First-person horror (both survival and straight-up), has had something of a comeback lately, and the market is saturated with top-quality examples, like MADiSON, Outlast, and Amnesia, among many, many others. If nothing else, this makes it difficult to catch my eye and stand out in the world of horror these days.
That’s why when REVEIL was originally announced, trailers dropped and more information dropped, it caught my eye and then some, but the question is, is REVEIL good?
REVEIL is All About the Setting, Not so Much the Scare
During my time with REVEIL, I found myself wondering exactly what was happening, and that is meant entirely as a compliment. You’ll spend the first few hours exploring the same, yet slightly different, environments, with nothing but the voice of the protagonist as a company. You’re looking for your wife and missing child and through the proceeding hours, you’ll uncover more than you may have bargained for.
The gameplay is standard first-person horror fare, with the game tasking you to find points of interest to investigate, with puzzles to complete and piece together to progress. None of the puzzles are particularly difficult, with solutions being naturally handed to you without feeling like you’re being babied. One particular highlight was a mannequin puzzle – because of course any first-person horror has to have those things – on a train filled with the things. One of the more unique puzzles I’ve seen for sure.
The atmosphere of the family’s failing circus, ’60s house and a few other locations were well designed, and a genuine pleasure to explore, and the game’s MANY collectibles added to the story rather than felt like a distraction or filler. The story is a mixture of intriguing and baffling, with clear inspiration being drawn from numerous films, some of which I can’t mention for fear of spoiling the entire premise.
The Good, the Bad and the Bizarre
The gameplay is standard first-person horror fare, with the game tasking you to find points of interest to investigate, with puzzles to complete and piece together to progress. None of the puzzles are particularly difficult, with solutions being naturally handed to you without feeling like you’re being babied.
One particular highlight was a mannequin puzzle – because of course any first-person horror has to have those things – on a train filled with the things. One of the more unique puzzles I’ve seen for sure.
Graphically the game isn’t anything to write home about, but it certainly didn’t hurt my eyes during my four hours with it. It’s also not a particularly long adventure, but in this instance, that’s far from a bad thing. Those four hours will keep you driving forward and the pace is nearly relentless because of it.
With all the pleasantries out of the way, it feels only right to bring up some of the game’s shortcomings. For a first-person horror game, it is shockingly light on actual horror. In fact, if I were to list the genuinely unnerving and scary parts of the game, it’d be a list comprising of exactly two moments, whilst the rest of the game is more a weird, ‘what-the-hell-is-going-on’ experience, rather than outright scary.
There’s also one particular story beat that was disappointing for me, and honestly, without that, the score would be higher. I won’t be spoiling, but the sudden shift in tone, atmosphere, and even genre left little to be happy about towards the end game.
6/10
