‘DEATHWATCHERS’, a unique blend of horror and spot-the-difference, offers a truly terrifying and disorienting experience. Developed and published by SWAIN GAMES, this game is a must-try for horror enthusiasts. Let’s delve into the spine-chilling world of DeathWatchers.

DeathWatchers unfolds in a psychological horror world where you, as a player, are the key to unravelling the mysteries. Whether you brave the haunted locations alone in single-player mode or team up with three others in co-op, your equipment and wits will guide you. Your goal: to uncover the right items for your ritual and complete your mission.

Starting in DeathWatchers, you have the choice to play single-player or co-op. Starting on single-player, you have the option to do the tutorial, which teaches you every mechanic of the game with a visual video or text demoing the equipment and how it works, which I found super helpful as without the tutorial, it is almost impossible to get a grasp on how the game works as it’s pretty complex, but after the first couple games, it’s exciting seeing clues pop up over the map slowly guiding you to make your final decision.

Still, you will need to be careful, if you get the ritual incorrect, the entity will go on a rampage, killing everyone in sight, failing the mission and losing all the gear you took into the location, this game has a lot of similar mechanics to Phasmophobia. Still, in DeathWatchers, you expel the entity, removing and sealing it away for good. That is a real Ghostbusters move, I’ll say.

You can choose from only three maps, starting with one and unlocking the next as you complete it with normal, hard, and nightmare difficulties and two game modes, DeathWatchers and Classic Mode, although classic mode is unavailable on some maps. With the game being in early access, it is expected to see bugs and things that just don’t look quite right, and the co-op has excellent potential with bringing your friends in or playing with randoms, which overall increases the likelihood of succeeding in your goal of expelling the evil spirit.

Now, with controls, although there is no control layout in the settings, DeathWatchers is fully compatible with a mouse and keyboard and also has partial compatibility with a controller. With further updates to the game, I’d like to see complete compatibility in the future. The tutorial is very in-depth; it doesn’t show you what controls are, and it can be confusing if you haven’t played similar games. However, the layout of the controls is somewhat native to most games using WASD for movement, shift for sprint, and a few other controls, but you will have to figure those out.

One thing I will say about the design and graphics is that it gets your heart pumping with fantastic mood lighting with flashing lights, and watching video cameras having their lenses messed with to create distortions with objects, not to mention the detail of corpses hanging from ceilings and draped over objects creating a mood like no other, and with lightning lighting up the pitch black sky as rain falls. Also, with spirits jumping out of thin air to throw sharp objects at you, it gives you a reason to run for your life, and when they chase you, don’t even bother looking behind you as it will be right there, and trust me my underwear hasn’t been the same since.

Sound ramps things up depending on the mission, having thunder and rain filling the air and creating an authentic and enticing experience that draws you in. Not to mention walking around a quiet and creepy house and hearing breathing on your neck and an entity telling you to run, giving you chills down your spine.

One thing I found missing that helps create a surreal experience is the sound of an EMF detector going off. Unfortunately, in DeathWatchers, the EMF Detector does not make a sound and only lights up when an item or furniture has either moved or vanished and reappeared, which may change later on as the game is still in progress. The videos in the tutorial were clear and precise regarding what was trying to be explained.

Overall, I’m thrilled with the progress that DeathWatchers has made. It’s a refreshing take on the traditional ghost-catching games like Phasmophobia, giving it its own unique twist. Although, as the game is in its early stages, there are bugs and things that do not look right, with constant updates, it won’t be long before all my concerns are fixed. With the amount of work that has gone into this game, it’s hard not to see why it’s so fun and exciting, engaging the mind to solve the mystery. I’m eagerly looking forward to the improvements and additions yet to come. It’s a game I will play with my friends.

Written by: TypicalCambieAU