate horror games not because I'm some hipster who only worships obscure, impenetrable indie cinema, but because I enjoy finding small games that are fun, charming, frightening or simply worth playing.
And if I can contribute, however slightly, to helping one of those little games reach a wider audience, I'd quite like to.
So if you're a horror-game developer, or you've just released something with enough horror in it, please don't look at these scores and think:
"She's going to take my free copy, tear my game apart and give it a 4."
Feel free to contact me or send a copy through Curator Connect.
I'll do the filtering on my end.
That way, I can focus on games I'm more likely to appreciate properly.
There are, however, a few genres and design choices where the risk of me becoming considerably harsher is higher.
Psychological horror.
Anomaly games.
Games with a heavy emphasis on puzzles.
So if your game falls heavily into one of those categories, it's probably worth keeping my personal tastes in mind.
On the other hand, slashers, zombies and games that simply let me switch my brain off and have a good time may find themselves receiving a little extra affection.
In other words, I am a biased reviewer.
Anyway.
Thanks for reading.