"Cold Silence"

"Cold Silence"
Reviewer: Carless Yen
Dev: Half-Face Games
Publisher: Xitilon
Release Date: 12/20/2019 console
Price: 4.99

I'll start out by saying don't go by the reviews you see in console marketplace. It isn't that bad of a game. There are people giving it 1 out of 10 because you have to give it permission to your account. Kind of a trend for these cheap indies from some Publishers that they need to scrap. it's really hurting their reviews in Marketplace. It isn't an amazing game don't get me wrong, but it's not as bad as review scores may be reflecting because of this issue. It's certainly worth a play, and will fill a evening quite nicely for people who enjoy simplistic, affordable, horror titles.

The games design is made up of just 3 different colors. At times that can make it hard to tell where you can go. That is probably the most difficult thing about "Cold Silence" is figuring out what to do and where to go,or how to defeat the bosses. The puzzle solving isn't really all that challenging, and most the hidden items are usually found just trying to figure out how to get out of areas. The enemies are fairly simple to stop. There are items to find to help on your journey. Boots to help you jump higher, rope, a radio to use on towers to make you able to use them as blocks to jump off of. a shotgun and grenades for blowing holes in barriers.

The controls are spot on. I never had a single issue with making jumps or escaping attacks. They are really smooth which will come in hand when trying to jump on different platforms, or escape Boss attacks. I did experience bugs though with falling through the floor. More than once I hate to say. You have to completely start from last save if playing on easy. I'm not sure how this would hurt you on harder difficulties though. Could be more of a issue, as I don't think the levels save or are limited.
I enjoyed the music a lot it changes in each area pretty much which is nice after having to play "Aery" where the same song played over and over the entire game. The visuals though aren't much to look at though. I know it is supposed to add to the horror experience of like a white out or what ever, but really just left me wondering if this game would been a lot better with less simplistic backgrounds. As I spent a lot of time missing areas, because it's just hard to tell what is what a lot of the time.
For such a simplistic title i'm surprised about how much I have written on this one. I expected this to be a short review, but shows if you really go in depth you can really cover a game no matter how small. I really wanted to think of comparisons on this one, but I really couldn't think of much. Closest I could come up with is like a modern day "Pitfall" except with a lot more depth as there are boss fights, and items that help you complete your journey. The exploration though felt a lot like Pitfall, trying to figure out my way through the caves.

Is it for you? I don't know if you like small indies and collect Achievements probably yes. It has some really fun Achievements to figure out. Might be one of the things I enjoyed about it the most. Figuring them out. I think it gives it replay value, and purchase value as well. At 5 dollars it's going to give you a decent evening's worth of fun just trying to get all the Achievements. There is a lot for different deaths, and you get different death screens for each type which is really cool. I think that might have been my favorite part of this game just trying to figure them out or the funny moments like when you get your legs blown off, and the guy on the radio has a pretty hilarious wit to him. It's no question worth your time if you are looking to grab some thing cheap to play one evening.

Pros:
Really Fun Achievements
Smooth controls
Cool Death screens
Affordable
Nice soundtrack
Epic Boss battles

Cons:
Bland to look at, hard tell where you're going at times
Glitches Galore
Having to give Permission to app

Overall: 5.5
Cold Silence isn't a bad game at all. It is actually a fun and affordable experience. You may not play it over and over, but it's going to entertain you for a evening at least. For some of us that is just fine. Some people Don't have time to give a game 60 hours. Some people like a short game they can grab cheap, and 100% it in a night. Cold Silence is fits that crowd really nicely.