Spooky season is effectively beneath approach following the profitable launch of the Silent Hill 2 remake, however followers of survival horror have extra to look ahead to this month with the discharge of Cozy Sport Friends’ Worry the Highlight. The primary of a number of initiatives that Blumhouse Video games has plans to publish, Worry the Highlight is a suitably creepy, teen-slasher model romp that — whereas not all that scary for essentially the most half — is a robust begin for the writer’s upcoming slate of video games.
You first play as Vivian — your stereotypical ‘nerd’ featured all through 90s media — as her and her romantic curiosity, Amy (who appears as if she simply walked off the set of The Craft), resolve to interrupt into their college after-hours and fiddle with an Ouija Board. In the event you’re studying this, it’s seemingly that you simply’ve consumed sufficient horror media to know precisely the place that is going; Amy goes lacking through the seance after issues flip awry, and Vivian finds herself alone within the college mindlessly looking for her amongst the mess. Although, that is the place issues started to shock me, as Vivian truly finds herself exploring a previous model of the varsity from the early 90s, riddled with corridors and rooms that frankly don’t make sense. It’s right here that issues start to really feel very Silent Hill, as we delve into the varsity’s previous and discover out some solutions concerning the fireplace that engulfed it — and extra notably, its college students — in 1991.
It’s at across the 2-3 hour mark that issues take an surprising flip — fairly actually — as you wrap up Vivian’s story, solely to search out that Amy’s story is then unlocked and accessible from the primary menu. Right here, you play out Amy’s expertise following the seance gone fallacious, and it’s a wholly totally different, darker time in comparison with Vivian’s seek for her crush.
It’s throughout this phase that you simply get to dive into Amy’s psyche, as she finds herself in a run-down model of her house, fleeing a stalking, undead enemy whereas persevering with to cover from the highlight and face her personal trauma. Amidst this, you proceed to resolve tactile puzzles — the lock choosing duties that seem regularly being amongst among the most satisfying — and navigate the myriad corridors and altering environments that Amy has to push by means of to be reunited with Vivian.
Worry the Highlight is one more product of its inspirations — the specific Silent Hill 2 easter egg discovered alongside the Spirit Board goes to point out that a lot, with the gathering of assorted masks items and pedestals feeling very Resident Evil. The remodeling environments, the story of spirits misplaced and in love, accompanied by the story of our two protagonists who’re solely simply exploring their love for an additional.
Worry the Highlight regularly presents the participant with extra questions that you’ll want to discover solutions to — even if you thought you may need already put two and two collectively, it strives to shock gamers, and succeeds in doing so at the perfect of instances. The second portion of the sport is definitely creepier than our expertise with Vivian, and infrequently jogged my memory of Silent Hill’s The Quick Message eerie story of the consequences of bullying and use of cell interface to element extra of Amy’s previous. Although, Worry the Highlight’s story is about extra than simply bullying, however grief, and love misplaced. Although, on a lighter observe, witnessing Vivian and Amy’s relationship with each other blossom is one mild little bit of reduction you can find amongst all of the darkness all through Worry the Highlight.
Whereas its tactile puzzles are satisfying to resolve, and its story — which regularly jogged my memory of Stephen King’s Carrie — is comparatively riveting, it feels as if the sport is confused about what it’s, or what it’s attempting to do at instances. The PSX-style tv grain and polygons hail again to the 90s aesthetic of survival horror video games, however this does not fairly really feel like a type of, and extra of a contemporary indie horror with a tin of PSX-style paint thrown over it.
Whereas a small private qualm, this does not have any impact on how the sport utlimately performs out and the way it’s story unfolds however do not count on to be consistently cowering in concern or overlaying your eyes. Amy’s story stands out because the spookier of the 2, eradicating you from the varsity and whisking you away to a distinct setting with new threats, however when you change into accustomed to those threats, Worry the Highlight doesn’t have a lot of a concern issue to it. A psychological issue that’ll intrigue you although? Undoubtedly.
Whereas Worry the Highlight didn’t impress me as a lot because the likes of Hollowbody or demo for upcoming recreation, Heartworm, who each tried to breed the 90s formulation within the modern-day — albeit with extra success — there’s nonetheless no denying that it is a strong begin for Cozy Sport Friends’ first foray into horror. No matter how you’re feeling about Worry the Highlight’s strategy to the survival horror zeitgeist of the late 90s and early 00s, it’s nonetheless very a lot price any horror fan’s time in the event you fancy throwing your self right into a provocative story concerning the perils of troubled youngsters.
This isn’t a brand new story on the subject of horror video games for younger adults, although there are a few grim twists and turns I didn’t see coming – particularly Amy’s story -, and whereas the story feels as if it’s concerning the relationship between Vivian and Amy at its core, you’ll seemingly end up extra enthralled concerning the story between Chrissy, Heather, and Raoul, and the occasions that unfolded between them in 1991; alongside what the hell these occasions now imply for Amy, Sunnyside’s supposed new star of the present. The excellent news is that in contrast to loads of horror video games of comparable ilk, you truly get some solutions as to what occurred — and is at the moment occurring — this time round.
There’s not a lot to fret about by way of fight in Worry the Highlight; it is a recreation that fairly clearly focuses on its story and its puzzles greater than something. Spotlights and the ghoul that stalks Amy are the one enemies you’ll face, and with no method to struggle again for essentially the most half, you’re compelled to cover from them and plot routes by means of the rooms they occupy. In the event you do get caught by one, you’ll want to make use of Vivian’s inhaler — or Amy’s incense sticks — to convey them again to full well being when she’s achieved escaping hazard. This was one of some small touches — utilizing the air capability of Viv’s lungs or Amy’s stage of calmness to measure their well being fairly than having a well being bar — that stood out to me about Worry the Highlight.
Worry the Highlight shines on the subject of its tactile puzzles. Whereas these aren’t precisely tough, you’re left to depend on notes and the invention of assorted objects to resolve them, and as you do, you get to work together with each button, latch, and wire concerned in every puzzle or mechanism you could fiddle with. The buttons of a merchandising machine, plugging wires right into a tv, actively turning the tombola, and so forth. Whereas actions might be repetitive, there’s one thing deeply satisfying about this, and it actually aids with immersing the participant within the recreation’s world (and these tactile puzzles really feel nice on console too). Worry the Highlight’s puzzles go a good distance in elevating it and guaranteeing that regardless of my qualms, I nonetheless had an satisfying time roaming round Sunnyside Excessive Faculty and inside Amy’s head.
In the event you’re trying to delve right into a supernatural story laden with satisfying, tactile puzzles, then Worry the Highlight is a grand method to spend 4 to 5 hours of your time this autumn. Although, in the event you had been hoping for one thing that will hold you in your toes and have you ever dropping sleep, you could be higher off ready for the opposite titles that writer, Blumhouse Video games, has up its sleeve.
Worry the Highlight was reviewed on Nintendo Swap with a code supplied by the writer. There have been no efficiency points.
Replace: This evaluate was eliminated and republished with extra content material and a change to the rating after the reviewer performed Amy’s story.
