Maid of Sker Reviews
Compelling story and a lot of missed opportunities in terms of gameplay.
Review in Russian | Read full review
Maid of Sker carries a proper tune in its story and setting, but faulty AI leaves much of this horror story feeling flat.
An excellent premise, a compelling narrative, and an effective atmosphere of dread are scuppered by muddy visuals, an antiquated save system, and stilted gameplay mechanics lacking in new ideas. Multiple endings reward those who persevere though, so fans of folk-horror should sample the wares within Sker Hotel, but for most the game will feel stuck in the past.
The designs of Elizabeth's family aren't so much foreshadowed as foreshouted, and the plot soon wavers off-key and winds up shipwrecked. But something about it hangs around, like the hum of an unsettling tune.
Maid of Sker is a competent horror adventure where the player explores a well-designed 19th-century hotel. But its clumsy stealth, forgettable puzzles, and lukewarm scares prevent it from hitting the high notes.
Maid of Sker sadly doesn’t stand out in the crowd of other horror adventures. The story’s best moments take place in notes found and environments, but as cohesive and engaging as they are, this isn’t a technical marvel. The blending of puzzle-solving and horror-adventure just doesn’t end up working with the stealth elements, and instead makes it feel like it should have been two different games. Luckily, the experience doesn’t overstay its welcome and can be completed in around 6 hours.
I have some conflicted feelings about Maid of Sker. The giant Resident Evil-esque hotel setting provides an entertaining and exciting place to explore. But the game ended up being lacklustre in other aspects, namely its predictable story, undercooked stealth mechanics and overabundance of jump scares.
Although it starts as a walking simulator, Maid of Sker turns quickly into a horror game that will remind you either of Silent Hills or Resident Evil or maybe of Outlast or Amnesia. No matter what your experience is with horror games, you will find their influence on Maid of Sker, which is not great, not terrible. It is a lukewarm experience, which rather frustrates than scares, and which due to its length and content can be recommended only after a serious discount.
Maid of Sker offers many thrills built on top of great audiovisuals, but it can get quite frustrating and a bit boring.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Overall, Maid of Sker is a fairly decent game that could just use a bit more polish and maybe some more varied gameplay mechanics. Is it worth a playthrough? Perhaps, if you like indie horror games. But regardless if you play or not, definitely check out the soundtrack elsewhere!
Overall, Maid of Sker qualifies as a discreet experience. With suggestive and intriguing initial premises, the narrative sector pays for the choice to unveil its cards too soon, which reduces the push to proceed with the exploration of the decadent Sker Hotel. Even the sense of disquiet transmitted by the Quiet Men unfortunately wanes during the adventure, mainly due to an easy-to-read AI. Implementing more firmly the excellent dynamics related to music and the need to decipher ambient sounds could have given Maid of Sker more character, for a potential that in our opinion remains expressed only in part.
Review in Italian | Read full review
It's on its own merits the best horror game from Wales Interactive, positioning itself as an interesting and terrifying experience of Wales in the late 19th century.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Atmospheric survival horror with a focus on exploration, that has spongy graphics and disappointing stealth mechanics.
Review in German | Read full review
Maid of Sker gives a great deal that is progressed nicely, and I will appreciate frightfulness aficionados, for example, myself. However, the hindrances, for a few, are possibly more than worth managing.
Maid of Sker follows Thomas Evans as he travels to Sker Island to rescue his lover Elisabeth from her controlling father, who has locked her away in their family hotel. On arrival, it soon becomes clear that something has gone horribly wrong…
I am a big fan of dark and creepy games. They don’t need to be horror necessarily, but that dark, melancholy atmosphere, the creaking floorboards of an old house, or the shadows moving between the trees. Then you combine that with a story based in fact on a real place and draws inspiration from several different sources.
Maid of Sker has a surprising focus on stealth gameplay, but in every other way, it's just a standard horror adventure game like dozens of others.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Maid of Sker is a new horror game set in an abandoned hotel. Eilish played the game and is happy to tell you what she thought of it.
Review in Dutch | Read full review
With that being said, Maid of Sker is still hugely entertaining, especially for people that are aware of the literary traditions that it's tapping into. As an aesthetic, it's probably a little nuanced and subtle for its own good (let's face it, the video game sector isn't big on rewarding nuance and subtlety), but it's great and distinctive. It's just disappointing that the development team struggled so hard in their efforts to make a compelling game to go with it.
Maid of Sker is a good horror game but not quite a great one.