A missing relative, a gloomy mansion, and a deceased family full of secrets. We analyze this survival horror that does not finish curdling
There are several things that do not quite fit in those first bars of Fear the Dark Unknown. It might be the graphic design of their menu screens, with those red square icons and those drop down that seem to belong more to a fighting game than a horror game; or those models that preside over the screen of characters, somewhat dead in life and of a fairly generic design, or perhaps the initial kinematics, which does not finish doing that rugged first impression any good, and that makes one question how appropriate it was Start your title with what is probably your worst face, displaying poor animations, and a dubbing not much more successful.
Definitely, the beginning is not the best face of this title. And this bittersweet feeling does not end at any time, not even in good times. The story of James and Chloe (each experienced in its own way) comes to be traced, but it does so timidly and always reminding us of its limits. It is this story that ultimately makes us want to continue investigating whatever this game proposes. It is not until a few minutes later, when we enter that baroque mansion and see the great hall that opens before us, a burning fireplace, a couple of locked doors and stairs that take us to the second floor when we truly understand what The game wants to propose.
Because Fear the Dark Unknown is a classic survival horror. Of those with fixed camera, map in the pause menu, puzzles that open music boxes, music boxes that lock keys and keys that open doors. The Beresford mansion, an imposing construction of the early nineteenth century, still retains its structure intact as well as that of most of its baroque rooms, but something tells us that the already deceased family is still somehow between those walls … or maybe worse .
We will soon see blood stains on the ground, witness macabre postcards, and face each other with undead who want to eat our guts. It will not take long to begin to unravel a story that of course ends up drifting in much more remote places than the initial disappearance of our relative. We play as James or as Chloe, father or daughter, and although the development of the adventure is essentially the same, the order in which we solve the situations is not, and both present exclusive content that invites us to investigate the two perspectives .
The similarities with other games of the genre are evident. The presentation of the first undead enemy that we find in James's story is a tribute to the first Resident Evil, a little head to look at us included. Throughout the game the game continues to remind us of its references, and we gradually discover that behind its generic title, there is no game that knows how to distance itself from its referents on its own merits.
Fear the Dark Unknown stays safe on the pillars that dictate the formula to which it wants to adhere. There are current details, such as the possibility of crouching or the introduction of scripted moments, with elements that move in the background to get our attention … but generally we know what we are going here. We move through the gloomy halls of this mansion in search of changing objectives, sometimes opening doors, sometimes solving puzzles. There is variety in its development, it must be said. The game introduces new situations frequently, and fills the stage with objects whose use we have to guess for specific puzzles or concrete situations. The descriptions are grim reapers, and we will often have to pull logic, why do we want a sand bucket? Well, if we have a bonfire nearby, we can use it to turn it off. There are objects whose use does not extend beyond the room where we get them, but there are others that we will have to carry with us for long sections until we find an area where they can be used.
Sometimes it is quite difficult to keep up with the logic of the game. There are objects whose use is very evident (the classic gold, silver and bronze keys for the gold, silver and bronze locks) while others will force us to keep spinning without knowing very well where to throw and what the game is trying communicate The same thing happens with the puzzles, you have to read a lot of text and a lot of loose note found on the stage, but also a lot of straw that doesn't tell us anything, and the solution of some feels somewhat random, or designed in a way so specific that again, it forces us to put ourselves in the mindset of the game, instead of the game trying to adapt to ours. There are a couple of genuine eureka moments, of course, and in general the puzzles are the most spoiled in this title.
The same cannot be said about the fighting. Fear the Dark Unknown uses the classic system of this type of game: with a button to aim, we position ourselves in front of the enemy and shoot. The same scheme is used for melee weapons, necessary when we run out of ammunition (something that can happen with relative ease if we don't measure the shots) or not spend it. It is a simple and well-known system that does not depend so much on the ability we have but on resource and space management.
The positioning is key here, more taking into account that the game puts us zombies ahead like the one that puts an iron wall, and many escapes will be frustrated by the impossibility of dodging them shortly after we are with them and a wall . And there are many ways to die in this game, and some have more to do with missing puzzles than falling before enemies. We must pay attention to the frequency with which we keep so as not to get a dislike … because yes, the saving is manual.
As much as you try to take care of your classic formula, Fear of the Dark Unknown fails to update as a video game released in 2020, and fails as a game with its own identity. Many of the design decisions negatively affect the experience, manual saving forces us to obsessively save to take care of our backs and at the same time strangely combines a system of CDs (RE ink ribbons) in some parts of the stage, but leaving a main hub in which we can always save unlimitedly.
Inventory management is painfully uncomfortable. Even expanding the capacity of what we can carry, all the time we feel that we do not carry with us the necessary items to solve the next puzzle, and we often have to leave objects where we find them due to lack of space. Space that we cannot really manage in many more ways than leaving the object in one of the scattered storage boxes around the mansion. Sometimes we have been in the position of having to waste a medicine cabinet with a full life to be able to leave a hole to put a relevant object in the inventory, and thus not have to take a walk in vain to the storage boxes taking risks in the Way to fall prey to a lost zombie.
Backtracking comes into play here. It is usual and often load-bearing, with a multitude of targets that are stacked without ton and nor are they and a limited inventory to fill it all, in addition to an appalling level design that makes it as much as we travel those areas over and over again we never know everything that was to the right of that hall. If we add to this that it is not a particularly comfortable game to control … with a half-way handling between the tank of classic titles and the free 3D movement that does not end up being neither one nor the other … because the result is that each ride that we give extra in this game can be quite tedious.
There are good ideas in Fear the Dark Unknown … or rather one could say that it is a game that handles its referents and knows how to imitate them with relative ease. But for every element we see that might work, there is another that is ballasting the gaming experience. The feeling that never ends with this game is to be grabbing more than what the developers themselves can cover. It is an ambitious survival horror, and its length and length in content are proof of this, but perhaps too many resources have been spent on this and other departments have lagged behind.
It is a classic example that the form must be as well maintained as the content, and here are many elements that make us wish they were more polished. From the rough modeling to the graphic design of the interface, through a dub below the average and a repetitive and crushing soundtrack, the production values of the title are not well above the standard amateur game. In case this is not enough, it is also a game that is not played too well, and with a formula that is limited to being repetitive with the genre to which it belongs … we have a title that despite its good intentions and good times can be done uphill even for regulars of the genre.
CONCLUSION
If you are one of the people who enjoy the most classic survival horror, to look at the map all the time to see what doors are left to open, to go through the same scenarios forty times, seeing what we can do with that paint-stained handkerchief or those cards poker, to cross the corner with fear fearing that the change of plane can reveal a zombie … You may be able to enjoy Fear the Dark Unknown to some degree. The game works by the inertia of being based on a formula that works as presented, but it is also a game that you have to spend many hours fighting with questionable design decisions, a narrative that does not end up catching and trusting too much in the interest you put in it, and with an artistic and sound section that stays below average
THE BEST
- Extensive and with two parallel campaigns, it is not lacking in content
- The puzzles generally have a good level of design
WORST
- Visual section below average, especially in modeling and animations
- Backtracking becomes tedious, especially due to inventory limitations
- Dramatic levels design, and camera play doesn't help
Improvable
It may have acceptable elements and entertain, but in general it is an experience that will leave no trace.
