You know, I love horror, but I especially love Indie Horror. Even if the new Dead Space or Resident Evil came out every month, I would still leave a place for indie in my game menu. Triple-hey horror, by definition, cannot be truly terrible and frankly speak on not simple topics. In large studios behind the developer\u2019s shoulder there will always be a marketer who simply will not allow him to create a truly terrible and serious game. Such games are poorly sold. The plot will certainly be diluted with trash, and the gameplay will be action to create a comfortable emotional distance from what is happening on the screen for the player. Yes, there are very rare exceptions to this rule, but they are precisely what are exceptions confirming the general rule. The audience of lovers of pure horror are very few, and large studios need all the money of the world, especially today. Therefore, the more action and less serious resident Evil has always been sold and will be sold better than Sillent Hill, it covers a wider audience by definition, climbing into the territory of the shooters. And this in itself is not bad, it only means that if you are looking for a serious conversation on not simple topics or a truly terrible uncompromising horror, do not look for him in the Triple-ey segment.<\/p>\n
In the indie studios, there is no fact that a marketer, sometimes one person does the whole game and this is his personal project. He has no external, and often internal limiters. There is nobody who could grab him by the sleeve and say: "This is already too much, let’s lighter". In 9 out of 10 cases, the game is a game settling at the bottom of Steam, but sometimes it turns out something that makes you out to the very bone. In addition, having played dozens, if not hundreds of indie there, I noticed that there is a whole class of developers who make one good game and that\u2019s all-they just disappear. Their social. Networks and sites are silent forever after the release of one single project. As if a person closes Gestalt and goes further to live his life – Gamdev for him was only the opportunity to express what he had for a kind of therapy form. And today I would like to tell you about one such game and its developer Adam: Adam – Lost Memories.<\/p>\n
Let’s start with the most difficult – with the plot. We can say that in the game there is at the same time and there is no plot in general as such and the fact that there are two plots in it. It sounds strange, let’s explain. Starting from the opening video, the author said in direct text that he created this game in order to show people what the child live in a family that falls apart into parts. And this is his story ..<\/p>\n
Throughout the game, we will see Adam’s memoirs about his family, about his house, a ghost house in the middle of the forest. At first, we will wander in the vicinity of this house in the most inconspicuous weather, which you can imagine. We\u2019ll climb into a hole in which Adam loved to spend time hiding from the surrounding unobtrusive world. Then we will get inside the house and we will be wandering along it. We will see the memories of the episodes of his life, his problems. But these memories are only a small part of the game.<\/p>\n
Most of the action takes place in a certain underground laboratory. And the second plot is dedicated to this laboratory. It is served exclusively by means of logs on computer consoles scattered throughout the game. These logs talk about some anomalies that arose during excavations, about problems with technology, and strange visions of staff. Yes, it is difficult to imagine a more default plot in the game about the underground laboratory.<\/p>\n
And you ask me: \u201cAnd how, in fact, these two plots are connected?\u00bbAnd the devil knows him. They never intersect. They, in principle, do not know about the existence of each other. It looks technically: for example, you just go along some corridor, anxious music, hop growing, and you suddenly find yourself in an unacceptable place from Adam\u2019s memoirs, pulling one lever there, or you enter the door, or just reach the script and, hop, darkening and you are again in the same corridor.<\/p>\n
Corridor from the reality of the laboratory <\/p>\n
The same corridor from the reality of memories <\/p>\n
You might think that the game is bad and you should not play it. No, it\u2019s worth it. It\u2019s just that the plot is not the main thing here, this game is built around an emotional reaction to the events, and not around the events themselves. It’s like board games with friends – the point is not to win, but to have a good time in a good company. Stupid metaphor, given that I am talking about Horror, but I hope you have caught. In this game, the main thing is not the plot, but the atmosphere and production, and some more interesting finds of the author in ways to present the plot about which later. Just keep in mind – despite all the criticism that this game deserves, this is one of the worst horror that I played in my life, and I bought them, believe me.<\/p>\n
Locations are the best part of the game. It\u2019s just incredible what an atmosphere can create a correctly built level geometry, properly arranged light and competent sound. It’s hard to believe that all this is done by one person. Yes, the developer used ready-made libraries of 3D objects, textures and sounds, but how is it all located at the levels, how the levels themselves are designed that a person does not just sculpt everything as God put on the soul, but was engaged in a point design. Each corridor, each room causes discomfort and desire to leave it quickly, but each – in its own way.<\/p>\n
Steam from industrial installations, rumbling industrial machines and fans create an unpleasant sense of limited information about space-suddenly there is someone there, but you don\u2019t hear it because of the noise or you can\u2019t see it because of the couple. And sometimes there is. Here are one of the most atmospheric locations that I saw in horror. It can be seen that a person who did them knows a lot about fear, his essence, and understands how to create it. Sterile laboratory corridors or a dirty basement – from all this goosebumps on the skin.<\/p>\n