I simply adore horror games, any game that can give me the goose flesh and make me turn on the lights in my house makes a fan out of me. Some of the titles that have really given me the heebie jeebies are P.T., Layers of Fear and Blair Witch. Bloober Team is really good at freaking me out, but now it looks like Caustic Reality is another developer I need to keep my eye on and watch for improvements.
The Story
The game starts off with a quote from the Necronomicon, which made me slightly excited. I’m a huge fan of H.P. Lovecraft and can’t get enough of the games that are made in his honor using his world. You start off, just driving home, having to find your wife’s airplane ticket since she forgot it. Normal day right? Well when you enter your house things begin to very wrong.
Most of this story you learn through environmental cues and flashbacks. You play as Gary Prout, a man who suddenly becomes trapped in a nightmare. Starting the story in 1999 you get whipped through time as you try to cast a spell to get rid of the demons that are haunting you and keeping you in your house.
Gameplay
I don’t like to be rude in reviews, and I’m genuinely not trying to but this title plays as if someone developed P.T. from memory. You basically walk around the house looking for “memories” that are flashing in the environment. These “memories” clue you into Gary’s past and why he is trapped in this horrible predicament.
Once you find out what you need to do to get out of this loop the game is broken into little parts when you must find certain objects in the house or where the house takes you. Unfortunately you only have about four minutes before a woman scorned finds you and kills you. The game does prompt her appearance very slightly, if the game gets all fuzzy try to find a place to hide. You will be prompted to press Y to hide if you find a spot. Or if you keep all the light switches off you can press one when she gets near, then she’ll disappear for a bit. Your best bet is to search as much as you can, die, then keep searching. There seems to be no consequence for dying.
You are gifted a camera a few levels into the game, and it becomes useful if you get lost or don’t know what to do. The game will prompt you by leaving polaroid film near you. When you see it start snapping pictures and a clue may be revealed to you. If you’re fast enough with the camera you can also stun the lady who is stalking you, but then your camera is disabled for a short time.
Graphics
It is difficult to think that this game is pretty. I was a huge fan of P.T. and still have it downloaded onto my PS4. I think it is unfair to compare Infliction: Extended Cut to P.T. but it is very difficult not to. I played this title both in docked and hand-held mode and it just wasn’t very good looking. The house was bland, but spooky and the interaction with the lady ghosts looked like early PS3 graphics.
The developers got the atmosphere down very well, I hated traversing the house as I got father and farther into the game. Using only a flashlight it is very difficult to see anything in the game, I’m guessing that may have been the point. However, it was sometimes near impossible for me to see the shiny in the level. What I enjoyed while wandering the same halls were the paintings all over the house that depicted what the antagonist was feeling. These paintings are graphic, unsettling and will make your hair stand on end if you zoom in on them. I would not want one of these hanging above my bed in my house.
Since all you really do it walk and look around in this game, I would think the developer would have included a speed walk button into the game. They did not, so if you die you have to slowly meander through the level that you’ve already searched until you get to a new spot. This gets very monotonous.
Overall
Being a huge horror genre fan in general, I love it when scary games are released. Good, bad, I love me my horror; as long are they aren’t an unplayable broken mess I will see myself to the credits rolling. Unfortunately Infliction: Extended Cut isn’t the best of horror games, it will entertain you for about three hours and then you’ll be onto your next horror experience. If you’re looking for a quality first-person psychological horror game look up Bloober Team’s games. They have mastered that genre; Caustic Reality will soon be following in their footsteps should they learn from their mistakes and improve upon them. I look forward to what they will bring us next.
The Review
Infliction: Extended Cut
A P.T. clone hit the Nintendo Switch, does it scare you as badly or is it a Scary Movie situation?
PROS
- Creepy atmosphere
- Has some good scares
- The painting you see in the game are very unsettling and help keep you filled with fear
CONS
- Difficult to see what you need at points
- Graphics look early PS3 at best.
- Really short.
- Not a lot of replayability
