MAID OF SKER (2021) Review

Maid of Sker is a horror survival game developed and published by Wales Interactive. The game is out now and available on all major platforms including next generation consoles with next gen support.

Synopsis

Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from British folklore. Discover multiple story endings through exploration, a sound-based AI system and no-weapon survival tactics.
Set in 1898 and inspired by the haunting Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, this is a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel.  

Review

I personally am big fan of the horror genre especially in games, with titles such as Resident Evil normally high up on my list. What I enjoy most about these titles are the intense edge of your seat action and normally more jump scares than you can handle. Maid of Sker definitely ticks all the right boxes in terms of what you would expect from a horror title with the atmosphere building up straight from the off, the title coming on screen even made me jump!.

The game is visually stunning, from the first part where you get off the train and start your walk to Hotel Sker the eerie woodland you walk through is captivating and really gives you the feel of what is to come bringing you to the edge of your seat and pulling you in. Just walking upto the gates was giving me chills as at that point I had no idea what to expect.

The whole story of the game is you play as Thomas Evans (the protagonist) who has been invited by his lover Elisabeth Williams to the hotel to uncover the mysteries that lie within its walls after she has noticed the strange behaviour of her family. Before we go further I do strongly recommend to get the full effects of the atmosphere of the game play with a decent headset on and the lights off and prepare for the jump scares.

There are no weapons in the game, silence is your defence as you work around tight corridors and eerie graveyards, you will come across “The Quiet Ones” who look a bit like zombies with hessian type sacks over their faces, make the slightest sound and they will be on you like a shot and once they are onto you they are hard to escape and more often than not will involve you dieing.

Moving around the hotel and grounds had my spidey-senses going into overdrive as you were constantly thinking what was coming next, cautiously looking around every corner, there really isn’t many more scary situations than turning a corner straight into one of the “Quiet Ones”.

I found moving through the various hotel levels a challenge but was completely invested in the story and atmosphere, the game had me hooked and to be fair I can see the game having great replay value as you can change the difficulty (if you’re that way inclined!) or complete one if the challenges, there really is more to the game than just the story.

I thought the graphics of Maid of Sker were phenomenal, the detail of the wooded area at the beginning was amazing, I literally spent time just looking around completely forgetting I was meant to be doing something. The soundtrack is chilling and goes well with the theme, again I will state that to get the most out of the game you should play it wearing a headset to get the full immersive experience of the sound effects, for example when you walk into a room you will hear footsteps, panic sets in as you try to avoid them, its very well thought out.

Verdict

I give Maid of Sker a solid 9/10, a great horror title full of jump scares and heart racing moments, if you are going to play it then I’d definitely say to play it on next gen to get the full feel of the amazing graphics. I would definitely recommend to any horror game fan, not one for the faint hearted.

9/10

Maid of Sker is available now on all major platforms, also available for next gen consoles with visual and gameplay enhancements.

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