JanduSoft delves once again into the horror genre with Companion of the scholar. And independent title which could be described as First-person “Escape Room” with lots of puzzles and a chasing enemy between the two, it will not let us rest at any time. Without further ado, let’s begin the analysis you came to read:
A simple but (half) effective principle
Like Judith, we woke up abruptly in a small hospital as dark as it is abandoned. Our goal is simple: escape from there anyway. What won’t be easy is finding out how to do it, because it will take solve many puzzles of all kinds while, arriving at a moment in history, a murderous monster is chasing us with a great thirst for blood from which we can only flee. We can’t carry anything but a flashlight, so there are no weapons.
The premise, a priori, seems promising. During the first moments of the adventure through the hospital, we will enjoy interesting puzzles that will require search for keys, codes, reset the light by placing the fuses correctly beforehand, etc. But as we progress through the few 3 hours How long can the journey last? These puzzles become so complicated that they become virtually impossible to solve without having a guide in front of you.. It’s not a question of intelligence or not, it’s bad design with clues that are too difficult to understand.
However, I can’t say I didn’t enjoy playing.. It’s true that we’re talking about a point that is far from positive, but that doesn’t necessarily imply a boring title to play. In the level design you can see a much better job done. Sure, wait. very closed areas in the form of corridors and rooms that will barely allow us to take a few stepssince the action takes place in a small hospital. Therefore, the backtracking something essential is done. Then, although the story is nothing extraordinary, There is an unexpected and important plot twist at the end.
A massive pursuit enemy spoiled by erratic AI
Let us now turn to this persecuting enemy that I mentioned above, although it is true that adds a handy touch of tension Companion of the scholarIt becomes infuriating when you discover the monster’s erratic artificial intelligence.. Sometimes he’s too (seriously too) smart and hears/sees you from very, very far away, while other times he can walk past you when he looked directly at you and just keep walking past you because he didn’t notice you. This is by no means an exaggeration, both situations happened to me many times throughout Judith’s odyssey through this godforsaken hospital.
In general, the presence of this being and his particular way of welcoming hospitalized patients is appreciated. The tension that this adds to the solving of puzzles, forcing us to be careful with the use of the flashlight and the noise caused by our footstepsis necessary to not finish the adventure even in less time than the short time it already lasts. The problem is that it is also easy to hate it due to its low artificial intelligence. It can be said that, as is the case with puzzles, we have one of lime and another of sand in this sense. As a recommendation, the monster’s steps emit a sound that It is essential to listen with headphones to know where you are going..
Scholar’s Mate is at an unexpected technical level
The performance of Companion of the scholar This is something that, from my personal experience, I consider unusual. There are quite a few indie titles of this type that I have already analyzed for Xbox Zone, and almost all of them suffered from minor or severe performance/bug/texture issues etc. JanduSoft’s horror proposal breaks with that to show us a Graphics section is quite correct with spectacular performances at constant 60 fps on Xbox Series S. As for texture loading problems, they are almost non-existent (even if there are others).
As for bugs, I only encountered one late in the game. which caused the inventory to overlap at all times, preventing me from seeing anything else because I couldn’t close the menu in any way. However, this could be solved by loading the game. And it is precisely the starting load that I want to talk about now, and that is that a negative point in this sense are the save points, which are quite far from each other. If we die or abandon the game, we will often have to repeat over and over again the puzzles we had previously solved.until you reach the next save point. This becomes somewhat tedious and it’s clear that it was implemented this way for the sole purpose of artificially extending the length of the title.
Scholar’s Mate has more than just shadows
Although it is a terrifying proposition, Companion of the scholar There are also lights, but let’s not forget the shadows. This is a title based mainly on the solve puzzles, most of which we won’t be able to solve without watching a step-by-step video from someone else on YouTube, although in themselves they could have been really interesting if they had given us more appropriate clues that the player could understand. Something similar happens with the chase the enemy, which adds tension and anxiety to the game that otherwise we would finish much earlier. However, it is impossible to ignore the inconsistent artificial intelligence of thissometimes incredibly intelligent (to the point of not making sense) and sometimes too naive.
On the technical side, there is nothing but praise here, knowing that this is an independent studio. Graphically, Companion of the scholar It’s at a more than acceptable level, with decent animations and virtually no texture loading issues, bugs or frame rate drops per second. A positive point without a doubt, as well as its adjusted starting pricedepending on the type of proposal in question.
Companion of the scholar It is available on Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, PS5, PS4, and PC.
Pro.
- Constant feeling of anxiety.
- Graphically very correct.
- A pursuing enemy that adds a touch of angst and tension…
Contra.
- …But this is hampered by somewhat inconsistent AI.
- Puzzles that are almost impossible to solve without outside help.
I’ve been playing video games for as long as I can remember, so you could say I enjoy talking about them a little.
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