Maid of Sker

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Hold your breath in a Welsh hotel where blind cultists hunt by sound.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch, iPhone, Android
Price: Paid
Rated: Mostly Positive on Steam (79% of 2,473 reviews); Metacritic 69 (PC); 4.0 on the App Store (146 ratings)
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or a controller; touch or a controller on mobile.
Made by: Wales Interactive
Released: 2020

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5)Xbox Nintendo Switch App Store Google Play Official site

What frightens In a remote Welsh hotel in 1898, a cult of hooded, sightless figures called the Quiet Ones roams the halls listening for you; any footstep or cough draws them, so you creep, hold your breath when they pass inches away and use a sound device only when caught.
Content: gore, violence, strong language, jumpscares.

Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror game set in 1898 in a remote hotel on the Welsh coast. You search the grounds for a missing woman while the Quiet Ones, enemies who hunt by sound, stalk the halls, and silence is your main defence.

About Maid of Sker

Maid of Sker was made by the Welsh studio Wales Interactive and released in July 2020 on PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, with Switch following that November, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series versions in 2021 and an iOS and Android release in 2024. It draws on the Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, the Maid of Sker.

You play Thomas Evans, who comes to the Sker Hotel after a letter from his lover Elisabeth Williams saying she is trapped there and in danger. Inside, the place has been taken over by the Quiet Ones: hooded, blinded figures who shuffle through corridors and gardens. The story of the owning family, built on piracy, slavery and torture, comes out in notes and recordings as you go.

The game is built on a sound-based enemy system. The Quiet Ones cannot see you but hear everything, so you walk slowly, crouch, and hold your breath when one passes close, which you can only do for so long. Your one tool is a device that sends out a shock wave of sound that stuns enemies for a moment, enough to escape a grab. Much of the work is fetching items across the hotel and grounds while avoiding them.

The mood comes from the gothic Victorian setting and the Welsh hymns sung through it, reworked by the singer Tia Kalmaru. It suits players who like tense sneaking past enemies they cannot kill, in the spirit of Amnesia, and a folklore setting rarely seen in games.

How to play Maid of Sker

Buy it on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch, or download it on iOS or Android.
Explore the Sker Hotel in first person and follow Elisabeth's letters and the notes you find.
Move slowly and crouch: the Quiet Ones hunt by sound, not sight.
Hold your breath when one comes close, and let it pass before you move.
Use the sound device to stun an enemy only when you are caught, then get away.
Collect the items the story asks for to open new parts of the hotel and grounds.

Screenshots

Maid of Sker screenshot: overgrown iron gates under the Sker Hotel sign open onto the hotel tower

Maid of Sker screenshot: a young woman in Victorian dress stands before an organ ringed with candles

Maid of Sker screenshot: a masked figure in a bowler hat reaches toward the player with a bloodied hand

Maid of Sker screenshot: hooded figures gather in a red-lit aisle under a burning tree

Maid of Sker screenshot: a woman hides behind a gravestone in a night forest while a figure with a torch searches nearby

Tips

Play with headphones so you can tell where the Quiet Ones are by their breathing and steps.
Dust and smoke can make you cough; avoid it or hold your breath through it.
Ammunition for the sound device is limited; save it for real emergencies.
Save at the gramophones in the green-lit safe rooms whenever you pass one.