Game Review: Don’t Let Him In (Xbox Series X)

Heavily inspired by Silent Hill, Don’t Let Him In is a psychological horror game from Jonniemadeit and Dolores Entertainment. A game that features retro graphics and a cinematic story, aspects that it does nail. Alas, it’s with everything else that the game fails to impress, least of all the limited and poorly done gameplay.

The story surrounds three friends who are on route to a concert. Driving down a lonely stretch of the highway they spy a hitchhiker so decide to pick him up. Which, as every horror fan will tell you, is a bad idea. This hitchhiker is an odd one, but it’s when he decides to kill himself in the backseat of the car that the three friend’s night truly spirals out of control.

Unsure of what is real, haunted by sights and sounds that would drive a sane person mad, and seemingly unable to escape this particular part of the highway, Don’t Let Him In follows the Silent Hill playbook but with far less composure. Rushing through sections, ignoring tension building moments in favour of cheap jump scare attempts, failing to tell a coherent story, and delivering some of the worst combat moments of any modern game, regardless of its retro look.

Which looks awful too. Aren’t we all just a bit sick of the PS1-style retro graphics? It looked like crap in the mid-90s, it looks like crap now.

At about an hour long (it’s a very easy and straight-forward game), Don’t Let Him In should at least leave some impression, but it’s an overtly forgettable experience in the end. The only memorable thing is the laughably bad dialogue and how often it tries to ‘scare’ you.

Which it won’t because the developers didn’t know what scary means. Choosing the literal jump scare route as something pops up and disappears just as quickly. There are several that happen so fast, you won’t even notice them. Although that could also be because the increasingly nonsensical story has caused your brain to start to leak out your ears. Something about demons, cults, a serial killer… it’s hard to pay too much attention to it when it is so bland.

These sorts of games are everywhere and, in some cases, done far better than this. It’s not the worst game or worst horror experience ever, but it is one of the most forgettable.