Song of Horror
July 25, 2024
Natura tenebrosa
A game with which I have mixed feelings, although the balance falls on the positive side.
On one hand, the setting and story fascinated me, and that’s why I decided to finish it.
On the other hand, the character’s movement, repetitive mechanics, and overly intricate puzzles made me almost abandon it several times.
What I liked the most
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The story is very good and perfectly captures the atmosphere of classic H.P. Lovecraft stories. The thirst for knowledge and the progressive madness as we get closer to the truth.
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There were some moments in the game that surprised me and gave me goosebumps.
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The messages on the walls are translated into the language we are playing in.
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I liked the slow pace of the game, which is reminiscent of the original “Alone in the Dark”.
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The atmosphere is very well crafted:
- The ambient music is very immersive and varies depending on the level of danger at the moment. In episode 5, specifically, I really enjoyed the music in the purest “Silent Hill” style.
- The scenarios are very detailed, and it is noticeable that they don’t recycle many assets.
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The randomness of many events is quite well balanced, which adds to replayability.
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The appearances of ghosts or things that subtly appear in the background of some scenarios.
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The Cthulhu keychain ❤️.
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When we finish an episode, we can continue in the next one with the same character, which gives the game a very interesting continuity. Just like the standard mode of the game, which implies that if the character we choose dies throughout our journey, we won’t be able to choose them again. This adds an extra challenge and effort as we get attached to them.
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It is amazing that each character has their own lines for any interaction with the environment.
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When an item is used and is no longer useful, the game notifies us and removes it from the inventory.
What didn’t win me over
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The instructions for some of the QTE (“quick time events”) mechanics are a bit confusing, and sometimes it can hurt to lose a character this way for not correctly understanding the mechanic.
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It is not clear when or for what to use each character’s special items (candle, flask, inhaler, etc.)
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Some of the items we store in our inventory need to be inspected multiple times (usually twice) to discover something they are hiding:
- This can be a bit frustrating, as happened to me with the magnet in the second episode. I assumed that the magnet and the hanger could be combined; however, I couldn’t do it until I inspected the magnet twice.
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In episode 3, when searching the library, we lose control of the character performing a strange animation that seems to be bugged for several seconds and cannot be canceled.
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The fact that the game’s action depends entirely on QTEs and they repeat over and over again is something that detracts, in my opinion.
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The possibility of putting your ear to the door and listening for danger on the other side seems like a bold bet but also unnecessary, as there are not many doors where there is danger and we end up slowing down and making the gameplay a bit tedious.
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The characters’ movements feel a bit heavy.
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There is a slight delay between pressing the run button and when the character begins the action.
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Although the game is inspired by horror classics, which were guilty of making us go back and forth to solve puzzles, this type of design could have been avoided. If the character’s movement were more enjoyable, it wouldn’t matter as much in my opinion.
- E.g.: Puzzles that make us visit different rooms activating switches in a certain order, like activating the pipes in episode 4.
- E.g.: Take the wheel mechanism, go to the place where to grease it, return to the place where to use it, use it, and later go back to pick it up because we need it for something else.
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The use of keys. If the door needs a key, we first have to see that the door is locked and then press the button again to use the corresponding key. I think that, like in other games, it would be better if you have the key in the inventory, it opens directly (communicating it to the player, for example: “You have opened the door using the Copper key”).
