![]() ![]() That it does this so successfully with just a few stark white lines and some brilliant use of audio is truly impressive for an indie effort. Stifled is one of the most disturbing and intense experiences I’ve had in – or out – of VR. Invested players are rewarded with a particularly cool ending that neatly ties up the experience and cements the game as one of the most intelligent uses of VR yet. Still, none of this gets in the way of Stifled’s disturbing atmosphere and overall engaging story. Interestingly, the entire game can also be played without VR, and while it’s still effectively creepy and affecting as a non-VR game, it’s here that the presentational issues are the most glaring. ![]() Though pared-back visuals are to be expected in most VR experiences, the overall design of these environments can come off as a little too amateur-ish, and the dialogue (both spoken and written) is awkward at best. The only disappointment here is the slightly rougher presentation of the ‘real-world’ elements. While less exciting than the creepy blind bits, the opportunity to breathe a little and soak in the atmosphere without fear of death is much appreciated. Outside of these sequences, the game plays more like a traditional walking simulator, asking you to explore simple environments and puzzle out the overarching storyline through careful observation. These moments are the highlight of Stifled, and make up maybe two-thirds of the handful of hours needed to complete the game. I shriek in horror, which the microphone attached to my headset picks up in turn, lighting up the tunnel like Christmas at the very moment that I die. My mistake does not go unnoticed, as the other presence in the sewer reveals itself, its ominous red sound waves following it as it sprints towards me. As I step forward, my feet land in a small puddle, making a huge amount of noise. Finally, I make it far enough away from danger that I feel confident to make a beeline for the door, and then it happens. I finally pluck up the courage to keep moving, inching slowly towards a doorway that I can see thanks to the dripping sound of a leaking pipe just beside it, and stopping dead in my tracks whenever the red sound waves of the mysterious thing’s footsteps get too close for comfort. My immediate thought is, “yeah nah fuck this”, as I freeze up completely – too afraid to make any more noise and alert… whatever it is. As I get deeper into the tunnels, I notice a second pulse of sound in the distance, this time outlining the environment in red. Using this pseudo-echolocation technique, I venture forth in search of some answers, and hopefully some daylight. Harking back to the brief tutorial in the first scene, I start to make some noise, and I’m met with a burst of stark, white lines that spread and outline the environment immediately around me. Being ‘blind’ in a VR game seems like a counterintuitive concept, but it’s immediately apparent how effective it is at invoking a feeling that I can only describe as ‘deeply tense’. Immediately upon entering the sewer system, things go completely, totally dark. It’s at this moment that the game shows its true colours, and the thrills begin. Fast forward a little and the game cuts to the scene of a car crash, with nowhere to go but the entrance to a creepy-as-hell looking sewer system. With nothing else to go on but that, I begin to explore the house and try to piece together the situation. The game explains that making some noise will help, and so with a tap of the right trigger on the controller I let out a cough and suddenly my field of view spreads out a little further. Looking around the room, my field of vision is heavily obscured, with anything more than a foot or so away seemingly enveloped in a thick fog. As soon as the game begins and my character wakes in his home to the sound of his alarm, it’s clear than something is not quite right. The difference here though, is that things get real weird, real fast. Stifled is best described as a thriller-slash-walking-simulator, the kind of narrative experience told through subtle environmental cues and thorough exploration that’ll ring familiar to fans of games like Gone Home and Dear Esther. After seeing Stifled recently at PAX Australia (you can check out our interview with Justin NG from Gattai Games here ) my immediate thought was, “I need to unpack my PSVR right now”. It’s not that it’s a bad device, it’s fantastic, it’s just that setting it up in the small space that I have is a process that I’m only willing to go through for a game that I absolutely must play. Real talk – my PlayStation VR has been sitting in a box, untouched, for longer than I care to admit. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |