Lone Survivor

Calm Down Tom (9 out of 10) (90%)

I realised I’ve lavished quite a lot of praise on what might appear to be quite a simple wee indie game. To me though, this little indie game is absolutely full of personality, great design and originality; just what is missing from the modern Silent Hill games. What I’m saying is you don’t need to keep buying Silent Hill games in the hope that Konami will finally release one as good as the originals. Someone else has already done that, and his name is Jasper Byrne.

Destructoid (9 out of 10) (90%)

Lone Survivor is easily among the best survival horror games that I've ever played, a feat that's truly remarkable when one considers the 2D perspective and visual limitations. Demonstrating that a commitment to ambience and art direction trumps technical superiority, this guaranteed indie classic manages to provoke -- and sometimes even frighten -- as much as the genre's most lauded entries. Its depressing premise, eccentric characters, and engrossing narrative bolster the solid survival gameplay to create a journey that's sure to stick with players for a very long time.

GameSpy ( ) (90%)

Lone Survivor, then, made me feel a lot of things. Frustration, rage, stress, exhaustion, fear, joy, hope, pride, sadness, wonder. Four hours and twenty-six minutes – plus some trial-and-error-based change. But this game's going to stick with me much, much longer than that, and there are few higher forms of praise I can offer.

videogamer.com (9 out of 10) (90%)

Lone Survivor isn't just one of those interesting art games, though, it's a proper video game, one with mechanics and systems and gameplay backing up its copious ideas and abject nastiness. It's one of the freshest, boldest and most rewarding entrants in a genre many had left for dead, and anyone pining for a true Silent Hill experience needs to experience what Byrne has to offer. Lone Survivor deserves to be massive, because it might just be the most interesting thing I've played all year.

VentureBeat / GamesBeat (89 out of 100) (89%)

Clearly, Byrne draws heavy inspiration from Silent Hill — most blatantly, he borrows from Akira Yamaoka’s soundscape of scraping machinery and gnashing teeth throughout Lone Survivor. More importantly, the game’s best narrative trick — again borrowed from Silent Hill — is its mystery, leaving itself open to interpretation and examination. Who was the Man Who Wears A Box? The Seated Figure? The White-faced Man? Who was the brown-haired girl I held hands with in my dreams? The answers aren’t overtly clear, but I can’t wait to play again to find out.

4Players.de (85 out of 100) (85%)

Jasper Byrne lässt viele Fragen offen. Ich gebe zu, ich weiß noch nicht einmal, ob er dem Verwischen der Grenze zwischen Spiel und Spieler einen tiefen Sinn verleiht. Will er mich nur zum Selbstzweck verunsichern? Falls ja, gelingt ihm das jedenfalls hervorragend! In der ständigen Suche nach Nahrung und Schlaf oder einem Ersatz für beides, entsteht eine verständliche Extremsituation - durch den verzerrten Horror wird sie drastisch überhöht, mit der Ansprache des Spielers entsteht eine ungemütliche Unruhe. So kommen Spiel und Angst zusammen, ohne dass der Kampf gegen die vielen Monster eine zentrale Rolle spielt. Byrne vernachlässigt Handlung und Spannung zwar eine Idee zu sehr, um mich auf der spielerischen Ebene mit Haut und Haaren zu packen. Trotzdem ist sein einzigartiger Überlebenskampf eindringlicher als jener Horror, dem seine Unwesen wichtiger sind als seine Charaktere.

IGN (8.5 out of 10) (85%)

Regardless of how you approach it, Lone Survivor is one of those games that remain on your mind long after you've finished it. Even if you don't share my predilection for nightmares, you'll find that Lone Survivor's masterful dedication to ambiance and setting far outweighs any concerns about its retro aesthetic. Embrace it on its own terms, and you'll find a game that comes the closest a survival horror game has come to replicating the experience of the first Silent Hill game in recent years; indeed, in some ways, it's even better.

Jeuxvideo.com (17 out of 20) (85%)

Lone Survivor, c’est le genre de jeux porté à bout de bras par un seul homme pendant plusieurs années. Le genre qu’on a envie d’aimer mais point de pitié ici puisque la création de Jesper Byrne a définitivement des allures de grand avec sa richesse de gameplay et son ambiance unique. Downpour n’arrive pas à vous emmener là où les premiers Silent Hill vous ont laissés ? Silent Hill HD Collection vous a déçu par son contenu ? Eh bien Lone Survivor offre une très bonne alternative à 9 € pour tous les amoureux d’ambiances horrifiques et malsaines.

Indius (17 out of 20) (85%)

Lone survivor se révèle être un excellent jeu. Par une maîtrise totale de tout les fondements du jeu vidéo de sa création à son aboutissement, le soft risque de vous tenir en haleine jusqu'à sa fin. Même si on aurait souhaité une durée de vie un peu plus conséquente, le jeu constitue un très bon investissement pour tout gamer.

RETRONUKE (8.5 out of 10) (85%)

Overall Lone Survivor is an 8 bit twist on the survival genre with excellent writing, a unique and nostalgic art style, and enough tension to make a divorce lawyer sweat. If you’re looking for a good scare with a great story and have a love for the old school, then you’ll love Lone Survivor.

Gamer.nl (8 out of 10) (80%)

Lone Survivor is een van de meest bizarre en verontrustende survival horror-games van dit moment. Van begin tot eind neemt het je mee op een wazige trip in de wereld van de 'enige overlevende'. Ondanks het tweedimensionale uiterlijk zet het een uiterst sfeervol en beangstigend spel neer dat je constant aan het denken houdt. Dat doet het op een unieke manier door je op een psychologisch niveau uit te dagen.

Eurogamer.net (UK) (8 out of 10) (80%)

It's true that Lone Survivor owes a lot to the atmosphere of early Silent Hill, and there are a few thematic nods to David Lynch's '90s weirdo drama, Twin Peaks. But beneath them lies an intricate and unique game that takes the best of old-style survival horror and warps it into something all of its own. It's brave, uncompromising, and a little bit knowing - and, crucially, it's got more than enough substance to back up its style.

PC Gamer (79 out of 100) (79%)

A smart, unembellished survival horror adventure which rewards patience and inspires introspection.

PC PowerPlay Australia (7 out of 10) (70%)

A surprisingly rich survival horror game that doesn't try to frighten you so much as leave you feeling slightly uneasy.

ActionTrip (7 out of 10) (70%)

All that aside, Lone Survivor is solid. It delivers in all the areas a horror game should. You'll feel fear, loneliness, desperation and those of you who aren't familiar with the Silent Hill formula will also be intrigued by the narrative.

Edge (7 out of 10) (70%)

Eventually, however, hope begins to take root amid the delirium, and it’s a more than satisfying restitution for the struggle. Lone Survivor is an uncompromising game - perhaps braver than it is strictly enjoyable - but without that bitter pill it wouldn’t be able to offer that feeling of transcendence. Its clumsiness of presentation and lack of explanation might be partly excused as aesthetic choices that enrich even as they frustrate. But perhaps its truest accolade is in returning the horror of survival itself to the survival horror genre.

Gameplay (Benelux) N/A

Van alle indiegame toppers die we de afgelopen maand hebben gespeeld, is Lone Survivor de game die bij ons het meest onder de huid is gekropen. Speldesigner Jasper Byrne (Soul Brother, Soundless Mountain) slaagt erin om met zeer minimalistische graphics een sfeer op te roepen die zo beklemmend is dat het vele Triple A survival horror games het nakijken geeft.