The Only Lights in the Darkness are Flames

Wheeeew. What a ride! This was a thrilling read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it from beginning to end. You have an incredible gift for writing visceral, gripping scenes, and horror is your best genre, in my opinion.

And what makes your horror so gripping is that your characters are so instantly relatable and fleshed out. The beginning of the story, showing the squad just hanging out together, was an excellent opening that established their personalities through dialogue. I liked everyone on that squad (though Rivera and Blanco were my favorites to play as), and making us care about the characters really ratcheted up the dramatic tension.

I liked how the horror and gruesome deaths were also balanced out by opportunities for genuine bravery and camaraderie between what is clearly a close knit squad. You managed to convey a sense of helpless terror while still giving the player a sense of control over the fate of the characters, which is a very fine line that was brilliantly executed.

Awesome game, and thank you for continuing to churn out games of this quality.

I agree with Aman, your goft is pretty prominent Steve :) Haha you (and Chase) are truly fantastic writers, this horror is gripping and the story reminded me of a creep's cellar where you're a bit horrified by it but you want to keep going in further to see what else you might find. :) Having a good amount of writing skill in genres as varied as Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror is a sign of a truly excellent all-round writer and I definitely think you should write more Horror stories :)

this was awsome

The Only Lights in the Darkness are Flames is a pretty good horror story, but there were a few things I disliked about the formatting.

First off, I rather like the title. It sounds cool and conjures up thoughts of Hell right away for me.

The frequent point of view switching was a cool idea, but it made it a little hard for me to keep track f what was happening to whom and which character was which. Because of this, the four main guys all melded together into one in my mind, and I think some of the characterization was lost on me because of that. I couldn’t tell you much about what any of the characters were like. I THINK Rivera prayed a lot and Mendez was the one who ends up possessed, but I’m not sure. Perhaps it would have been better to stick to two or so main characters.

There are a lot of one link pages because of all the switching around that might make this story seem like it has few choices.
There was a lot of re-branching, and I had to go through a lot of re-reading the same passages over and over again to find all the endings, which was very tedious after a while. The horror elements of the story just aren’t as effective after you’ve read a scene four times in ten minutes.
There was one exception to my dislike of the re-branching and choices leading to the same outcomes--the scene where the one guy dies and is possessed by the demon no matter what the reader chooses. It added to the story for me to make me think that the next choice HAS to work and have it not. That just goes to show that pointless choices can actually add to a story when done right.

Overall this was an entertaining read, but it may be best for whoever you faggots who read reviews before stories are to ignore trying to read every branch and find every ending if you are someone like me who ordinarily does that.

To much shifting...

"Hell Is Nothing But Darkness
As the sun set, the old wooden mansion lay still. The entire SWAT team had been massacred upon entry, awakening dark spirits and terrifying demons that would spill out to the earth. That day, several priests did something, or failed to prevent something, that led to such a massacre."

Oh wait, actually only one team member need to die at the fire place to save the team and prevent all hell from breaking lose. Do find that last two lines a kind of irony though... and apparently burning Blanco would not help at all. ;)

"Too few ratings to be ranked"
based on 58 ratings since 10/20/2017
played 31 times (finished 1)
your rating: unrated

WoW, only finished 1? How is that even possible given that there are 58 ratings!? The machine is making less and less sense nowadays. But anyways, I like the concept of the game switching points of views of different characters to give a full picture of the whole story. =) Not to mention that it is indeed skillfully written with an intruiging plot.

"Blanco's Escape
Blanco
You watch in the rear mirror as the sun sets over the mansion. You know everyone else is dead. You can feel it. You wince as you feel your horrific burns, wishing you could've done something. No, you think. There was nothing you could've done. At least you've survived. Your entire team is dead, but you made it. You continue driving down the road.

Yet One Walked Out...
Yet One Walked Out...
Adversary
You stand, reborn, at the doorway to the mansion. You pull off what remains of this form's former occupant's SWAT armor. Captain Mendez is no more. Now, you are here. You watch as your first born child giggled as he slowly walks outside as the sun falls, his stitches opened to allow him to grow to his full potential. The unchained Beast walks alongside it, its many heads hissing as it sniffs for pray as its massive clawed feet stomp along. You smile as you take your first steps into the outside world
"Now... the trio is formed. Now, we are reborn. Sound the trumpets," you say."

Yet, I wonder, who walked out and who was reborn? Blanco or whatever resides within him?

Make a sequel. 8/8

Only saved Rivira and Porras. But my goodness was that quite the ride! Great sorry, plenty of atmosphere and adrenaline pumping action!

I got out with Parros, Rivera, and Sindile.