Gore Doctor Xbox Series X Review 5/10 “Gore, Gore, Gore” 🩸🪓🤡 @Salient_Games #IndieGame #Horror #GameDev

I am someone who reviews a lot of horror games, and I am also a massive fan of the Saw franchise - it being my favourite horror series of all time. I also have House M.D as my favourite TV show, so a game entitled ‘Gore Doctor’ sounded right up my street and was something I thought would be hard for me to not enjoy - and yet this game struggled to fully grab me.

Now, I didn’t think there would be much doctoring going on, I mean the titular Gore Doctor did enjoy lopping off a few body parts with well less than surgical precision, and apparently at one point he was a doctor (though I don’t think the medical board would approve of his latest ‘surgeries’, if you can call them that), so I was hoping the gore part would be fulfilled. And yep, there is gore everywhere – they certainly delivered on that front. As Jigsaw once said, “Oh yes, there will be blood”

You start by being kidnapped and taken to a strange place, you find out that your kidnapper is Dr Gorberg, a man who has been driven mad by the death of his wife. The plot doesn't get much deeper than this; you explore and find notes that explain more in a bit of detail, but this is the crux of the story. It is a bit of a simple setup, but not really a problem. I’ve played plenty of horror games with plots like these and thoroughly enjoyed them, so the simple plot is fine.

What is a problem, though, is how dark the game is, and I don’t just mean all the gore and blood, I mean my god, this may be the darkest game in existence, it is darker than a Jeffrey Dahmer nightmare - you can barely see in front of you! Even when you get a headlamp, it is still incredibly dark. Luckily, there is no way to turn the brightness up in-game, so I had to do it on my TV. 

I understand that it’s a horror game and they are usually quite dark, but this is taken to the extreme. I need to see the things I need to pick up to progress the game. It does add to some of the combat and tension, but it just simply shouldn’t be this dark. I know this almost feels like a ‘too much water’ criticism, but trust me, it is a legit problem.

I kinda knew I would have some issues with Gore Doctor after I left the first room and had a thunder and lightning jump scare, it didn’t scare me, but it is something I am beyond tired of. As someone who largely plays horror games, this specific jump scare can, as the youth say, “get in the bin” It is really lazy and uncreative. 

The next thing I did was pick up a meat cleaver, and by ‘pick up’ I mean ‘pick up, turn it over, and then set it down’ as you can’t take it and use it as a weapon, you can ‘The Order:1886 look at it’ from every angle, but can’t actually use it as a weapon which is amazing because, if I found a meat cleaver after just being abducted I would be picking that bad boy up and never letting it go! I pressed every button thinking that I was just being stupid (you can’t be too careful – ed) and didn’t know the right button to take it, but no... you can’t. Why is it there if you can't pick it up and use it?

Combat, which does have the odd melee weapon but is mostly based around a pistol and shotgun, is just not satisfying. It feels so weightless, which is a shame as the enemies, whilst being nothing groundbreaking, people with gas masks on, an evil clown, etc., are at least scary and well designed. 

The rooms you visit, whilst being wildly disjointed, are at least interesting enough to explore and do add to the horror. I would say the biggest thing that this title achieves is that it has an atmosphere so exploration, whilst so, so dark, at least provides a creepy atmosphere. The puzzles are OK, nothing to write home about, although there is a piano puzzle which I can imagine might frustrate some.

SUMMARY

This feels like a game with lots of unrealised potential, weightless combat and an over-reliance on jump scares - it doesn't hit the mark, but being the first game by Salient games, I think they have potential and I am going to keep an eye out for what they do next.

5/10

🧊💦MELTING🧊💦