Oddly compelling, but not without flaws
Condemned is a strange game, but it's also one that is more than the sum of its parts. From a strictly gameplay perspective, Condemned is about as straightforward as can be. About 90% of the game consists of guiding the character of Ethan Thomas through a wasteland of abandoned urban landmarks, such as a decrepit school and a shuttered city library (the nameless post-industrial city that the Saw movies take place in seems like an inspiration for the setting here). Three missions in a row take place in a complex of subway stations, tracks, and machinery. The path through these environments is mostly linear but will occasionally branch and throw some light puzzle solving in your way. Sometimes the solutions to these puzzles will make you wander around a little more than you would like. For the most part, though, the game finds a good pace.
Along the way, a literal army of thugs and drug addicts will hunt and attack you. The loading screens attempt to provide some context to these constant attacks and, given the direction the story goes, you could argue some of it is only in Ethan's head. Mostly though, this never ending wave of mindless vagabonds feels kind of ridiculous. It's obvious the developers wanted combat to be a core part of the gameplay loop, and the story justification for it is pretty thin.
The combat is, like the game itself, very simple. Guns are very scarce so you will primarily be relying on axes, pipes, mannequin arms, desks, pieces of wood, and any other objects you see lying around to bash peoples' heads in. Guns are powerful when you do find them which makes them satisfying to use, but you generally only have enough ammo to take out a couple people with them before you will need to ditch them and return to melee. My one piece of advice? Use the taser. A lot.
And that's about it. The gameplay is bare bones and unashamed to show it. What makes this game so oddly compelling to play to this day is the legitimately creepy atmosphere it succeeds at evoking. It would have been very easy for this game to overdo it with jump scares - but it doesn't. For every enemy that jumps out of a closet and screams "boo," there are three or four corridors with flickering lights, scampering sounds off in the distance, an uneasy sense that something is wrong, and three or four spots where something could jump out but doesn't. The game keeps you on your toes.
Similarly, I'm not going to pretend this game's story is a masterpiece, but it keeps things interesting and goes to some unsettling places. As I alluded to above, some of the story's revelations will leave you questioning your character's grasp on reality and the veracity of what you have been shown over the course of the game. The game also poses far more questions than it answers, so it's clear they intended to leave things open for a sequel. I hope when I get around to playing it that it makes good on some of these story threads.
So, Condemned is a strange game. When it works well, it's a serious entry in the first-person horror genre. It also has a mission where Ethan rides down a city street using a dumpster as a sled while beating zombie-like addicts off the dumpster with a stick that left me laughing at loud at my TV. It hits more than it misses though, and seeing as it only took me about 6 hours to play through at a leisurely pace, it doesn't overstay its welcome.