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Panic In The Woods – Review

Developer Exit Plan Games clearly struck gold with Bang-On Balls: Chronicles, and now they also want to try their hand at publishing their very own game. In this case that would be Panic In The Woods, a multiplayer experience in which you’ll have to survive in the titular woods, complete objectives, and make it out alive. Armed with only a flashlight and a few random items we found along the way, we put this bite-sized spooky experience to the test. Story There is absolutely no story in Panic In The Woods, which is actually a shame. You’re just a couple of boy-scouts thrown into a spooky forest-like area, where you’ll have to find keys and skulls, perform a ritual, and get the hell out of there. We would have loved a bit more context, or at least a small bit of lore that we could read somewhere. Perhaps when future maps are added, they come with a bit of flavor text. Graphics Developer Exit Plan Games got quite famous thanks to their hit game, Bang-On Balls: Chronicles. It’s clear that the developers want to stick true to their winning formula, and thus Panic In The Woods clearly takes place in the Bang-On Balls universe. All the characters are shaped like balls in cute outfits, and the animations are neatly done. The running animation made us smile more than often, and the overall atmosphere was a great blend of spooky and funny. The environment has a lot of detail to it, at least in the low poly style of this particular franchise. The enemy models were also rather interesting, and it was actually a lot of fun to see what enemies would pop up around the corner. The creepy main monster did remind us a bit of the one from Choo-Choo Charles, albeit without the train-like body. While everything did mesh well together, we did find the interactive menu to be a bit unclear. Sound The game’s sound design is quite decent. For the most part, you’ll have to make do with the sounds of your environment. You’ll hear enemies move around, and you of course also get audio feedback for the sounds you make yourself. There are a few other audio cues thrown in the mix as well, and music is for the most part absent here. The fact that most of the game is actually rather silent does help set the atmosphere. We also found the static on the in-game walkie-talkies nicely done. Gameplay Panic In The Woods is a cooperative survival game in which you’ll be dropped in the middle of the woods and have to complete certain objectives. In this case, you’ll have to collect keys, open portals with said keys, grab skulls from the portals, use the skulls in a ritual, and ultimately banish the creepy monster lurking in the woods. The game doesn’t really explain anything to you, but after a few (failed) attempts, you’ll figure out what to do. You’ll have a flashlight at your disposal, and random additional items can also be found on the map. If you, for some reason, want to make a sound to lure enemies or to make your presence known, you can also fart. While the latter was entertaining when we noticed we could let one rip, it actually helps other players determine your location when you find yourself inevitably trapped in a cage. You’ll probably spend quite a bit of time in one of the map’s cages, as when the big bad monster notices you, it’ll come and chase you and trap you. The monster can easily outrun you, so you’ll have to find hiding spots when trying to run away. Circling back to your ability to perform a solo stinky concerto, you can also use the in-game voice chat via your walkie-talkie. While Panic In The Woods proves to be highly entertaining, we feel like this should have still been an Early Access release. The game lacks content, as there is currently only one map available, and when you’ve cleared it, the game holds little surprises for future runs. Sure, the locations of the keys, portals, and skulls are randomized, but that’s about it. The small levels inside the portals also proved to be the same every single time, albeit with randomized skull placements. There is also no goal to work towards, as the game has no meaningful progression curve. There are, for example, no passive upgrades, no experience points, or no cosmetics you can collect. Even though it’s entertaining to beat the same map a few times, we also feel that the game should have had more content or a higher incentive to revisit the same content over and over again. Conclusion We very much enjoyed our (short) encounter with Panic In The Woods and we can easily recommend fans of similar games to give this one a shot. That being said, we do find the price point a bit too high, as there is currently only one map available. Luckily the developers are working on a new Halloween-themed map, and when this is released, it might be the perfect opportunity to give this one a go.