Sunshine Manor Review

Sunshine Manor is a 2D Indie Horror game. From the trailers of the game you can see a plethora of things you may encounter on your travels of the disheveled manor of a famed entertainment personality turned evil by his own success, who then slaughtered his family and now he and his manor remain a local haunted story. A group of friends dare to enter the Sunshine Manor one Halloween night unaware of the danger that lurks ahead. You soon discover powers that must be used to find the captured friends you entered with and uncover a way out of Sunshine Manor before it’s too late.

The game is beautifully done in all aspects. The art is very refined in the game and the bold nature of the design has significant impacts on the theme and story. The game is dark and at times gruesome and truly surpassed my expectations entirely. The imagery is nostalgic and yet unfamiliar and new. Even when I was watching the trailers before I played the game, I knew I was getting something that has been well refined and a lot of heart and soul that went into creating such a polished artistic game.

Many aspects of the game make a game good or bad. Besides great art and design, I find that the soundtrack is just as responsible for the experience. Sunshine Manor features a retro and synth-wave inspired soundtrack that creates a full bodied atmosphere to the game. The other sounds that are creepy (or scary) also add to that lush 8bit environment. The experience would not be the same on mute.

Gameplay is unique and interesting in the fact that the Manor is poorly lit, there’s a finite amount of distance around you that is illuminated and the rest of the areas surrounding you are dark. This makes stumbling into scary stuff more of a shock or a surprise, because usually I wasn’t expecting it. The differing realms also added a great variety to the game and made me eager to discover and unlock more.

All around I loved the game. I had an issue in my game, and the devs patched it almost immediately. I have no big complaints other than the fact it’s almost necessary you play this with a controller. I also wish there were some more options in the menu (no windowed mode). Otherwise, this game is near perfect and I have enjoyed every minute I have spent in the Manor. The macabre nature of the game and soundtrack make this an absolute chef’s kiss!