Ok now that real life is finally mellowing down i can finally post my thoughts

Man, what a ride

Night 5 was hard. Tony got me like 3 times. A Cackle in between. Then Harry.

night 6.

night 6.

Wow.

Both Nights 5 & 6 were so fun but also very scary. And I played Phobia days before getting to SHOWMAN'S

The story really intrigues me, really do wonder what's going on with Mark. What connection/investment does Mark have with the location? How bad is the mask?

Honestly that brother/friend theory lookin nice right now

I have criticisms but they're more like nitpicks:

• The mask pulling down animation takes a bit too long

• Peggy's move before jumpscaring got a tad annoying after a while

• ^ both of these do make the game more "sold well"/realistic in terms of game animation feel (i don't think peggy just putting her hand on the desk silently would've been great) so I can't complain too much

• Feels like there aren't a lot of voicelines but I don't know for sure (a lot of the sound design does rely on deeper noises now more than in phobia so it was initially hard to tell what was a character noise and a warehouse scrape)

• Kinda miss when the vent characters would run towards you during their jumpscares. Seen here:

• 

• ^ But on the whole, everyone's jumpscares feel more punchy (and not just because they hit you). So looking at all of them, I still like the jumpscares a lot.

• Personal pet peeve that only part of me seems to have: there's so many instances of the animatronics either having the blank stare, or having both eyes pointing in two different directions; there are hardly any times where the animatronics are actually staring at you (unlike in phobia, where you have them staring at you as many times as possible in the camera frames and in the office).

• ^ THEN AGAIN though, these are supposed to be broken down animatronics that are either A) possessed, or B) severely bugged, and NOT metallic skinwalkers deliberately out to put your face over their fireplace. So in that respect, of course they'd have less control over their eyeballs

Now for the positives:

• The environments got a MASSIVE improvement. Not just in terms of color and moods, but also the props/models for everything in the warehouse (ex: the shock lever, and the two massive storage rooms with giant racking places). Really does feel like a warehouse where many would go in and see if they can get ANYTHING in there working correctly.

• small note I also like the little things like the unused heads (Zapp, the Frankenstein Monster head, and the heads of the elves) and the space johnny arcade cabinet. OH and the Johnny doll. those things are neat and further establish how much of a business Showman's was

• Really like the camera frames! The poses got an upgrade and it feels like the animatronics are fully engaged with their environment and what they're supposed to be doing, unlike in Phobia where it looks like all they're thinking is "ok lets go over here, then walk over here, whats that over there, go back, oh hey there's the office".

• I was honestly scared that the camera frames would disappoint for some reason, maybe because the animatronics look less creepy than their Phobia counterparts. But the faces and poses of the animatronics are so well done here. Not all of them are creepy but the ones that are creepy are the ones that mean business (ex: when an animatronic is one move away before getting to their office phase).

• Genuine improvement on camera frame clarity (compare Anthony and Tony's frames on their left side phases and like, damn). I wanna make a powerpoint on these little fixes

• Love the voice acting for everyone! Mark's panic as he sees Showman after Night 5 is so well done (all the panic from the various employees is pulled off nicely!)

• Love love LOVE all the tapes!

• also, CUTSCENES. both the tapes and the cutscenes are so fun and well-animated. Really cool and nice stuff, none of them feel redundant either

• (seriously wtf was going through The Figure's head during the post-Night 2 cutscene??).

Nerd-out section:

• "Good evenin'! Have we met before?"

• "LET'S NOT GET DISTRACTED" im going to be thinking of that voiceline for a while

• "PUT YOUR HANDS TOGETHER FORR OURR BIRTHDAY BOYYYY"

• THERE'S A JOHNNY DOLL meaning that there's the existence of OTHER DOLLS

• The fact that some lines from phobia were either redone for these characters ("Practice makes perfect" & "This is starting to hurt my face") or adapted to these characters ("That was a funny dream I had. And what was it all about?" → "I had a funny dream, but I forgot about it." & "Hey. What are you up to?" → "Hey there.") is so awesome. Didn't think the voicelines would even do that, but dang, it works so well.

• WHAT DO YOU MEAN JOHNNY IS SHOWMAN'S SON (i mean it makes sense but WOW)

• OKAY as much as he jumpscared me the most and as much as he's the hardest to draw (imo), Tony is my favorite.

• "Creepiest Animatronic" would have to go to either johnny or peggy for me. Johnny looks way too happy to see you, and Peggy looks ready to take your place in a heartbeat

• Favorite cutscene would have to be either the post-Night 3 cutscene, or the post-Night 6 cutscene. The red glow of the "EXIT" sign making Mark's mask red (and that being the ONLY source of light in an otherwise dark scene) is such a cool detail.

• Favorite tape would either be Tape 1, 3, or 4. Really like how animated the animatronics are, and Tape 3 got such an upgrade in terms of both the POV and the dialogue

SHOWMAN'S: The Awakening is a fantastic experience overall. Thought my 1 year of Phobia nostalgia would make me cynical about some of it. But no, there's actually so much here that phobia couldn't dream of having (at least without it feeling weird with the Wiggles characters and all).

Would honestly go back and do it all over again. And again. Caught myself watching Tape 1 multiple times too

Really good job to everyone involved. you utterly destroyed it. (Some people have said it before, but can you believe this is free?)

Really excited to see what's next, SHOWMAN'S or otherwise