True Fear Part 3 was one of my absolute most anticipated games this year. The original game 9 years ago was my introduction to the whole HOPA genre, but the series became a beast of its own once it left Big Fish. It’s an extremely ambitious series, and this game is a crowning achievement for the developer. But there are a couple of downsides that keep it from being totally GOTY material for me.

Before I mention any flaws though - the game is nearly perfect. The environments are so lush and richly detailed, everything has that hand painted organic feel while being gritty and ominous. The puzzles are fun and challenging and still carry much of the HOPA dna - tons of inventory items and backtracking and mini games. The story in this one really goes above and beyond as well.

I wish I could say it’s a masterpiece… but I had some issues with it. Number one, it’s quite buggy. Not in any serious game breaking or performance way, but often times journal entries would be out of order, item descriptions wouldn’t match up, and even one puzzle only had Russian text. This can all be patched though.

My biggest issue is the 3rd act. It feels extremely rushed and not nearly as great as the first two. Without spoiling much - it reused a ton of assets, and it’s way shorter and satisfying to work through. It just left a bad taste in my mouth given how outstanding the early game is.

That said, it’s a steal for $10 and absolutely a must buy for any horror / point and click fan. It’s definitely going to be one of my top games this year and I can’t wait for the next project Goblinz puts out.