(at home amongst beasts)

parts of it are animated nicely, i guess?? but i think it suffers from the same problem many mascot horror games do in that the character designs and overall setting just...don't really seem all that compelling.

especially these character designs......euughhh. not only are they just not good mascots, they also suffer from a bad case of "who is this for?" (scary dog with a head too big for its body, freaky baby man with a belly mouth and a fuckin binky for a head? why???). just weird in a way that isn't even appealing in a horror sense. yeah sure, historically, plenty of irl animatronics, toys, and mascot costumes from yesteryear were a little creepy by today's standards, i get it; but mascot horror takes it too far and usually won't even stick to the stylistic trends of the era they're trying to emulate. and what are those names? they just sound dumb, and not even in a fun way.

not to mention this game does the same "big evil facility masquerading as someplace child-friendly" setting that so many others have done. don't get me wrong, it can work and be done well, but many of them just....don't do it well. or in a way that makes sense thematically.

as much as i like the mascot horror genre and what it can be, so so many developers that try it just...fall flat. they try to follow the formula that made earlier entries successful (poppy playtime especially), and it completely kneecaps them. i think the only one that's come out in the past few years that i've liked is indigo park. and is it doing anything new? not really, but at least its character designs and setting actually seem like they were meant for a family audience.

and like, the conceit of most of these games is that whatever/whoever is trying to kill you was, at the start, meant to be a mascot– the face of the company. you want something/someone who will look good as the figurehead, even if they eventually end up homicidal and covered in blood and dirt.

my point being– if you're gonna try to sell me on the fact that at some point in the history of your fictional franchise and characters' lifetime, they were meant to appeal to kids and families,

they need to look like an actual, sane marketing team approved them.

or at the very least, be in line with the jank of the time periods many of these characters supposedly come from/are inspired by.

uughhhh.