PC Critic Reviews

There’s so much good going for Janitor Bleeds, creating plenty of scares with its well-executed main concept of having to play an arcade game while stalked by a mysterious entity. Sadly, there are some flaws. I do wish the ending had a bit more going for it, the main story only lasted about an hour, and the token system is woefully underused. Nonetheless, for the low price tag, fans of old-school horror games shouldn’t miss out on this little cabinet of spooks.

JANITOR BLEEDS provides a great first-person horror experience where you balance puzzle-solving with hiding from a pursuer who relentlessly hunts you down. The simple graphics and well-timed audio enhance the horror experience, making you dread the pursuit. However, the lack of a story is a missed opportunity that could have immersed the player in the game. Slow loading times and a few gameplay quirks also prevent Janitor Bleeds from becoming the masterpiece it could be.

Janitor Bleeds is a retro-style survival horror that has you exploring a haunted abandoned arcade and features a game within a game as its key element. The developers did pretty well to achieve the sense of danger without resorting to jump scares, but as a whole Janitor Bleeds is neither very scary nor easy to recommend.

There isn’t much that Janitor Bleeds really nails, which is the real shame. The concept itself is tantalizing enough, but the scares and the narrative needed more consideration. It neither subverts expectations nor does it execute standard horror cliches very well. It’s not a total wash, it just lands so consistently in the middle that it’s hard not to be disappointed. Like many of the games in the derelict arcade, this one is, unfortunately, out of order.