Scholar's Mate | PS5 Review

Named after a chess move and beholden to horror survival cliches, Jandusoft's "Scholar's Mate", releases as challenging escape room experience where puzzles are plentiful and stealth gameplay a must. As Judith you find yourself wheeled away unexpectedly to a psychiatric hospital where the resident ghoul, Eddie, pursues you nonstop as you attempt to escape and come to terms with the reason why you are where you are. 

In "Scholar's Mate", as Judith, you'll find that escape puzzles are the mainstay focal point wherein finding clues, informational backstory snippits, and the items needed to unlock progress are the only ways out of this precarious predicament. As you deal with the puzzles that range from hard to even harder Eddie the resident evil will scout the rooms, hallways, and floors for you to keep you as his prisoner. Should he find you it's GAME OVER, and back to the escape efforts.

When it comes to puzzles finding the clues with the tension building from Eddie's relentless pursuit can make for a frustrating experience especially with the not-so-obvious hints that often times coincide with the given puzzles. Avoiding Eddie isn't the easiest of tasks either as his path projection and line of sight can be rather unpredictable at times leading to an untimely end. 

For the budget priced indie that it is though "Scholar's Mate" looks the part, and plays like a survival horror game should, though the barrier to entry is meant only for the dedicated player who doesn't mind a sometimes obscure puzzle solving system tied in with frights centered around stealth movement. Eddie makes for a frighteningly grotesque horror element, and serves to heighten tension as intended. You'll definitely experience the fear of being caught at some point, and that instance of capture will either put you off from continuing to play or have you more determined to get to the bottom of the story being told.

Visually, and audibly it's a haunting descent into terror with an abandoned hospital theme set to a nighttime lighting that makes the environment more eerie, and foreboding. It has a climactic ambience about it that strengthens in pursuit and puzzle solving cases. All of which is captured in a first person perspective from Judith's point of view. While it may not be Triple A quality it suffices for a budget indie horror game. You won't break the bank buying into this one, but it may or may not break you before you complete it! Only those with the nerves of steel needed to finish will find "Scholar's Mate" worth a purchase.