Nosferatu: Wrath of Malachi

At first, this game will probably scare you quite a bit. The tension this game gives off is done is very good as it had me at the edge of my seat before figuring out the game itself. The environments are great and give off that vibe you wanted going in. Now for the negatives. This game's mechanics and spawns are really bad. Vampires and monsters always spawn in the same specific way with sound cues and come out of nowhere in most places. The game encourages you to use its weapons and while they do work, The best weapon ironically are the fists... Instead of strategically attacking enemies with your other weapons, you can just put up your fists and charge your enemies spamming your attack which stunlocks the enemy in front of you making you practically invincible. The timer the game puts upon you is probably the most annoying thing about this game over all of this especially since the game is practically begging you to explore it's procedurally generated areas. The game's story is a spoof of Bram Stoker's Dracula with the inspiration from the Nosferatu (1922) film. The story is nothing to write home about but can be interesting especially if you didn't have high expectations for it's story. Long story short, the game is alright. Nothing to be crazy over unless the name Nosferatu interested you. If that is the case, give it a try, you might like it more than I did.

Nosferatu has one major thing going for it, and that's atmosphere. It has the slightly cornball, yet the slightly chilly edge you can't ignore. It's the feel of a good black and white horror movie or old gothic novel. These thrills aren't cheap in the days where horror movies and games have an overproduced quality that tends to reduce the good old fashioned haunted house feel. It's here, in reasonable quantities. The rest of the game is pretty cheap, but again, not horrible. The random layouts, coming long before the roguelike craze, quickly become recognizable segments. Once you figure out how to deal with the monsters, you'll instantly dispatch them or simply ignore them as you head for the next door. The difficulty seems reasonable, but there's quite a bit of repetition. You're looking at 6-10 hours of pretty good play that--if you're not charmed by the feel of the game--wears out its welcome around halfway through. It's worth persisting to the end, like any good old book or movie, but requires some indulgence from the player. If you have that indulgence, it's a great little snack of a game.

surprisingly good horror game with a brilliant atmosphere. The graphics aren't all that bad with the film grain and the old-school feeling in it, there's a widescreen fix which is highly recommended, classic stuff. You blast vampires, skeletons and whatever those scary f*ckers where with swords and muskets. It's not a lengthy game by any means but there's some replay value when it comes to the monster positioning and rescuable NPC's, so it is random at times. Some of the mechanics handle pretty poor but overall, I think this is one of those underrated gems that needs to be in the open. Be sure to play with headphones, grab onto your wee-wee and dive into madness!

"Nosferatu: The Wrath of Malachi" is a jankfest, no doubt about it. It forces the player into about 10-15 escort quests, and the AI is, well, what you would expect from a low-budget game from 2003. The character and enemy models are far from pretty, and their animations barely work. But "Nosferatu" remains engaging, because it greatly rewards exploration: every NPC you save provides you with a neat weapon or an item, or some kind off temporary buff. It has a smartly designed arsenal, with different weapons working better against certain enemy types. It gets everything right, except for all the stuff that it gets terribly wrong. You should catch my meaning by now - if you are willing to give it a try, despite all of its flaws, you may end up thoroughly enjoying "Nosferatu". I did.