Surviving Horror 1 [REMAKE] - v.3.1 - NWN: EE-SUPPORTED (REMAKE released 22th of December 2023 // Original released 19th of October 2003)

This module is solidly above average for an enjoyable few hours of fun, if you like this sort of theme and gameplay. It's bug-free, runs smoothly, and delivers on its premise. It's not a zombie hakfest, but it's not really a gripping tale of suspense and terror either. The closest comparisons I can think of are with some of the 1990s-era console games that tried to tackle the survival horror genre, which is not a bad thing.

This style of gameplay was, for me, a welcome diversion from your usual D&D fare, even if it was quite a bit too easy. The storyline is completely unoriginal though, and the writing leaves a lot to be desired. But the story's not what this module is about: it's about surviving in an inhospitable environment where pretty much everything is trying to eat you, and it does an admirable job of making that feel like an enjoyable way to waste an afternoon (or early morning, as was my case). The visuals are good, and some of the scripting work is quite a bit impressive!

Bare bones, combat ok.   This mod would have benefited a LOT from more atmosphere & music to compensate for limited graphic engine.

As stated in the module’s description, that you’ll need to run rather than fight. Well, this happens only during the early in the story. Roughly near halfway and later into the story it becomes too easy. If your like me who doesn’t leave no stone unturned, you’ll acquire hidden items throughout the module. Even with small bonuses it tilted in your favor. For the final confrontation with the villain was… bland. Didn’t really put up a fight when I played as ranger and replayed as a wizard. Overall, the combat was below mediocre and unchallenging at later points.

The name of the mysterious “villain” was too painfully obvious after reading a journal. A few NPCs throughout the module and couple of key ones. Sadly, there wasn’t enough dialogue options. A good portion of the dialogues have one choice and sometimes expressed in one line. The atmosphere was to be expected: darkness, horror, rain, and so on. The custom music helped nicely. The areas it threw me in disarray. Few of which didn’t make sense of transitioning or out of place.

Well done in atmosphere but a single choice dialogue options, easy combat and a listless and weak story, left plenty of room for more ideas but went absent.

My score for Surviving Horror is 5 out of 10.

P.S. I found bug in the journal entry something "henchman".

I really wanted to play this from start to end, but after completing Finding the Survivors, the module becomes unstable and saving the game will most likely cause a crash. I could not progress past a certain point (sewers) due to this bug.

Just finished the series and yes I know I'm pretty late :P
But nevertheless, I really enjoyed it.
The custom music really made a huge impact on the scenes. It just gives you a better feeling of what's happening.

The 2nd Module really is a huge improvement from the first. Very nice!
I was expecting some twists or so since it is a Horror module and pretty much everything in the horror genre has twists,
but was glad it didn't since the ending I got (Escape) was very satisfying.

10/10
*Rating for Both Modules

Hmm.. have no idea why, but all of the Area Transitions aren't functioning. (I'm playing EE version, if that's relevant.)

I managed to leave the cave at the starting point, but was immediately unable to progress to East Road (I checked both sides & the walkthru and everything). All of the area transition triggers are set to Door, and not Waypoint. I'm not a module-maker or anything, but that doesn't seem right?

I even put the starting point in the next area, but I was unable to leave that area too. I think it's affected all of the ground triggers?

I'd like to play this game tho! I love survival horror, so if it gets fixed (or if there's a way I can fix my version w/out spoiling the plot) I'll definitely give it a shot.

Surviving Horror delivers on its premise of horror atmosphere and story.

The module is a bit short for the amount of download content, and aside from a few invulnerable flagged monsters at the very beginning, it does NOT deliever on the promise of being forced to run away from most encounters.  A lot could have been done with having a few more invulnerable monsters thrown into the mix, or monsters largely immune to all but a few rare damage types (making the player choose carefully which opponents to engage).  Having such monsters be subject to Knockdown, Called Shots, and Stun/Hold/etc. (as well as only having one or two per encounter) would help avoid the danger of getting hopelessly cornered.

However, the fact that monsters are generally killable after all doesn't diminish the effectiveness of the atmosphere created by visual and audible effects.  The story is nothing special, but since when has that been a requirement of horror genre?

One main criticism is that the module does nothing to establish a "normalcy" prior to the introduction of horror elements.  Effective horror requires having a degree of investment in characters before they are gruesomely killed (or threatened with death).  This is best built up by having a certain amount of gameplay (not just backstory) in which those characters help the player in some way (as well as interacting in a positive fashion, though this is probably secondary).  Having an initial area (daytime, pleasant fields or woods) in which the player is supported in a fight against minimally horrific (but still challenging) enemies by a team, then having that team disappear and mostly show up as dead bodies (or fresh zombies) along the way would do a lot to make the mood much darker (having them be the immortal or just extremely difficult to kill monsters would be a bonus).

Still, while it can hardly be ranked as a "classic", the module is a solid B-movie experience.

Seemed to play alright but being helpless against hordes of unkillable zombies is not for me. Constantly having run away, to fight another day, wore on me and I am unable to continue, shortly into this first part. Not horror, just disappointment at not being able to fight back! I play to be a hero, not a rabbit!

Hi Birger and everybody. Many thanks for the assistance. I was able to finish this very interesting but tough mod. Very hard indeed to face hordes of strong monsters by only kicking. I don't remember when the PC got his first punny weapon. Had to run a lot and so many backtracking for keys. However, the mod is stressing but not annoying. The atmosphere and music are cool. I enjoyed playing very much. Congratulations.

Just tried this module Oct 2020 with NWN EE. Like a previous poster warned the transition areas are gone. Kinda sad sounds like the perfect module for Halloween

Simple Graphics (on niveau of the OC), vanilla story ... But somehow it works well! It keeps me playing it until the end. Ah, yes, Resident evil was the first thing which springs in my mind too.

Notes:
- Is it intentional that the lock at the gate to the northern part of the town can be picked?
- There is the character model "Darklord" in the hak (mentioned in the credits) but never used?

Critiques
- Available weapontypes are rather limited, especially there are no two-handed weapons.
- It's not a good idea to let the player click on stuff and give no response. This begins with the scrubs in the starting cave and ends with a room full of coffins ...
- To the end the mobs become too easy.
- The western and eastern sector of the city are too large.
- What's the matter with grandfathers clock?
 

I wish this module was playable in nwn:ee. I have tried to do so but failed to traverse beyond the second area.

Did you try this fix?

https://neverwintervault.org/project/nwnee/script/ee-door-transition-fixes

I played this module and enjoyed it. It's very atmospheric, and I liked the emphasis on avoiding things one could not fight. That's an interesting change of pace.

I created a stealthy ranger for this, rather than the suggested fighter or barbarian. I discovered that instead of running pell-mell from the monsters that my weapons could not effect, I could stealth around a lot of them.

I spotted what I took to be a couple of glitches that I reported to the author via PM.

The one serious problem with the module, from my perspective, is that it was too easy. It's mostly a story-driven module, so balance is not all that important. However, I do think that there was an overabundance of useable treasure, such as potions, which greatly reduced the challenge.

This was a wonderful and creepy experience! I played it together with my boyfriend and loved every minute of it! It was very similar to Resident Evil just as advertised. We loved the characters and especially Jina and Frogrin.

Thank you so much for making this. <3