Terror's Seed

It's often used as a cop out, but there really is a case that less is more on the odd occasion. If you're on a diet, for instance, then holding back on the larger portions can serve you well in the long-run. Similarly, having just a few pints on a night out rather than a barrel load and a score of shots will inevitably lead to a lighter head the following morning.

Mobile games have a similar knack for making the most out of smaller pickings. Atmosphere is a particular speciality, drawing on the limited expectations people have of games on phones and delivering an eerie mood by making both the game and music devoid of any humanity.

For once, a lack of technology delivers. On this front, Terror's Seed is a contender. There's so little warmth and charm to the way the game presents itself that it's fairly chilling from the off.

Taking place in a mysterious haunted mansion, Terror's Seed is very short on build-up, dropping you right in the middle of the action. Wandering the mansion's halls is a priority here, and it's not long before the game's adversaries make their mark. Luckily, you're equipped with a revolver – handily with unlimited ammo, too – and taking down enemies is simply a matter of firing off a few shots in their direction.

Weapon upgrades are also scattered around the mansion's rooms, enabling you to combat rivals with fewer bullets – though each gun comes with a limited supply of ammunition. Regardless, calling on a greater arsenal only shortens the time spent dealing with the game's initially shy bunch of foes, who strangely keep their distance until you're in close proximity.

Even when they do decide to strike, it's possible to stand directly next to one of Terror's Seed's ghouls – made up of what can best be described as brownish-green blobs with fangs, and ghostly butler-like visions roaming the mansion's corridors – for a good few seconds before you incur any damage.

Even then, Zed has been very generous with your health. Starting with a health bar of 100, each attack by the developer's squidgy opponents knocks just 5 points off the total – such a small amount that ignoring your health altogether becomes habit, even though health packs are evenly dispersed throughout the mansion to ease progress.

If combat is the game's weak point, then the experience enjoys more success when it comes to exploration. Each area of the house, of which there are eight, offers plenty of scope for investigation and while progression through each area is essentially linear, the addition of locked doors blocking the path means a lot of play is focused on retreading old steps to find keys scattered along the way.

Luckily, the keys themselves are brightly marked, so searching for them is rarely frustrating. In fact, it's a handy tool Zed has used to encourage exploration of its maps, blocking players who intend to speed through play and miss out on half the adventure.

It's perhaps fair to argue that such a player wouldn't actually forego much – in truth, there's little more to Terror's Seed than searching for said keys and fighting the game's ghouls and ghosts.

That said, it comes with some smartly designed maps and offers up a fine introduction to both the survival-horror and adventure genres in the process, even if there are better alternatives out there, like Nowhere and the Darkest Fear series. For those willing to get into the spirit of play, feel the fear and invest some time, however, Terror's Seed is a nice first port of call in the world of mobile horror.