In 2014 a demo called PT (Playable Teaser) was released on PS4, and for me, it was one of the most terrifying things I had ever played. It wasn’t even the whole game, it was a demo. Once you complete the demo, which isn’t an easy task what so ever, you get a nice cut-scene revealing to you that PT is the demo for Silent Hills. Which hyped the hell out of me, I love Silent Hill, but unfortunately Silent Hills was canceled and my hope for a scary ass game ended. Until about a year ago, game-play was released for a Silent Hills looking game called Visage, which I have been patiently waiting for. Well, on October 2nd it was added to Steam in Early Access. If you’re unfamiliar with Early Access it’s when a game is added that isn’t complete so consumers can find bugs and technical issues before the full game is released.
So I downloaded the game, turned the lights off, and cranked my headset volume up. Visage starts with a brutal cut-scene from the perspective of a man slowly loading a revolver, and when I say slow I mean very uncomfortably slow. We also see a girl tied to a chair screaming in the background. Once the man is finished loading the revolver, he proceeds to stand up and the light shifts to reveal there are three people tied to chairs, not just one. He then proceeds to slowly shoot each one in the head while they scream for mercy, then turns the revolver to himself pulling the trigger.
The title card then drops saying Visage and you wake up in a small room with a single door much like PT. After exiting the room you find yourself in a massive house that works very much like a maze. You can easily get lost in the house which can be very disorienting at times. So far the game is paranormal and at the moment it’s hard to tell what they will add later. The mechanics of the game have a lot to do with light if you stay in the dark for too long your sanity depletes and you will begin to see things. If you lose your sanity completely shit gets crazy and you can die.
Now staying out of the dark isn’t as easy as flipping a switch, some light bulbs are busted which you can replace, but I wouldn’t bother with them. You need to be on the lookout for candles and lighters, they are crucial to your survival. However you can’t just light a candle and walk around with it they are stationery items. If you light a candle and try to walk around with it, it will extinguish and they can also just randomly go out. So you need to light them and spread them throughout the house. You may be thinking, “why can’t I just run around with a lit lighter?” Well, one they have lighter fluid and the fluid can run out, and second standing still in the dark with a lighter to long is even worse for your sanity.
So you need to be scarce with your use of resources and movement. Visage also isn’t a paved out game telling you what you need to do or where to go. You have to do some investigating and be a very curious person to find your way through this game. Now like I said this game isn’t completely finished, it does have some small glitches here and there. The controls can be wonky at times but I’ve seen way worse in Early Access. Visage did, however, crash on me a couple times but it worked it’s way out and I was able to finish the game, what’s available at the moment anyway.
The scares in Visage are great, some jump scares all the way to being chased through the hallways which the map and mechanics make even more terrifying. I’m a sucker for visuals in games and the developers of Visage do a great job with them, atmosphere, and pace. I can’t wait for this game to be finished so I can explore this house and its story more. The developers did a pretty smart thing where there are multiple chapters within the house. In the early access you get a complete chapter and the other chapters are behind locked doors in the house. Which there are a lot of locked doors so I’m excited. On a side note, I really hope they add VR support, this game would be even more insane. You can pick this game up right now on Steam for $24.99 it has very positive reviews.
Steam has a rating of 9/10
Personally, I agree with the Steam ranked of 9/10
it may be a solid 10 ounce its fulling finished
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