Game Review: Caretaker (Xbox One)

A first-person horror walking simulator, Caretaker wants to be clever and interesting but misses the mark by some distance.

You play a journalist who has chosen a dark and stormy night to investigate the site of a mass murder. Murders propagated by a caretaker who went crazy and killed all his co-workers. Since the horrible event, the site has been abandoned and is now said to be haunted by the murderous spirit of the caretaker.

Your job is to explore the dilapidated, dark buildings and uncover the mystery behind why the caretaker did what he did. Unfortunately for you, the urban legend of the ghostly killer has some truth to it.

This could have been an interesting and horrifying experience as you uncover the truths behind the caretaker’s murderous rampage. Alas, in an attempt to be so ambiguous and leave so much up to interpretation, you’ll not really get any answers by time the credits roll. Aside from a few random and unclear messages, there just isn’t enough documents and letters to really create a decent picture.

Gameplay wise, Caretaker ticks all the boxes for walking horror sims. Explore, find keys or items, unlock doors, hide and run away from the monster. It’s everything you would expect and nothing more or less. What it does, it does perfectly fine although sneaking around past the caretaker can be frustrating as he can see you from quite a distance.

The sound of his scream can be quite unsettling, highlighting the biggest positive of the game… the sound effects. The ambient noises are responsible for most of the tense and creepy moments and while Caretaker isn’t dripping in atmosphere, it still does it decently enough.

Overall though, Caretaker just isn’t that enjoyable though thanks to lots of fiddly little things. Things such as doors opening so slowly, getting stuck behind a piece of furniture or the character walking like he is moving through treacle. The latter is down-right infuriating and forces you to be constantly running which kinds of ruins the horror ambience.

Then there are the times the caretaker will catch you. Rather then kill you outright, he will start attacking you and you can take 3 hits before you die. However, you’re unable to move meaning you’re dead regardless. It’s an odd way to do things made all the worse by the game kicking you back to the main menu after you die.

Perhaps the biggest flaws with the game is how short it is and how little replay value there is. On first playthrough it might take an hour or two especially if you get stuck trying to find a specific item or key. However, if you do decide to play it again it can be wrapped up in around 10 minutes. We know, we did it below.

Beyond trying to see how fast you can complete it, there really isn’t any other reason to play it again.

It’s not the worst walking simulator horror game you’ll play but it’s so far from the best too. If it’s on sale, it’s worth a look but don’t pay full price for this.