Be it films, TV reveals, books or video games, the horror style usually tends to work finest when it focuses on one or two central themes to construct tales round. Among the finest works within the style are likely to double down on this, full with recurring motifs that are likely to circle again to the story’s central themes. Even video games like Silent Hill 2 explored the idea of guilt, whereas a franchise as campy as Resident Evil nonetheless managed to incorporate attention-grabbing themes like that of household within the newer video games. Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror’s major theme revolves round inheriting the results of the sins of your ancestors.
Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror places you within the footwear of celebrated singer Eliza de Moor. The story largely revolves round Eliza exploring her previous in an effort to search out herself once more. The setup is kind of easy; one night, throughout a efficiency, Eliza abruptly collapses. On waking up, she finds that she has no reminiscence of who she is or what occurred, and has been taken into the care of Dr. Stern – a person claiming to be fairly shut with the de Moor household. Within the early minutes of the sport, Eliza and Dr. Stern come to an settlement about attempting out an experimental remedy that guarantees to be additional spooky.
“The horror is ramped up in a short time when you really attain Ravenhill”
Most of Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror takes place within the quaint city of Ravenhill, which was as soon as effectively regarded for its dollmaking trade. The horror is ramped up in a short time when you really attain Ravenhill and attempt to get to the de Moor household mansion, which is referred to by the folks of the city because the Dollhouse. Curiously, there aren’t any characters that you simply work together with all through your time exploring Ravenhill. The story is sort of completely advised both by means of vivid hallucinations, or by means of notes you discover strewn about within the city and the Dollhouse. Even Dr. Stern, who is meant to be accompanying you on this journey down reminiscence lane, decides to take care of his distance from you with a view to make it possible for the “remedy” works.
On this means, Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror does a reasonably first rate job at organising its environment. Because you’re all the time alone, the sense of isolation is extremely thick. Curiously, regardless of the dearth of individuals in Ravenhill, the sport does job in making you imagine that there could be hope across the nook. Good utilization of lighting by means of hanging lanterns and candles all the time provides you the impression that, “perhaps this home is protected and has somebody I can speak to.”
Via Ravenhill, the sport is ready to inform an attention-grabbing story of the downfall of a small city. Largely advised by means of environmental storytelling, like how sure homes could be in disarray whereas others are surprisingly clear, you get a reasonably first rate concept of what went down when the dolls inevitably rose as much as battle towards their masters. And finally, you begin having to take down these dolls as effectively.
A lot of the gameplay in Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror feels paying homage to Resident Evil 7. You’re largely going to be exploring by means of dense environments, meticulously on the lookout for clues and gadgets that may assist you determine a means ahead. Alongside the way in which, you’ll discover cryptic puzzles that it’s important to remedy, like discovering the suitable statues to shoot within the appropriate order. And from time to time, you’ll have to make use of the extra deadly qualities of your weapon to tackle deranged dolls which are attempting to kill you.
The puzzle design right here isn’t significantly noteworthy. You’re not going to get head-scratching riddles that go away you working round on the lookout for solutions for hours on finish. A lot of the puzzles had been pretty easy, and even managed to be fairly self-contained to particular areas. If, for instance, you occur to discover a lock that requires a mix of numbers, you received’t must go too far to discover a letter that provides you the reply. The statue taking pictures instance I used earlier was additionally confined to the identical small space.
“Via Ravenhill, the sport is ready to inform an attention-grabbing story of the downfall of a small city”
Other than having to battle towards senseless enemies with restricted assets, you additionally get similarly-cryptic but simplistic puzzles, and even a minor crafting system that permits you to get extra ammo. And contemplating the enemy AI, even combating towards dolls evokes a sense much like enjoying the Resident Evil HD Remake with fashionable controls that allow you to merely run round enemies with out having to instantly cope with them. Even the well being and stock system UIs really feel like they could be from early drafts of a Resident Evil recreation.
The fight encounters in Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror don’t come about too usually, however nearly each single time you do must battle one thing, the sport feels a lot worse for it. The fight feels extremely clunky due to monotonous enemies and an excruciatingly-slow motion pace, and the quantity of ammo you get from early on tends to erase fairly a little bit of the strain that you simply would possibly in any other case anticipate from a combat-centric horror title. Nearly each little bit of environment the sport slowly builds up due to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the second it’s important to have interaction in fight, and the sport would have total been a lot stronger had it merely skipped having a fight system to start with or you realize, made it higher.
One of many massive twists in Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror revolves round using mirrors. Once in a while, one can find mirrors that allow you to enter a distinct model of the world you’re in. Generally, this model would possibly simply be a glimpse into the previous. Different occasions, it would find yourself being a way more surreal expertise. These mirrors are used as a technique to transfer ahead, usually marking a big level within the recreation’s story. Sadly, there isn’t far more to those mirrors than only a sequence that often occurs. There aren’t any non-compulsory mirrors that you will discover that may increase additional on the plot, and they tend to remain on the linear path ahead by means of the story.
“Nearly each little bit of environment the sport slowly builds up due to its creepy environments and story tends to get obliterated the second it’s important to have interaction in fight”
One other space the place the sport loses fairly a little bit of its steam is in its visuals. Whereas I’m a agency believer that strong artwork path is far more vital to a recreation trying good than uncooked visible constancy, Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror undoubtedly loses a number of what it was going for from the very starting. On the threat of veering into the realm of hyperbole, Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror would possibly simply be one of the vital uninteresting and drab trying titles on the market. Even at its highest settings, nearly each floor appears like a muddy mess due to low-resolution textures, and the few characters you do meet early within the recreation are likely to appear like they could be ripped proper out of an early PS3 recreation.
The one purpose any of the thick environment of the sport is ready to land is essentially due to the intelligent use of lighting and the inherent creepiness of human-shaped dolls. The lighting is particularly doing a number of the heavy lifting right here, and performs an enormous half in instilling any sense of worry that may come up from the very concept of turning round a nook.
Dollhouse: Behind the Damaged Mirror is a little bit of a disappointment. There are some attention-grabbing concepts in its story and the creepy dolls that you simply usually must cope with find yourself largely being window-dressing. Whereas there are some frights available, largely due to the superb lighting all through, the final monotony introduced on by the sport’s clunky fight system, poorly-designed enemies, and excruciatingly-slow motion pace are likely to make the very concept of enjoying the sport a moderately boring expertise.
This recreation was reviewed on PC.
