Lone Survivor

By: Derek Yu

On: March 27th, 2012

Lone Survivor, by Jasper Byrne

Jasper Byrne released his horror-themed adventure Lone Survivor today. The protagonist, an unnamed masked man, must escape a disease-ravaged city filled with monsters and hallucinations. You can play the demo online at Kongregate. The full version costs $10.

TIGdb: Entry for Lone Survivor

Posted in Adventure, Horror, Macintosh, Survival Horror, Windows | Tags: JasperByrne

http://www.davioware.com/index.php?page=2 Davioware

Looks awesome. The “zombies” are very well designed and scary, remind me of the regenerators from RE4.
Guest

Still looks like he has a giant grin on his face.
http://twitter.com/horsman horsman

About an hour into it. Tripping hard on pills and absolutely in love with the UI design.
Guest of the Best

Played the demo. Wasn’t enough to pique my interest. :/
Gnome

Had somehow missed this lovely looking thing. Off to demo it asap!
Forwardresent

Played the demo earlier, loved it. Picking up the game once work is done!
Kris

This game runs on Mac/OSX, so you should add that tag to this article.
Guest

Is it more a linear point and click or a slightly open ended RPG experience? Are bullets limited to scripted drops etc or can you “grind”?
http://twitter.com/horsman horsman

No mouse in the game AFAIK. feels more like a point n click than an RPG, but not too much like either.
oyog

I agree, it looks like a grin out of context, but I think the portrait of him being the first thing you see when you start a new game makes it pretty clear.
oyog

I’m pretty sure it’s been confirmed to run without problems in Wine as well.
GGringo

It makes it very clear, for about 5 seconds, then start playing and constantly think it’s a bizarre grin the whole game. Pixely effect and mask thing was a very bad combination, imo ruined the whole game.
GGringo

What’s with the big smile?
Guestus

Eh, played the demo, didn’t feel worth $10. Maybe $2-$4.
Guest

I see the “concept”, but all I see is the grin.
Guest

Gameplay design-wise. Not interface-wise.
Pete

:D
GGringo

sup?
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

Wow, this looks incredible… Much like a game I’ve wanted to make. Love the textile-look, the lighting, etc. The game itself reminds me of Clock Tower (SNES) meets Silent Hill and does its own thing. $10 seems a little steep, but I’ll check out the demo and decide.
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

Okay, wow, yeah… I loved it. Hopefully the full game isn’t a browser-based game and eventually allows for control-pad input; I want to play this on my TV with the controller!
Bob

It’s a good game, but it’s got some major problems. I don’t think it deserves all the high praise it’s getting.
http://twitter.com/JigxorAndy Andrew Sum

I just got a copy and I’m loving it. Great game!
andy

looks cool! i’d love to see it as a physical release! a cd/dvd with a poster inside and a nice cover art… i prefer to pay for atoms, rather than bits.
Eldgrim

Is it just me who thought it was Quagmire at a brief glance?
Anonymous

this game is amazingly well made, best indie game so far this year
GGringo

What game? All I see is a giant grin! :-0
Bob

Maybe a bit too harsh sounding there – I do enjoy it (bought it), but I’m just not sure if it’s what I’d consider the next evolution of horror games.
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

Welcome to the world of pixel art! In the 80s & 90s (before you were born, perhaps) people enjoyed their favorite NES, Genesis, and Super Nintendo games. Many times people made their own interpretation of what they saw in the pixels, even if it wasn’t what the artist intended. This is one of the limitations of pixels. Glad I could help educate you on how pixels work!
Snow

Yep and on old low res crt tv sets, not to mention with some grainy snow because the cables weren’t clean or loose or worn, sometimes it was even harder to make out a sprite. I once remember, all I could see was a shape when I was playing on a friend’s overused system.

:'( Man I miss those old days.
Merlandese

Probably one of the scariest things I’ve played in awhile. The ambiance was thick and purposeful, and I should have known better than to test it out half drunk in the middle of the night. But it was really creepy.
Jvfgt

Eh, so same value as a large coffee but not as good as a plain t-shirt.
GGringo

In the old days of pixel art, when I was already a teenager, good pixel art (and this was an aspect that increased the artistic value) was about having the ability to make something look appealing, and ‘readable’ or easy to understand at the same time, with just a few pixels! And it was (and still is) possible! There was no mistake about was Mario bros was, no one thought he was a squirrel. Now, back then (same as today) there was something I like to call ‘bad art’, so thanks for trying to educate me about finding excuses to make bad art, but I rather educate myself on making good art. So summing up, this guy made a big giant grin on the character’s face, and there’s no excuse to that, he had many options to avoid it, but seems he’s from the “finding excuses” schooling. Ruined the game.
no

I didn’t like this at all. It was quite horrible, actually. Should be Freeware, doesn’t deserve any money from me.
http://twitter.com/JasperByrne jasper byrne

The ambiguity of the mask / smile was a very conscious decision: and although I can totally understand why it bothers some people, I did want it that way.
Guest

I’m stuck trying to turn the generator on. How do I interact with the fuel pipe after putting the fuse in?
Gabriel Verdon

I am here to inform you that you’re a fucking moron.
Anon Y Mouse

I know this is really hard for you but could you try, just this once, not to be a complete fucking moron.
Nailmoth

There’s a gasoline can in the basement that you need to fuel the generator. Once the fuel’s in the genny and the fuse is in the fuse box, hit the switch on the generator and SAVE YOUR GAME AS SOON AS YOU CAN.
belugabeacon

“It looks like a giant grin” is the new “total Minecraft ripoff” (which is to say, if you were to find someone who said it with any shred of earnestness and punched them, hard, in the dick, no jury in the land would convict you).
Potoman

Anyone knows where the save file is located on a Mac?
deadhog

Funny how people mention the “giant smile”-thing. I never saw it like that, but now when I’ve heard it mentioned, I can see it. I like it though, in a weird way it fits with the theme of the game.

Bought it, and I am thouroughly enjoying it. I really recommend it. And $10 is nothing to fuzz about, it is well worth it.
mtarini

I LOL-ed when I read the complaints about “seeing a grin”, but, seriously, let’s assume it is just deliberate trolling or a joke and move on.

Back to the subject, the game is interesting, but not enough to make me buy it. Beside, I think this is just not the right price range for an indie game of this kind (content-wise).The nicest technical aspect of the game IMO is the pixel art mixed with sophisticate CRT-simulation effects. Lovely combo! It could have been more polished. Game mechanics have holes: in a *scrolling* game which focuses so much on darkness, and therefore lacking visible points of references to illustrate motion, it would have been *mandatory*, at least, to make the walking animation stop when you bump into obstacles. Better yet to have little bump-into-wall animations (after all, we humans, when deprived of sight, rely on sense of touch a lot).
http://profiles.google.com/piecewise66 brad newby

Wow, ruined the whole game? Gotta say, that sounds amazingly dickish. Like if you wrote a book and named the main character tom, but I hate the name tom so I slap you in the face with the book and tell you it’s terrible and that you ruined it without actually reading it.
http://profiles.google.com/piecewise66 brad newby

Wow you just cannot stop spamming about that “Smile” huh?
http://twitter.com/phubans Paul Hubans

Here’s my review of Lone Survivor: http://forums.tigsource.com/index.php?topic=14705.msg712905#msg712905
http://twitter.com/wwalkr walker

Um, is any one having an issue with OS X version (Lion here) where the game seems to run (I hear sound) but with no display? I just have a black screen.

Edit: nevermind. I see he’s provided a temporary build fix as a holdover for a permanent patch for the problem.
YN

Mediocre for non-freeware and not scary. Not worth $10 (Or any amount of money really) when there are polished horror games like Amnesia that frequently go on sale for less and tons of freeware that displays superior presentation. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_Q8fe50pA8 This guy obviously ruins the mood but just to point out a scene, at 3:30 the scene is honestly silly, not scary. I love pixelated art by the way and it can do horror quite well: Yume Nikki was more graphically limited than this game and made me feel very uncomfortable at points, along with a whole other range of emotions. The problem lies with the game itself, not the medium it is using.
YN

By the way, just read a few comments here and I’m sure everyone sees the SH inspiration– the first monster you encounter coupled with the radio static reminds me of the Mannequin from Silent Hill 2. A little -too- much, actually. Earlier Bob said “I’m just not sure if it’s what I’d consider the next evolution of horror games.” and if anything I feel like this is a devolution- a relatively decent atmosphere with a slightly better presentation than clock tower (Though it’s pretty easy to top something as ridiculous and non-scary as scissor man) but ultimately not scary, moving, or thought provoking in any satisfactory amount. I’m not sure if on an indie website people expect the workings of a few men to hold its’ own against something like Silent Hill but honestly after seeing things like Yume Nikki I completely believe that is a valid demand.
Erik

Well I bought it and am enjoying it. The Silent Hill and David Lynch inspirations are pretty in your face but that’s okay by me. I love David Lynch :D It feels tight and the story keeps me involved.

Some nasty comments around here for no good reason I think. And the “10 bucks shore is steep” remarks are pretty ridiculous. It’s the price of a burger. How broke-ass are you people anyway?
Tobo

I don’t see the grin. I can kinda see it after you’ve mentioned it but only if I try.