Sunshine Manor from Fossil Games and Hound Picked Games is a spine-chilling retro horror adventure in which you’ll have to escape from the dreaded Sunshine Manor and uncover its secrets. Check our Sunshine Manor review!
Welcome to Sunshine Manor, a spine-chilling retro horror adventure.
Ada is a reluctant adventurer who accepts the challenge to spend a night in the infamous haunted Sunshine Manor and encounters ghosts, demons and other blood-soaked horrors along with quirky characters, unique challenges and a cute but eerie atmosphere.
Sunshine Manor from Fossil Games and Hound Picked Games is a spine-chilling retro horror adventure in which you’ll have to escape from the dreaded Sunshine Manor and uncover its secrets. Sunshine Manor is the residence of Aitken, host of the kid’s TV show “Sunshine Hour.” As his ratings are going downhill, he’s desperate to keep his audience – and his job. On the way home, he encounters a fortune teller telling him she knows of a way to get fame, but for a terrible price. Without even asking what it is, Aitken accepts the offer and gets famous… but every month, he must pay a hefty tribute. He then got arrested by the police, and his manor fell in ruins.
On Halloween Eve, a few years later, three kids get into the manor. As they enter, the door shuts, the light flickers and two of them immediately get abducted by an evil spirit! As Ada – the third kid – is about to be abducted, she emits a powerful purple glow that hurts the spirit. A gentle spirit then arrives and explains to her that the evil spirit is holding everyone hostage, and he requests her help to save the other gentle souls lost in this mansion.
As for the gameplay, you’ll be wandering the creepy – but not that scary – mansion alongside Ada, going to the different locations in the manor, and getting rid of the evil spirit with your psychic power. Your main objective will be saving the five gentle spirits lost in the manor – so lost that they don’t even know they passed away. They’ll ask for a fetch-type quest around the mansion, and when their goal is completed, they’ll let you help their soul in their underworld dungeon.
Each of the dungeons in Sunshine Manor is unique, and they were the highlight of this experience. I liked how each one was designed according to its owner’s personality. I also got a kick out of realizing that the dungeons had a layout similar to the manor – but in a twisted way. At the end of each dungeon, you’ll meet a demon boss who once again has a strong personality, and they were fun to meet.
I did have a minor issue with the save games. The last one used isn’t always selected, so sometimes, when I created a new one to be able to go back to, it wasn’t always obvious which one was the last one used. It isn’t helped by the thumbnail that isn’t helpful at all – since it’s a screenshot of the menu over the area you are in – which felt like an odd omission. Once, when saving the game towards the end of the adventure, the game crashed, and luckily, my save wasn’t corrupted and reverted to the previous save point.
On the presentation side, I liked the pixelated art style for the game and the look of the manor. I already mentioned that the dungeons were great, twisted versions of the manor. There’s an ambiance option in the settings that is turned off by default, but you should definitively activate it as it adds a lot to the experience. The game manages to create a creepy ambiance with the sole jump-scare-ish being when you encounter the evil spirit, but you can see it in advance, so once you know it’ll happen, the surprise will go away. This game doesn’t feel into “horror” territory, however.
I wanted to also mention the soundtrack. In the mansion itself, it’s mainly ambiance sound effects, so there’s not much there. Each dungeon, however, has its own song, and they were great to listen to and quite catchy. Some were reminiscent of the Stranger Things soundtrack, which is great in my book. A little mention about the Save game sound effect: in the dungeons, it felt great with the catchy soundtrack playing behind it. But in the manor itself, with its creepy ambiance, the upbeat sound effect felt out of place there.
Being a PlayStation release, you can expect to earn a few trophies in this game that should take you about 3-4 hours to get through. This game is, unfortunately, not Cross-Buy. A lot of the trophies are missable, so I recommend checking out this Sunshine Manor Trophy Guide to make sure you collect them in a single run. I would advise being careful with “I Need to Return Some Tapes,” which will be locked out when you enter the third dungeon. As of writing this review, two story-related trophies are currently unobtainable: “Round ’em up” and “A-Maze-ing,” but they’re being fixed by a patch that should hopefully land soon.
Sunshine Manor is a great pixel art style game in which you’ll have to save souls stuck in a creepy manor while evading an evil spirit. I liked seeing how the story unfolded and loved exploring the different dungeons. There isn’t much to complain about this one, so if you’re looking for a fun experience this Halloween month, then this one is a great option. Sunshine Mano is out on PlayStation 4 with a $7.99 price tag. There’s also a PlayStation 5 version available for the same price as a separate purchase.
Disclaimer
This Sunshine Manor review is based on a PlayStation copy provided by Hound Picked Games.
