I also did hit a weird issue early on in the game that would teleport me into a totally different room when I interacted with a door.
It wasn’t terrible, and I eventually got used to it, but it was off-putting at first. Regarding the controls, I did notice some input lag. Though there were a handful of sections that looked absolutely horrible, namely whenever there was a lot of fire involved. The interior of the Sker Hotel in particular is just stunning. The game looked quite decent on an Xbox One X, with some detailed environments and great lighting effects.
Unfortunately, I never really needed to use this item throughout the game, except in its only boss fight and one of its chase sequences, so I ended up having plenty of ammo stocked up. To help you on your objective, you will find a Phonic Modulator that emits a sonic pulse that can briefly stun enemies, letting you get away from a sticky situation. As long as you pay attention to where they are going and don’t bump into objects, you will be fine. At the best of times they are some tense encounters as you see two enemies closing in on your position, but for the most part, it was pretty easy to avoid enemies. Maid of Sker‘s stealth sections are a bit odd. With that being said, there were a couple of well-executed scares throughout the game, just not as often as I wanted.Although, as previously mentioned, the creepy atmosphere was on point. Letting the situation stew a little bit before the eventual payoff is ideal, but Maid of Sker doesn’t do this properly and jump scares rarely had any impact besides getting on my nerves. I’m a fan of jump scares, but only when there’s proper build up. One unfortunate thing that Maid of Sker is filled with is a lot of unnecessary jump scares and loud noises, even during its intro cutscene. I initially thought this would end up being a hide and seek style puzzle of trying to ring the bells whilst avoiding enemies, but I was disappointed to see enemies just walked by not bothered by the racket I was making. For instance, one puzzle has you ringing bells in a specific order. Sadly, this is undercooked, as enemies aren’t always attracted to other overworld sounds when they absolutely should have. If you are too close to them, you will need to hold your breath as you slowly move past them, making sure not to bump onto any objects on the way. Instead, just like a clicker from The Last of Us, enemies are all attracted by sound. The enemies in Maid of Sker are blind, so you don’t need to constantly worry about standing in their field of vision, like in Outlast. There are lots of secrets to find, as well with a number of collectables and letters around the map that flesh out the story a little bit more. It’s a great location that truly is the heart of the Maid of Sker. Then you’ve got the ominous staircase in the main hall that feels ripped straight out of Spencer’s Mansion. You even have limited saves on harder difficulties. Doors are locked with weird keys and the save system is reminiscent of the typewriter from Resident Evil as well. The game’s overall atmosphere is actually brilliant, with the Sker Hotel, which is loosely based on the Sker House, a real world location, giving some serious Resident Evil mansion vibes, which is always a good thing. So Maid of Sker is a horror game, but is it actually scary? Well, kinda. However, the main plot ended up being rather predictable, with very few surprises and a lacklustre ending.
I wanted to explore the Sker Hotel, find out what the hell was going on, understand the reasoning behind the counter song, and discover the dark mystery of this family. Right from the get-go I was actually engaged with the story. She is set to become the main attraction of the hotel, with an odd request for Thomas to bring a counter song for unknown reasons. Set in the year 1898, you play as a man named Thomas, who is on a journey to the Sker Hotel to find his wife, Elizabeth Williams, who has been locked away by her father. Is this a horror game that is actually scary? Developed by a small team in Wales, the brand new Maid of Sker is the latest entry in the genre, being loosely based on Welsh folklore. Suffice to say, not all of them have managed to stick their landing. We’ve had some fantastic horror games in recent memory, like the Resident Evil 2 remake and the cosmic horror delight that was Moons of Madness. Horror games have been increasing in quantity over the years and I couldn’t be happier about that.