A beautiful psychological horror.
Average gameplay time: 1.5 hours.

The price reasonably matches the quality of gameplay, graphics, and audio effects. Although the game may indeed be distrubing for some viewers, it is well worth it's price and definitely worth the experience as well. Something haunting about the game, which tends to draw the player in. Well done to the developers.

Rating: 4/5

After 2 days of struggle just to make game play without crashes and lags I can't recommend this game.

I liked story and graphic style, but it has so much flaws in tech part. And it is too short to be worth it.

At first game crashed during 2nd cutscene end and before it lagged a lot on ultra and a little less on high quality. On medium everything was so blurred that I could not play. And it’s not that I have weak hardware - Witcher 3 works perfectly on ultra on it. I think the optimisation of this game is not really good.

Tech issues topic in Steam Discussions is abandoned by developers for a while so I wrote to the support center on their site.
First recomendations were to update graphic drivers and DirectX. Ok, drivers update did helped with crashes, but not with lags. So I wrote to support a second time. The answer was:
“Unfortunately we can't guarantee that every computer will be able to run the game at the highest settings. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you. If changing your graphic settings seem to help with the lag I suggest you continue to try different configurations and find the most optimal for yourself.”

So, my R9 380, 16 GB RAM and AMD Phenom II X6 1100T is not enough even for high quality for 2 hours long game! Thanks a lot, support and devs, great job! A HUUUUUGE minus from me.

P. S. If not for a sale price, story, cards and achievements, I would've refund this game right after first try. It is not a Witcher or Skyrim to be so problematic and get away with it.

Very short and the same sort of non-interactive linear walking simulator as Gone Home. Finished it within the refund period playing together with another (we were not hurrying and actually ended up backtracking several times by accident). Not worth the price of admission.

http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565636474
The top three things that make good psychological horror are; atmosphere, atmosphere, and (you guessed it) atmosphere. This game has it in spades. Other qualities would include the pace and building of tension, the story itself, and the fear factor. The Park does them all very well, especially in the second half of the game where a progression device is used to masterfully build tension, fear and general unease.

Many reviewers, even some of the popular professional reviewers, state that they finished the game (or "beat" the game) in an hour or two. It took me almost 4 hours to read everything, get all the achievements, and experience it the way it was likely intended. Without spoiling anything, the second half of the game has readables that change as you progress. This device is what helps to build the tension, reveal clues in the story, and heighten the sense of horror. So I can imagine that many players didn't give the items a second (or even third or fourth) look after reading them the first time, if at all. I suppose it is possible to finish the game in under two hours IF they ran the entire game and didn't bother to check all interactive items. But doing so would rob you of the actual game experience. This is not a game to "beat", but a game to experience. Those of the tl;dr generation, or of the mindset to beat a game as fast as possible and "win" will likely not enjoy or appreciate The Park. Instead, it is rather like a short story from one of the early collections of Stephen King, or The Bachman Books. Perhaps even a PG-13 version of Clive Barker's Imajica or The Books of Blood ("We're all books of blood... wherever we're opened, we're red.") So if you were the type of fourth grader who preferred Koontz over Blume, The Shining over Superfudge, you will probably enjoy this.

That being said, the price point of 12.99 is too steep for a game that is less than four hours long. This puts the hourly rate between 3 and 6 dollars an hour, far too much. The appropriate price would be 4.99US. A dollar an hour is generally as high as I am willing to go for any game, and for that, it better be good.

I do hope that Funcom decides to make more vignettes like this, set in The Secret World style, or even a full length feature for single player. The fact that it's Multi-Player Only is all that is keeping me from playing The Secret World.

In summary, The Park is a great experience for true psych horror fans, but wait for it to go on sale at least 75-80% off.
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=565882318

The game is fun in the last few mins but it is too short and cost too much for a 1 to 2 hour game. Get it when it's $5 or less

The Park is what I call an "experience" game, kind of like an interactive movie, and is very story heavy. It took me about 2 hours to complete, including starting a new game to grab an achievement I'd missed at the beginning of the game. It is a horror game, but if you're looking for something with more replayability, this game doesn't really provide unless you just really liked the story or environment and wanted to play again.

Worth it for an "experience", but if you're looking or a horror game with more interactive elements such as stealth and combat, you could probably get something else great at the same price instead.

Very simply put, you play as a mother looking for her child in an amusement park. However, things aren't what they seem on the surface, as the park turns nightmare-ish, and you're not sure if you're in the present time, or in reality. I would say that the game starts to pick up around the third ride or so, as you start finding notes that hint at the park's past. As the game progresses, you also start to find out secrets and mysteries of your own past, and of your relationship with family and son.

Pros/cons:
I felt that the game, while very slow in the beginning, really picked up in the second half. The ending left me pondering, the story made me debate and sympathize with some more heavy subject matter the game brought up. The characters are very human, and possibly even people that you could meet and see around in real life, and putting myself in her shoes was definitely a wild and dark roller-coaster ride (no pun intended).

I feel that that some aspects could be improved, for example the pacing in the beginning, or perhaps fleshing out the story a bit more. I knew enough to piece together things in my mind, and definitely don't mind ambiguity and intrigue, but some parts were definitely not really linked together. (Perhaps there was some reference to The Secret World that I didn't get, but I played TSW for some time and there was no info that I really understood to patch up those missing links. If you have info, please don't hesitate to let me know!)

The game is in first person perspective, and you can toggle running or walking. The menu has enough graphics options including field of view (important to me!). Mostly you try to follow your son's voice, and there are cutscenes triggered at each location, that convey story and atmosphere. The initial locations are more cutscene oriented, but in the second half, especially in a good part of the game, you have more interactivity. I found that this suited the game to convey this story - it's not survival and there's no combat.

One big thing I hope that can be improved, is the size of writing on the notes you pick up throughout the game. The writing is unproportionally small so may be really difficult to read on smaller screens.

I got the game at launch, which was $7.55 Canadian $. For an "experience" game, I felt it was worth it, like how I would pay $10+ for a movie at the theatre. The story was good and I felt I got what I was looking for, psychologically.

~If you enjoyed this review, please check out the Completing the Backlog curator page, for other nice reviews by me and others!~

How this has mostly positive reviews is surprising to me, maybe they are because it only costs $10 I suppose? For only $10 I guess I can see it's appeal maybe for the seasonal interest?

However the plot becomes obvious within about the first 15 minutes, and no there isn't any twist by that far you have probably figured out almost the entire plot.
The gameplay is about an hour long, maybe 10-20 minutes longer if you intentionally go as slow as possible to collect and read every note page.

Half of it is on rails, as in you literally just sit and watch, the other half is just following a path and reading papers you find, that is it, there is no gameplay beyond that.

However what really makes me say this game isn't worth it wasn't all that. I actually think for only $10 it still has enough intrigue, and provided enough of a very short thrill that maybe it could have been a 6/10 game rather than a 4/10 or less type game. They should have more developed and used these creepy beings, and tried to create something you can get excited about- because that never happened for me. When you finally feel the game might be getting to it's highest peak (which would be the minimum requirements of any other decent title), it just ends. It cuts short without delivering what you probably bought the game hoping for.

All in all this is about as a scary as say, something goosebumps related, but it was intended for adults with an adult theme; which might have been fine had it been excuted properly.

However it is halloween, so if you want to give it a go and literally don't care about spending $10 for one hour of medicore entertainment, then go for it, it is not the worst game you could play, and it does have a few legitimately creepy moments. I only just barely don't recommend it simply because it could have just been a tiny bit longer to give them the time and room to actually deliver on their suspense, or to flush out the rides, or something more in depth to add some actual gameplay element of some kind.

(Ps: Since I know people looking at reviews love to look at playtime, I stopped to actually read every single letter I could find in detail, and doubled back in some areas, and finished in about an hour and 10 minutes, the other 10 wasn't game time.
Also if your game crashes a few times on start up, it seems to just go away for the rest of the play session when you get it up and running, at least I hope- it stopped after a few start up crashes for me anyways)

The Park is an immersive game with an interesting setting and good story telling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BzpAGnmKWRk
You play as a mother who goes into an amusement park after her kid runs off. The place is filled dark corners, creepy faces and eerie notes. The game is similar to Dear Esther and Gone Home in the sense that there is no action or combat. It's simply a story-telling game.

The notes you find shed some light on some events that might have happened in the park. As you play through the game, you uncover more of the interesting story. Luckily, the voice acting is good, because there's quiet a lot of it. Your character will talk to herself when she sees certain objects, or describe a memory when you walk somewhere. It's interesting to listen to it all because it's nicely written.

Apart from having basic interaction with stuff like notes, you can also right click to call out to your son, which will also give a visual representation of where you can go next incase you are feeling a bit lost.

The environment itself is pretty spooky. Plastic faces of mascots, and a few shadowy figures. There are jumpscares, but they're didn't manage to annoy me like most games do. The game isn't filled with them, and they only really happen because you're on edge from other stuff.

Keep in mind, the game can be beaten in around 2 hours if you fully explore and read everything, so it is a short experience, however I found it an enjoyable one. Overall, a well sculpted game with good story telling!

Published by: Funcom
Developed by: Funcom
Genre: Adventure/Psychological Horror/Walking Simulator
Release Date: October 27, 2015
Time to complete: 1.5 hours

Delve deep into the mind of a troubled woman searching for her son in this creepy yet enticing horror experience.

This game is heavily centered around the fragility of the main character’s disturbed mind. As such, this game tackles some pretty heavy/unpleasant themes, and may cause emotional distress for some.

After her son Callum runs into ‘Atlantic Island Park’ after hours, Lorraine must venture her way through the chilling macabre amusement park to find him.
The heavily narrated ‘game’ is more aptly considered a story or an experience; there is no combat or action involved, and very few interactions available.
The Park has mastered psychological horror perfectly, not relying on cheap jump scares or excessive gore, yet still managing to scare the player witless. The dark and disturbing scenery adds to the unnerving atmosphere of the game, and makes it easy to become fully engrossed in the story and the character you are following.

Lorraine first appears as the average mother, speaking of her worries and struggles as a parent. Venturing further into the park, and further into Lorraine’s thoughts, you realise that she is far from average. As you follow Lorraine’s journey, you begin to question the validity on what she is experiencing. Her paranoia and obvious mental instability are further emphasised as the game progresses, most evident towards the end of the game, with clues about her past shown in cutscenes throughout.
There is a clever parallel to a children’s fairy tale evident in the game. Similarities are shown through Lorraine’s stories (if you really pay attention), and hints are present throughout.

As this is more of a walking simulator, there really isn’t much to the game in terms of difficulty/challenge/gameplay. Essentially all you are able to do is walk/run, and interact with a few objects (usually notes or similar). You are also able to ride the few attractions in the game.
Because the game is more of a short narrative, there is no real replay value to it, and it takes roughly 1-2 hours to complete the entire game.

The Voice acting in this game is tremendous. The most chilling and unsettling part about this game isn’t the jump scares, the gruesome scenes you read about in the notes or the creepy park mascot, Chad, seemingly stalking you throughout the game. It’s the perfectly illustrated story, the emotion behind every word told by Lorraine, portrayed by Fryda Wolff. You can feel the struggles Lorraine is experiencing, the dread in her voice as she recalls past events. What makes this game go from good to great, is Fryda’s portrayal of Lorraine.

The graphics are fairly standard. There’s nothing over the top spectacular in this department, but it is still a pleasant viewing experience.

The Park is an immersive psychological horror experience, definitely worth getting if you like the genre. The storyline is compelling, and it’s definitely a game that will stick with you.

TL; DR: If you really want to enjoy this game, play it distraction free and be immersed in the world the developers created. You won't regret it.

I was able to finish the game and get all the acheivements in 1.6 hrs - which is exactly what the creators wanted. The game playthrough is roughly equal to watching a movie, not at all difficult. So if you are looking for a quick playthrough this is the game for you. As for the story, if you are a fan of suspense/horror then the game really doesn't have anything plot wise that is new. BUT, the environment and detail they put into the park is fantastic. Makes me wish there was an empty amuesment park to go wander around in.