Showing posts with label Horror. Show all posts
Dark Nights Review – Solving Romantic Tension With Spooky Scares
Genre – Otome, Supernatural, Mystery Play Time – 13 hours Developer - Pinlin Steam(Free) VNDB
Supernatural Hunks
Everyone
dreams of something exciting happening to them to break the mundanity
of their lives, but few consider the consequences of this
adventure. Such is the case for Dark Nights’ bored protagonist
Miyoko who gets exactly what she wishes for when people start
disappearing and she becomes entangled with a series of supernatural
men. This tale of tension, romance and a light bit of horror unveils
to her the hidden world living right under her nose. Each of her
suitors is given their own distinct plot completely focused on them
rather than a variation of a core narrative structure which keeps the
game fresh throughout. Small nods to the other routes pepper each play
through and invite the player to explore every possible avenue. The
suitors possess a good spread of personalities that compliment and
rub up against Miyoko’s own strong willed and proactive nature in
different and entertaining ways. Backing them up is a secondary cast
capable of playing both friend and foe to the main characters without
coming across and inconsistent. When it comes to the visuals and
audio the amateur nature of Dark Nights becomes obvious in their
inconsistent quality and this is not helped by a few odd quirks of
scene pacing plaguing certain sections. Are these traits of its
production enough to undermine the otome fantasy? Let’s snoop
around at night and find out.
It Goes Bump In The Night – Narrative And Themes
Variety
stands as Dark Nights’ greatest narrative strength with each route
bringing some new angle to the world and there being little overlap
between their ideas. This keeps the experience of progression fresh
throughout as the player is never quite sure what they are going to
encounter next. It also uses the unexpected to help add tension and compliment a romance where the threats facing the suitors differ
wildly and always remain exciting. Despite this variance, the world
building has a believable consistency to it which never strays too
far from the core supernatural concepts established early on in each
route. No matter what a player chooses they will be met with a
consistent presentation of the world without it falling into a
predictable pattern. Almost everything comes down to spirits, the
undead or those in charge of managing them. Yet there are lots of
variations to this framework such as the spirit world being made up
of different powerful spirits and even guardian demons. Helping all
of these elements feel consistent with one another is the countless
little nods to the other routes inside each route. These hint at the
fate of characters from other routes and tease what their route
involves while also providing the sense the cast do not just
disappear when not chosen by the player. It makes the world feel more
natural and alive where the character decide their own fates and
merely intersect with Miyoko’s life rather than having everything
revolve around her.
 |
| Dreaming of something exciting |
Supporting these vibrant routes is the
entertaining mixture of romance and light horror. The horror in Dark
Nights’ come across more as spooky rather than actively trying to induce fear in the player and it is akin to haunted house ride at a
theme park. This is not to say it cannot create feelings of tension
and danger since Miyoko’s fragile nature is constantly reinforced
through the bad endings and monsters she faces. What allows this
horror to not be overwhelming comes from the playful way it presents
these darker elements through making them somewhat silly punishments
of obvious failure or the achievements for bad ends having funny
illustrations on them. This lighter presentation of horror lets it
complement the slowly building romance between Miyoko and the suitor
where the two can bond in the face of their shared dangers alongside
the excuse to get physically closer to these handsome men. Since
these relationships are the main attraction of an otome, a stronger
horror element might have overpowered the positive emotions of this
romance so this is skilfully dodged and instead employed to showcase
the development of their bond.
 |
| This collection for the ending achievements is a fun addition |
A
consistent problem throughout Dark Nights is the way scenes and some
endings can be too short or abruptly come to an end. For scenes this
mostly comes in the form of events which serve a function but are not
given the space to feel natural. They have the characters say all the
important information in rapid succession before stopping as soon as
their utility has ended which is jarring since it creates the sense
the cast are robots. Fortunately scenes like these are mostly
concentrated in the common route and the opening sections of a few
suitor routes but disappear as the player progresses further into
them. This makes for a poor first impression of the game which might
turn off potential new players from the joys found in later sections.
In the case of some endings, not all are created equal and some
normal and romance endings lack a proper climax and resolution and
instead just stop. What this means in practice is things like major
plot beats or antagonists dealt with of screen in a single line
despite all the build up or a happy ending not earned by the
characters and just shoved onto them. As you can imagine this leads to a
feeling of being left without a way to tie up the player’s feelings
towards the route’s suitor and leaves a sour taste in their mouth.
The majority of endings do not suffer from this issue but this makes
the ones which do stand out in the worst way possible and are
disappointing when the bar for ending quality is so high.
Another
minor issue is the weird way Dark Nights insists it is set in a
village despite the location being far too large to be considered
one. There are inconsistencies like the fact that Miyoko can run
through the streets for an extended time to escape oncoming zombies,
a lot of villagers die and become zombies yet the village never seems
to run out of people and there being parts of the village Miyoko has
never been to despite living in there all her life. Each one of these
point to the village in fact being at least a small town where these
traits would make sense since it would easily excuse them. This
issues is at most distracting rather than damaging but does
contribute to the overall inconsistency of the narrative at times.
Ghosts, Ghouls and Charming Men – Characters
Key
to any good otome is a likeable suite of suitors for the player to
select from and invest into and those on display here more than meet
this standard. A wide variety of personalities exists across the
suitors from the blunt but kind Zeikun to the carefree and lazy
Kurato and these lead to a lot of distinct interaction based on who
is the focus of a route. What further pushes their individual
identities is how they do not all get along with each other and often
come into direct conflict with each other and in doing so reveal new
sides to themselves. Most importantly of all they bounce off Miyoko
in fun ways as their banter creates a sense of the bond between her
and each suitor while contrasting it with her other relationships. It
makes her connection with them feel genuine and unique to each of
them since they bring out different parts of her personality. Miyoko
being the story’s primary driver gives her a refreshing wilfulness
and helps equalise the relationship with her chosen suitor despite
being physically weaker than them in need of their protection.
Without her they would not be moving forwards and it is only because
she drags them with her that they manage to overcome their issues and
find happiness. It also makes for some amazing dialogue where the
characters have to face down this force of nature and find her
persistence difficult to deal with. As for the secondary cast, they
nicely fill in the roles needed from them as they dynamically jump
between ally and enemy depending on the route while remaining
believably consistent in their motives and actions. Finding out how
they will react in a new route to Miyoko and the suitor forms a
strong part of the appeal of exploring the game’s narrative to its
fullest. Their interconnecting web of relationships and shared
history slowly unveils itself with unguarded comments and heartfelt
cries providing these sneak peaks behind their masks.
 |
| Kaichi is one of the best examples of someone who is both friend and enemy at different times |
Fantasy Bellow Normality – Visuals, Audio And Technical
The
amateur nature of Dark Nights is brought into sharper focus when
considering the three pillars of visuals, audio and design choices.
From a visual standpoint it is the inconsistencies which highlight
this quality through the contrast between the sprites and the CGs.
There is a gap in presentation between the two which creates a
feeling of disconnect where they do not seem to show the same
characters. The CGs come across as lush and vibrant where their
dynamic and expressive poses compliment an excellent colour palette
and vivid lines to form strong visualisation for the narrative.
Unfortunately the sprites cannot match this high benchmark and each
is somewhat stiff in their posture with a limited variety of
expressions leading to the cast feeling wooden at times. Then the
small OST comes into focus as it is not quite large enough to fill
what is not a short visual novel which results in a lot of repeated
tracks the player will become very familiar with. Each track is used
appropriately but over the course of the long play time they lose their
impact and no longer invoke the emotions in the player’s mind.
Another sign of the amateur nature of this title is the extremely
short common route. The suitors are given one scene each before the
game asks the player which one they want to pursue.
 |
| Oh my, look another handsome man |
Conclusion
Keeping
a romantic tone while having the pressing weight of horror is the
mixture which characterises much of Dark Nights. Each route takes a
different part of this setting and explores it through its suitor as
it weaves in aspects from other routes to create a complete feeling
world. Vivid characters dance around each other in a battle of life
and love where the friends and enemies change dramatically from
suitor to suitor and set to a backdrop of beautiful CGs depicting
their most heartfelt moments. There are some hiccups hampering the
player’s enjoyment of the game from some of the more amateur
visuals to the abrupt endings to some scenes, but these are ultimately minor or infrequent enough to overlook for what is otherwise an
exceptional otome.
Verdict –
Perfectly captures a spooky horror tone which allows for intense
romantic interactions with its many engaging suitors and their
supernatural problems. Oddly cut off scenes and some limited visuals and audio do hold it back from its potential.
Pros-
+
Every route has its own distinct plot thread which deals with a
different part of the setting to keep the narrative feeling fresh.
+
Blends romance and horror together in a fun mixture of spooky and
steamy moments.
+
Suitors have a good variety of personalities and clash with each
other. This extends to the secondary cast who jump between friend and
foe depending on the route.
+
Beautiful CGs enhance the most powerful and memorable events in the
game.
Cons -
-
Some scenes and endings are too short or end too abruptly leading to
an unsatisfying and poorly paced feel at times.
-
Weak character sprites and an OST too small for the game’s length
hamper its presentation.
-
Common route is too short and demands the player choose a suitor
before the player has even had a chance to get to know them.
Pocket Mirror: GoldenerTraum Review – Golden Hope And Young Girls
Genre – Horror, RPG Maker Play Time – 10 hours Developer – AstralShift Steam
Hold That Gold Tight
Releasing
at the tail end of the golden era of RPG Maker horror, the
original Pocket Mirror captured the best quality of games from that
time and brought them together into a well presented package. Seven
years later AstralShift released a remaster of Pocket Mirror named
GoldenerTraum which touches up the visuals and adds some new content
in order to bring it to a wider audience. It maintains the excellent
atmosphere and creeping dread alongside the characters’ riveting
journey which made the original so memorable. Those characters are
dealt with separately and given the space they need to shine and
inspire fear. Creating a visual and audio space filled with tension
and beauty was already something the original did well so the new
touches help elevate it to a new level. However, GoldenerTraum does
not solve any of the flaws of the original from unclear choices to
uneven pacing while adding in many of its own with its new content
not meshing with the old. Is this enough to undermine this classic
RPG Maker horror game? Let’s get lost in a kaleidoscopic maze of
terror and find out.
Into Fear And Loneliness – Narrative and Themes
The
one element a RPG Maker horror game needs to be successful is a
strong atmosphere with a backbone of dread since it cannot rely on
its visuals in the direct way other style of horror are able to.
Pocket Mirror takes notes from its predecessors in order to embody
their best traits while avoiding some of their common pitfalls. Dread
is used as a subtle tool with the off nature of puzzles and
interactions carrying a lot of the tonal weight. Often this manifests
in moments where characters will have the protagonist do things that
are twisted or not be upfront about the consequences of what they
want only to turn round and be confused at the protagonist’s fear. An abnormal sense of normality is
pervasive throughout as the items and scenery of a young girl’s
life take on strange forms and even in the quiet moments the player
cannot shake the feeling of wrongness. This encroachment becomes more
pronounced as the game goes on and the characters become more
openly hostile to the protagonist and this makes for suitable pacing
curve to prevent the horror from becoming too stale and predictable.
Its
characters’ journeys and how the relate to and influence the
protagonist is the main narrative driving force.
Their
unforgettable personalities and the way they can turn on the
protagonist at any moment helps make each new encounter with them
feel like a meaningful look into their minds. When combined with the
player’s ability to decide their individual fates through choices
made
along the way, it makes for a compelling motivation to push through
the fear and see the outcome of this story.
One
area Pocket Mirror is careful to not overuse is the chase sequence.
Many of its peers have a tendency to overuse this mechanic due to the
lack of other ways to directly threaten the player which might be
exciting at first but eventually results in fatigue due to the player
wanting to just get on with the game. Here
Pocket Mirror understands the need for palpable danger but uses the
chases as a means to emphasise a specific narrative beat or to shake
up the player’s expectations after a long period of their absence.
By
holding back it can get the most out of this mechanic without it and
avoid it wearing out its welcome.
A similar approach can be seen in its more
selective use of dead ends compared
to other RPG Maker horror titles. Rather
than just killing the protagonist at every minor mistake, it instead
makes its dead ending narratively appropriate and clear
telegraphs the imminent danger to
build up and pay off the tense situation. Using its tools when they are
called for a general use of subtly and implication are Pocket
Mirror’s greatest strengths and are the basis of its fear.
 |
| Be careful not to fall |
GoldenerTraum
is an odd release when it comes to Pocket Mirror’s narrative and
tone since it makes a lot of changes and additions which undermine
the strengths of the original while also failing to fix the issues it
has inherited. By far the most problematic addition is the new ending
which exemplifies the issues with the changes made by GoldenerTraum.
It is says the quiet part out load. This ending covers something
which was never the focus of the original story and was vaguely
implied through subtle clues. It is not an important element of the
story and not expanding on it did not hurt the original work. By
spelling it out for the player it removes a layer of subtly which was
the game’s greatest strength in exchange for an ending lacking in
meaningful substance. To top it all off it is also a bad ending so
lacks any proper sense of resolution and feels like it exists to
punish the player despite another bad ending already existing to
fulfil this purpose.
Beyond the ending, the other changes all roughly
follow this pattern of stripping away subtly and are damaging to
various extents. For example, the endings all now have little
illustrations which pop up after they have been completed. While they
should be a nice touch which adds another layer to presentation, they
are instead highly destructive since they spell out how the player
should interpret them. Ambiguous endings are now made black and white
removing any need for the player to engage with narrative and
undermining the horror brought about by that lack of certainty. Then
there are the problems also present in the original which the new release does
nothing to resolve. Chief among these is the imbalanced lengths of
the sections given to each character with the first one, Fleta, being
noticeable longer when compared to the others. In the original this
was likely caused by the opening hours being the first to be
developed meaning they got the most revisions and additions before
the final release. However, GoldenerTraum does nothing to address how
lopsided this can make the experience of playing the game and seems
to not be interested in fixing issues so much as making unnecessary
add-ons.
Girls With Trauma – Characters
Having
such a small cast works in Pocket Mirror’s favour since it can
spend a larger amount of time focused on their individual arc. The
game knows this is one of its strength as it is rare for there to be
more than two characters on screen to further narrow the player’s
attention. To make sure there is no competition for space each of the
main character are given their own sections of the game one after
another where they become the pivot around which the game revolves.
Their distinctive personalities and the way they offer vastly
different kind of dangers to the protagonist helps them stand out.
Felta is a bubbly and childish girl who becomes brutal and aggressive
the moment she does not get her way while Harpae is a calm and mature
person who poses a threat in the way she will smother the protagonist
in her desire to protect them. The constant tension of waiting for
the moment these characters switch and reveal their darker side
allows them a larger presence in the player’s mind and makes their
eventually resolution all the sweeter. Interacting with all these
characters is our protagonist who carefully treads the line between
the necessary vulnerability of a main character from a horror game
and the good heart needed for her actions and attitude towards others to
make sense. Pocket Mirror loves to play on her status as victim to
inspire growth in her and highlight how her unwillingness to admit
responsibility for her actions has hurt others. This makes the other
character’s a great foil to her as they are all things she is not
but wishes she could be and through their actions she is shown the
reality of how their lives are not what she imagined them to be.
 |
| Fleta is so nice until she has a tantrum |
Wonderland Of Terror – Visual, Audio and Technical
If
there was one area GoldenerTraum preforms better than its predecessor
it is in the improvements it makes to both the traditional and pixel
art. It builds upon the strong style and direction of the original to
enhance the atmosphere while bring clarity to previous muddy
elements. What this means in practice for the pixel art is that it
has a sharper resolution with more details being visible and the
movement of the characters and their expressions being easier to see.
This opens the way for a flexible use of the assets to add a layer of
control over how a scene will play out so a greater degree of visual
spectacle can be achieved during impactful moments. In terms of the
traditional artwork for the CGs and character portraits, there have
been a number of new additions throughout and many events which
previous did not have any have been given one. The overall effect of
these changes is a greater sense of immediacy to the danger and
emotion of Pocket Mirror’s world while still maintaining enough of
its mystery for these visuals to not overstay their welcome.
Improvements have also been made to the game’s soundscape primarily
through an expanded soundtrack. Since the original’s music was
already a highlight of the experience with its mix of haunting and
gentle melodies and GoldenerTraum keeps to this core identity with a
few flourishes of its own in order to add to its range of emotions.
 |
| Ever screen has a dream like quality to it |
Mechanically
Pocket Mirror is in line with its peers and does little to try and
change the gameplay formula which has worked so well for them. What
this means is, outside of the aforementioned chase sequences, a fairly inoffensive adventure game format filled with simple environmental or
inventory puzzles. This is not going to shake the boat but at the
same time it is well enough put together that the player is likely too
distracted by the story and the horror to notice the uninspired
repetition. A large mechanical issue stems from the choices where it
is regularly unclear what the player has to choose in order to get
the best endings for the cast. At times what appears to the right
option is in fact completely wrong yet the correct answers are not
consistent enough to just apply counter logic in order to find them.
This can make for a frustrating experience where the player may feel
inclined to look at a guide since they want to see the characters
they have grown to care about get the ending the deserve. On top of
this the new ending added with GoldenerTraum is only available on a
new game plus playthrough. For new players this will likely not be an
issue, but for fans who played the original and want to experience
the new content this results in two playthroughs of a game whose
content they have likely already played many times before just to get
to the stuff they paid for.
Conclusion
Embracing
the legacy of the RPG Maker horror genre places a lot of expectations on
Pocket Mirror which it comfortably meets by capturing the best of
those games. It creates an atmosphere of creeping dread where chase
sequences and jump scares are not overused while mixing in a twisted
version of a young girl’s life. Visually it takes full advantage of
its pixel art to craft a beautiful and haunting world with
GoldenerTraum further expanding it. The cast support these core
elements through their combination of vulnerability and hostility
where the player is just waiting for the other shoe to drop and each
is given the space they need to shine. However, the other changes
made by GoldenerTraum hurt the game as they undermine the subtly it
was using as part of its horror while not fixing the issues of the
original. Thankfully this damage is not severe enough to ruin what is
one of the most magical titles of its genre.
Verdict –
Captures the essence of what makes RPG Maker horror games tick
and refines it into a beautiful and unforgettable journey.
GoldenerTraum changes do muddy the waters a bit with some
questionable additions.
Pros -
+
Brings together the best aspects of the RPG Maker horror genre while
leaving behind many of its problematic elements.
+
A strong cast who invoke as much fear of them as love and this makes
for wonderfully tense interactions.
+
Beautifully haunting pixel art is accompanied by an equally powerful
soundtrack.
Cons -
-
Changes made by GoldenerTraum often result in a loss of subtly and
the horror implied by it in favour of just telling the player how
to interpret what they are seeing.
-
There are several strange design choices such a locking the new
ending behind a second playthrough and the correct choices for each
character’s good ending often being unclear.
Corpse Party: Book Of Shadows Review – Is Salvation Just A Choice Away?
Genre – Horror, Adventure Game Play Time – 20 hours Developer - MAGES. & Team Gris Gris Steam VNDB
Can Fate Be Changed?
Making
a squeal to a horror game is never an easy task since if it deviates too
far from what made the original terrifying then the audience may feel
disconnected from it. Book of Shadows’ answer to this problem is to
firmly bury itself within Blood Covered’s setting and
time-frame in order to tell a set of different stories using the same
material. Trading out the sprite based visuals for one much closer to
the style of the CGs and a movement system much more akin to a
dungeon crawler are both changes made to help it stand out from the
original while still being able to incorporate its core identity. A
certain glee can be felt from the game when it presents the player with hope and new
possibilities only to crush them in inventive ways. The most notable
departure from the first game is in its focus on the previously minor
cast members who often died off screen and giving them the proper
time to shine rather than being glorified set dressing. Relying so
much on Blood Covered comes with the draw backs of not really pushing
the greater narrative forwards until the very end and having few
interesting mechanics to call its own. Is this over reliance on the
original enough to undermine its own achievements? Let’s avoid
those bad endings and find out.
Cyclical Horror – Narrative and Themes
Sticking
so close to the original’s material allows Book of Shadows to play
on the familiar and known aspects of the world in ways which add to
the player’s appreciation of it. In particular it loves to take a
section of the story that the player thinks they know and expand upon
it to reveal there was more going on then they realised at the time. The chaotic myriad of other people who were drawn
in by the Sachiko Ever After ritual, only glimpsed before, are given
the space to showcase their tragedies and how their stories
intersected with the main cast’s own journey. It does a good job of
highlighting the magnitude of the suffering which occurred and how
lucky the people who escaped were in the face of this ever-changing
labyrinth of death traps. As a whole the game loves to play with the
player through giving them hope before cruelly snatching it away just
when it seems to be within their grasp. This happens multiple times across
the title while being spaced out enough to convince you that
maybe this time will be different. Of course it never is, the end of
this tale has already been written and witnessed in the original so
it is folly to think otherwise, but Book of Shadows does a masterful
job of luring the player along with the promise of a happy ending
despite everything pointing in the opposite direction. By fully
embracing the bleak nature of the setting it can layer on the
atmosphere and create an experience which captures best parts of
early to mid game of Blood Covered. Everything is dangerous and the
characters are confused and scared in the face of this monstrous
place, it is here the horror in Corpse Party games is at its
strongest and Book of Shadows fully capitalises on this at every
turn. This is why the false hope and focus on previously minor cast
members are so important, the player must have the ability to put
themselves in the characters head space rather than having to distance their
feelings from people they know the fates of.
 |
| Pulling out hair from your throat might be a bad sign |
Relying
so heavily on Blood Covered comes with the problem of Book of Shadows
feeling as if it does not meaningfully advance the narrative. It
spends the majority of its play time expanding on what has already
been established but not in a way which points to anything
substantial for the future of the series as it just clarifies events
which have already reached their conclusion. The final section of the
game does try to set up for a squeal with a new story taking place after the
events of the original, but its execution is a bit messy. This
manifests as a general lack of confidence in its own material and the
game’s systems not having the same impact they did in the school.
Perhaps the best example of this narrative issue is the over the top
cliffhanger which is so contrived and overly violent that it moves
into being almost comedic. There have been plenty of violent scenes
before this point but the bright lights and visual clarity highlight
how silly it is. There is a reason the school is so dark and it is to
blur the unflattering lines of the horror fantasy since the genre
sits closer to comedy when all is clear to see. Horror is only scary when there is some level of the unknown to it. As for the mechanics, this
chapter is set in what is essentially a haunted house, but it is not
very big and only consists of a few rooms. What this does is remove
much of the freedom and exploration offered before and it makes for a
very linear flow. As a result it brings all of the minor issues with
the system to the front since there is nothing to distract from it.
Overall it is a weak note to end what is otherwise a strong horror
experience.
Getting A Turn In The Spotlight – Characters
When
it comes to the cast there is the continued focus on expanding on
established ideas. There are not truly any new characters with those
who seem to be new at first glance having actually appeared as
corpses in the original. Their fates have already been written and a
player who remembers these details will be rewarded with a sense of
the tragedy to come. Each one is given enough space to provide a
rounded presentation of themselves so the player has a good sense of what
makes them tick. In terms of their role
within the narrative, there is a great deal of variation as some get
to be major characters in their chapter while others serve
the role of sacrificial lambs to the slaughter and it is often hard
to tell which they are when first introduced. By spreading
out the importance of these characters the game can keep the player
on the edge of their seat as to how long they have left which it can
play with to create a sort of suspension bridge effect to foster an
emotional attachment to the characters. As for the returning cast
they are still the same entertaining and clashing personalities as
before and since they are already established the focus can
instead be put on new interactions and exciting situations. There is
a brand of what if fiction to the characters’ choices and these new
stories are given a feeling of wandering
off into unknown territory. While they cannot go too far off the
beaten track, each character gets enough new material to satisfy fans
and make them a relevant part of the narrative despite their stories
having already reached their conclusion.
 |
| It is nice to see more of the cast before the terrible events happen |
Intimate Terror – Visual, Audio and Technical
When
it comes to presentation there is a move away from the pixel art of
the original title and into a style more in line with that game’s
CGs. This is done to accommodate the change in gameplay from an RPG
into a point and click adventure game. As such the player needs a
static and clearly presented world to interact with in order to be
able to reasonably understand what they are able to use within the space and
what reactions they might be able to expect. The result is a direct
visual style where the first person perspective makes the horrors
personal and intimate as it is offered up in a vivid detail not
possible before. A corpse on the floor is no longer a jumble of
pixels symbolising its horrific nature and it is instead the rotting
remains of what was once a person which represents the fate awaiting
those trapped here. In terms of audio Book of Shadows
inherits the tool set of its predecessor but utilises it
in a slightly different manner. Rather than being something to
highlight key moments and actions, it instead focuses on creating
a general ambiance where everything makes some kind of
unsettling sound in order to sell the hostility of the environment.
Promoting the school itself has a living and antagonistic entity
underpins a lot of the presentational choices since it still holds an
unknown threat to it which the ghosts no longer possess and it allows
the game to capture the same fear as the original.
 |
| The sprites on the movement screen is a fun nod to the first game |
On
the mechanical front this is a fairly standard point and click
adventure game with a normal inventory system and movement.
However, there are several strange design choices which are worth
talking about in the form of the sanity system and how the player unlocks
the final chapter. Introduced in the first chapter, the sanity system
represents how much the school’s influence has infected the
playable character. This is a system at its best during that opening
chapter where as the character’s sanity drops their behaviour begins to change and their interactions become more wild, violent and
unpredictable. Unfortunately this is the only real time the sanity
system has any real effect on the game and from then onwards it is
just a health system which gives you are a game over if it maxes out
and nothing else. It is such an odd choice to build up the importance
of the sanity system in the first chapter only to throw it out of the
window instantly and it leaves a disappointing aftertaste when the
player realises this fact. When it comes to unlocking the final
chapter the developers decided that the player must either have save
data from Blood Covered or they have to complete every single bad
ending in the game. As good as the various bad endings in Book of
Shadows are, they are not something the player should be forced to
complete like a checklist and it takes all the mystique and terror
out of them. There are also quite a lot of them so the process is
long and repetitive since if the player has just been completing the
chapters normally then they will likely only have a handful. A horror
game should never devolve into data entry as there is nothing less
scary than busy work.
Conclusion
Expansion
is at the core of Book of Shadows’ identity as it adds more layers
to Blood Covered’s narrative and setting from a new and exciting
angle. It loves to give the player hope and snatch it away as cruelly
as possible while it showcases the various minor characters who have
been snared into the deathtrap. Moving away from a sprite based RPG
into a CG based point and click adventure style allows for a more
direct and personal presentation of the horror where the school
itself feels more antagonistic than before. By mixing in familiar faces,
the narrative can reveal new sides to them while still making them
consistent with what was established in the original in order to create a more well rounded experience. Despite some issues with it not pushing
the overall story forwards and some odd gameplay design choices, Book
of Shadows stands out as an example of how a horror sequel can be
recapture the magic of the original title.
Verdict –
Builds upon what made the first game a strong horror experience
to create a well rounded and expanded version of that terror with new
angles on familiar characters and ideas. It does slip up a bit when
it comes to progressing the overall plot and has a few odd design
choices.
Pros -
+
Gives the player just enough hope for the moments of despair to hit
all the harder and mixes it in with a good dose of the familiar to
undermine expectations.
+
New life is provided to existing major characters and new and minor
cast members get their time to shine while selling the horror of what
is happening to them.
+
Perfectly transitions from sprites to CGs and manages to capture new
angles on the established horror of the school.
Cons -
-
Does not really move the overarching narrative forwards and even when
it tries to it is quite messy.
-
Several odd design choices in the form of a vestigial sanity system
and being forced to complete all the bad endings.
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