16 people found this review helpful
Recommended
0.0 hrs last two weeks / 1.9 hrs on record
Posted: 5 Dec, 2021 @ 7:59am
Updated: 9 Dec, 2021 @ 4:20pm
Product received for free

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"Well HALO to You Too…!!"
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2674207150

Here's The Thing:
You’re a moron who decides to fly solo on a ghost-seeking voyage despite the dissuasion of a concerned colleague. On the way to Angels Cove, the stormy weather and raging waves flip his biscuit of a boat… He finds himself washed ashore, equipment thrown overboard and that he’s reached his destination. Will it be his final one~


[+] PROS;

:) ESTABLISHING CONTACT~
There is no awe or miracle-inducing factor to the gameplay, it is a routine walking sim and so be it! With either shimmers, twinkles floating around objects or themselves brightly colored to indicate they can be interacted with. So, it was always meant to be a guided experience at least in the more open areas.

Once you get into the house, that’s where all bets are off and the spooks grow more regular. Normally, I hate these dry attempts at working up a sweat or jolting the heart. But I decided to be a good sport, took a break and paused every so often.

There’s just one canon ending, but there are some extra achievements around the island such as some collectibles that allude more than just for the sake of keeping you busy. As such, the whole operation should last 2 hours at most lest you shi* yourself easily~

TIPS:
1) None, as it is straightforward!


:) SPRINKLING A LITTLE ANGEL DUST~
The first thing you’ll see upon assuming control is just a too good to be real atmosphere. Picture those scenes where a character is thankful to be alive- on his knees in the sand and singing praises to the heavens above… Despite the storm clouds still gathering around, there’s a divine presence shining down and starry skies right where you’re situated.

The amazement over the deep blue and glossy water takes ages to subside, it’s wonderful! And once you get further inward to the island, the place gives off a very tangible history that a family used to reside there. There is no wildlife or hint of anything living whatsoever besides a rich ambiance of oceanside sounds~


:) RED OR BLUE PILL?
Sure, the basic premise of being on the lookout for paranormal investigative journalism front wasn’t all too promising despite satisfying one of the items on my fanatic bucket list. But as more things disentangled, the more it really did it for me. The island backdrop and being lost- cut off from the rest of the world cited influences from Caveat (2020) and weirdly enough, Swiss Army Man (2016). You know, where it’s just a blur with exchanges that don’t quite make sense and you’re fighting to glean meaning from it all!

Then things got more fascinating, bringing with it a restlessness and disturbing notion that things aren’t what they seem. A perceived disconnect, deception in chasing ghosts, so to speak such as in A Tale of Two Sisters (2003) or The Sixth Sense (1999) where the audience get a big “up yours”.

I could’ve sworn that I’ve seen it done in a game before but nothing came to mind except for The Revenge of Sophia Red with the shared subject of projection~ And perhaps also Mists of Aiden where there is always an inherent truth to be found amongst fabrications and often in the unlikeliest of places~


:) UP IN THE CLOUDS…
So, it goes beyond simply the mind-effing twist ending, which was actually foreshadowed extensively in the surreal design behind the island. It’s in the otherworldly and imaginative feeling that the dev was going for, the choice in including said forms of collectibles and the cryptic words spoken throughout. Much like a movie- or movies I mentioned earlier, the need to decipher as well as overanalyze every occurrence, jumpscare will materialize and it’s genuinely liberating.

Even by the end, the outcome is left pretty much open-ended especially with all the facts presented up to that reveal… Presuming that they were indeed what actually happened in the first place! The many sudden scares were ok, tolerable on the surface. But it’s what they symbolized that make them downright terrorizing! It’s like hearing a heavily distorted radio, but only being able to gradually tune the frequency by yourself.

Now the story revolves around trauma and obsession; what it does to a person’s imagination… How replaying certain events or how they construed them to have gone down ultimately doesn’t help anyone. Taking the radio analogy further- tuning into a channel you believe exists but the station doesn’t stay put and differs according to one’s feelings at a given time. In conclusion, it’s all very profound and there’s more nuance and subtlety to this “haunted house” than it’s given credit for~
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2674205635

[-] CONS;

:( JUST WALK IT OFF…
Try as I might to defend the blatant scares- I can’t… Some of their timings were off and had more funhouse feeling that it is hard to maintain a straight face or even react as one would when delivered a jumpscare! At the house, it went from one boo-ah moment into another and it just became something that you had to push through~


:( WHAT ANGEL ARE YOU PLAYING AT!?
I know it’s right there in the genre, but the strolling pace is inexcusable! I say the same for every other walking simulator and call them flat out for just wanting to pad the length. However, I want to add that due to this walking-boundedness; there is no direness to the scares. At least with the ability to run- it lends to the possibility of more creative orchestration of terror like it’s got you right where it wants you.

Also, the ignorant personality of the protagonist and tendency to poke fun for the cheapness of the jumpscares was amusing (and thematically fitting). His diminishing, downplaying of each one got old and drew more attention than advised~


BUGS:
x Good news; no ghostly bugs to haunt me!


NITPICKS:
~ That one “ghost box” mechanic included was pretty much obsolete.
~ Might as well have been just a cutscene instead of it ruining the mood for the rest of the game whenever I spammed the key…
~ Or at least disable the dialogue so nothing happens if I were to press it.
~ A few misspellings in the notes.
~ Not being able to swim but rather sink and walk on the bottom of the ocean was something I haven’t seen in a while.
~ Flashlight too weak and the radius is purposefully narrow.


"-An Angel Sent From…"
https://gtm.you1.cn/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2674211804

Last Words?
Cliched spook house walking-simulator… or is it? If you can get past that, you’re in for an ingenuity and cunning that rival its psychological horror film counterparts. Really is an angel until it isn’t~

If you generally like haunted houses and don’t mind their predictably cheapo scares then you’ll settle right in! If you love- to tolerate shows of the ghost hunter, paranormal investigator variety and secretly wish you were on said ensembles, be my guest~

9 / 10

Manifesting an appreciative shout out and jumpscare to CG Cowboy Studios for the key!

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7 Comments
AviaRa 23 Dec, 2021 @ 7:07am 
:oink:
DeadeGuard98 23 Dec, 2021 @ 7:05am 
@AviaRa Just walk it off, I beg of you~ :d2greed:
AviaRa 23 Dec, 2021 @ 7:04am 
You dare to use my logic against me? :kid:
DeadeGuard98 23 Dec, 2021 @ 7:02am 
@AviaRa Preach! But I guess that would make a lot of games redundant as well XD

Thanks for your insights~
AviaRa 23 Dec, 2021 @ 6:50am 
> "Well HALO to You Too…!!"
This is the Halo I know.

Geym not for me, though; not a fan of these walking thingies... I walk a lot IRL, so doing that in geymz is just nope.
DeadeGuard98 9 Dec, 2021 @ 4:20pm 
@FruitNDoggie I'll have what you're having~
FruitNDoggie 9 Dec, 2021 @ 3:44pm 
Sounds cheesy.