F.E.A.R.

Steam Reviews

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• Recommended Posted November 30, 2025 on Steam First thing's first, if you're playing on Windows 11, you need to install the 4GB patch. https://ntcore.com/4gb-patch/ This takes less than 5 minutes and the game will be unstable until you do it. FEAR is a difficult game to talk about, 20 years later, because so many of the things that made it a big deal on launch have become the standard in FPS games. It pioneered enemy AI that would do things like flushing you out with grenades, flanking around, and using combined arms to pin you down. That's just, like, how shooters work now. Compared to a modern game, FEAR has low variety in weapons, enemies, and environments, because so much of the work done to make this game was pioneering systems we now take for granted. Visually, it's aged pretty well. I ran it at 1080p. I wanted to say that the game was designed for 720p because it's an Xbox 360 game, but that's not actually true; it was designed for 4:3 resolution, probably 1024x768, and supports modern resolutions under mild protest. I wouldn't recommend taking it to higher resolutions, as there's no interface scaling and the subtitles were already almost unreadable. The only thing side effect of the game's age that feels truly negative is that the flashlight really sucks, which is extra bad since this game is real dark. The gameplay holds up surprisingly well. I've almost forgotten what a joy it is to play a tight, linear story that's not loaded with busywork. The only side activities in FEAR are the hunts in each level for the Health and Reflex boosters. That linearity means that the story is able to stay tense and isn't stretched out over such a long time that by the time you reach the end, you've forgotten details from the beginning. Most of the horror elements have aged well, though I still think, "Paxton Fettel," has way too much, "guy in finance," energy for a deranged psychic commanding an army of clones. This game is decidedly retro, past the era of the Boomer Shooter but before everything had an open world and skill trees. If you enjoy tense, tactical firefights and jump scares, FEAR is your game.
• Recommended Posted December 18, 2025 on Steam Honestly? I am just a kid who wants to play older games since I keep hearing great things about them. I am kinda bad at writing reviews too. And to be honest? I LOVED IT! Honestly I loved the gunplay combined with bullettime. made me feel like a badass! But I also like how genuinely creeped out I got at some of the moments in the game. I was the one with the gun but I felt so powerless at times when it came to that. definitely recommend to others!
• Recommended Posted October 16, 2025 on Steam Played this 20 freaking years after it was released and it's still fresh as it was back in 2005. TLDR: Seeing a 20-year old game that costs $2 being better at almost everything than recent $70 titles is literally mind-blowing. RIP Monolith, you guys had gold here. This game looks incredible, with the exception of some character textures that are noticeably low-res (in particular Norton Mapes) and some external areas (e.g. the city as seen from the chopper or from the rooftops). Outside of that, environments are beautiful, well-lit, and full of prosp that react to your gun fights. Enemy models are detailed and well animated, and the scenario is reactive enough that anyone walking into a room after a gunfight knows there was a gunfight - there will be bullet marks on the walls, scorch marks where grenades went off, broken glass and crates, exploded barrels, reams of paper on the floor, and viscera splattering the walls. It never ceased to amaze me how beautiful and cohesive everything looked like, even after hours and hours playing the game. Not only it looks good, it also feels good. Damn, gunplay is so much fun, part because of the portfolio of guns you're given, part because of the enemy AI. No gun is wasted here (except, maybe, the SMG), and I felt myself using the akimbo pistols as often as I did with the plasma rifle or shotgun. My personal favorite is still the penetrator which nails enemies to walls, but all of them are useful and fun to play with. If I have one gripe, is that there are not enough scenarios where the ASP Rifle excels, and ammo for it gets very scarce towards the latter end of the campaign. Enemy AI has been talked about through and through, and what I can say is that the small enemy variety is more than compensated by how vicious they are. The fact you're usually fighting squads instead of single enemies always leave you on your toes, and the game is highly lethal, with a few mistakes costing you a lot. Luckily checkpoints and health pickups are plentiful. The only enemies that suck are the turrets (and the drones to a smaller extent), but they are not super frequent so that's fine. Enemies move very fast, so using bullet time is almost a requirement for effective gunplay, as well as leaning to avoid incoming fire. The sound complements the atmosphere created by the visuals, and it's always fun to hear the chatter from the enemy squad once they see their numbers falling, followed by radio silence once all are downed. There's a plot here that justifies some creepy sequences, but if this game was a series of linear corridors with nothing more than squads to destroy, I would still love it. Play it now, play it again, and just keep playing, this is too good to be true
• Recommended Posted February 22, 2026 on Steam ♥♥♥♥ is badass you basically just shoot bad guys in slow motion with a shotgun for about 14h and get scared by a little girl every once and a while 10/10.
• Recommended Posted August 22, 2025 on Steam Revolutionary vision. Insert your matrix view into the future They don’t make games like this anymore and my soul bleeds. What makes this title so special...well almost everything. *Chilling atmosphere and soundtrack The score ambient sound makes this title one uncanny feel. When you think you never wished for dead silence before pin drops and things change. At best it will paint your blood in dread. *Immersive gameplay The slow-motion “reflexion” and some destructive environments aren’t just gimmicks. They put this game into stratosphere of cinematography kino. Bullets only will fly beyond you if you want them to. There will be no faul choices or mistakes. Youre the elite unit that is beyond all and between everything. *One of the best enemy AI by date If there thing that could be learned from this game is that how make enemy AI. Its surpasses by far the most recent released games nowadays. I cant remember being so bald and deadly. The only game that I can remember that is on par with this enemy AI is original RAGE enemy AI. Enemies in this game are no joke. They will flank you, they will wait for your mistake, they will ambush you, they will retreat from fire and run just to come back with stronger punch. They will adapt dynamically by your choices you make. *The graphics still look rad and realistic *Paranormal horror done wonderfully Supernatural elements in this game is staggering. You will never know what to expect when it expects you by surprise. That’s creates lasting fear trhought out all game. Monolith games created something unreal, untouched and unexplored. It’s the vision that will never be repeated.
• Recommended Posted January 20, 2026 on Steam Currently going through what I believe is my fourth playthrough of this game since it came out in 2005, I am in as much awe of it as ever. Half a survival horror and half a tactical corridor shooter, F.E.A.R. doesn't skimp on either side. The fear comes from both directions in equal amounts: What's lurking around that next corner you slowly creep towards? Some kind of bloody, ghostly hallucination, or a gang of tactigoons all suited up in full armor waiting to put two dozen bullet holes in you? It's really the gunplay where F.E.A.R. still stands out all these years later. The horror element is fine, strongly aided by an eerie soundtrack that knows when to punctuate and when to stay out of the way, but the shooting is about as good here as it ever got. It's not a difficult game if you're patient and sneak 'n peek your way through levels, and there's also a ton of health packs (too many) scattered about, but the enemy AI is smart. They flank and circle behind you, they take cover, they react to your noise and light, but they also drop hints. Sometimes you can catch their reflection on walls and floors, or hear their footsteps, or listen to them calling out positional orders to each other. A showpiece FPS effort from one of the best developers to ever do it, the almighty Monolith Productions. Just wanted to drop some quick praise for one of the all-timers. That this game combined with its two expansions packs frequently goes on sale for $2 is one of the greatest values in gaming anywhere.