Homicipher begins out with a quite simple premise: I’m alone in a brand new place, I’ve misplaced my bag, and I’m in a rusted-out previous hallway with flickering lights and a hunched, menacing determine referred to as Mr. Crawling. I dash away, solely to be confronted by Mr. Hood, a Grim Reaper-style specter. Fortunately, Mr. Hood is far nicer than his colleague, and we participate in a bit of impromptu language lesson. He teaches me just a few fundamental phrases like “me” and “you” earlier than I stumble onto the subsequent hallway.
Gameplay smart, Homicipher is tremendous easy. I click on down the paths I need to discover, hoping I don’t get murdered. I’m no Leon S. Kennedy or perhaps a James Sunderland; if I strategy a nasty monster at nighttime, I’m in all probability going to get murdered and despatched again to the final checkpoint. I additionally must make a strong try to speak the place I can. It’s solely by means of dialogue, context clues, and belief that I can start to know the blunt, coarse language of this new world.
Each time I’m uncovered to a brand new phrase, I can open up my log and mark down a guess as to what it means. That log is saved, and the subsequent time a phrase comes up in dialogue, my English observe will likely be marked above it. At one level, I approached a red-lit door, and Mr. Crawling hissed a brief phrase. Because of my onerous linguistic research, I knew precisely what he was saying: “shouldn’t open door.” Thanks for the tip, buddy — that’s one brutal homicide I obtained to keep away from!
You could discover that Mr. Crawling began out as an antagonist, however he developed into being a protecting determine of kinds. Homicipher performs with the visible novel tropes of monstrous, enticing males, however the language barrier makes issues extra advanced and intriguing. A few of these unusual figures are affected person, taking the time to show the protagonist just a few key vocabulary phrases. Others are impatient; if I smile on the improper level within the dialog, or refuse to take some recommendation, it may be a demise sentence.
That is in the end a low-stress horror sport, which I admire — it’s scary, however in a chill form of method. Each soar scare or demise sequence resets again to an earlier stage of exploration, and I can frequently cease to test my dialog log and see if I can puzzle out another vocabulary phrases. It’s a really fascinating trick that I haven’t seen a horror sport try earlier than, and it provides an entire new dimension to exploration that I actually loved. All of the horny monster boys are only a sinister bonus.
Homicipher launched on Steam on Nov. 1, and is offered for $15.99.