Grandpa

Another entry in the ever-expanding horror sub-genre of “creepy guy pursuing you through non-descript hallways,” Grandpa is a twisted horror survival that grants new meaning to unbearable family meetings. The game has the player evading a creepy geezer in a decrepit house, and not much more explanation is needed.

At first glance, Grandpa might look like a mobile game that escaped from the farthest corners of classic Xbox Live Arcade, but fans of survival horror might still find some glimmers of entertainment in this flawed game rife with potential.

Hide and Seek

After a bit of a scuffle, a mysterious old man has abducted you and locked you inside a rundown house. It sounds like a simplified version of the plot from Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, but Grandpa still has some surprises up its sleeves.

Much like the aforementioned Resident Evil, this game has you navigating the abandoned house from a first-person perspective. Beware the mysterious Grandpa, however, as this codger is more lethal than he might seem. It’s evident that the game is heavily based on Granny, a massively popular horror mobile game.

The titular Grandpa has a basic AI that allows him to track your movements all over the house. You can still cheese his AI quite easily, allowing the player some leeway when they’re trying to solve puzzles or just take a quick break from all the persecution.

Speaking of breaks, Grandpa introduces a twist to the whole running away thing: your character’s sanity meter will deplete as they witness horrifying events. Similar to Visage, having low sanity will eventually force a game over. To make things better, you’ll character will have to close their eyes — which in turn leaves him exposed to the relentless Grandpa.

Puzzling Around

Not everything in the game can be about running around aimlessly through similar hallways. In between your bouts of exploration, you’ll be forced to solve some not-so-complicated puzzles.

Solving puzzles becomes the main way of making progress in Grandpa. They resemble some of the brain teasers we’re used to seeing in the Resident Evil series, with some degree of backtracking necessary to advance through the house.

Facing off against an unkillable enemy can feel tiresome at times, especially when every time he catches you is a guaranteed instakill. The lack of real hiding spots can also be a major bummer for some players.

Fortunately, as bad as Grandpa’s AI can be at times, the game is quite lenient when it comes to the checkpoints. You barely lose any progress any time Grandpa catches you; you can even exploit this by letting him catch you, and then progress through the house as if nothing happened.

In the end, the game ends up being easier than it should: what should have been a terrifying horror experience quickly becomes a laughably easy puzzle title with very few frights along the way. You can even beat the game in less than an hour, and that’s in a blind playthrough. Once you know what to do and where to go, escaping Grandpa becomes even more of a triviality.

Pros

• Some puzzles can be a bit challenging
• Visuals don’t look all that bad

Cons

• Not enough hiding spots make the game frustratingly complicated
• Terrible enemy AI
• Way too short — can be beaten in less than an hour