When I saw the trailer for this game, it had my attention. When I read further to find out it was inspired by the SCP project, I threw it on my wishlist in Steam. And last year as part of the winter sale, I picked it up for my backlog. And like The Old Man, it refused to stay contained for too long. And also like that creature, encountering it at first had me nervous that I had made a terrible mistake considering it doesn't have a real title screen (why there is no title picture for this review) and the menu's language selection using non-English characters. But unlike that particular SCP, this first impression proved very incorrect and I'm happy it visited my gaming time.
Story: All stories have a starting point, and this one is actually fairly mundane. It starts with an email from your friend. He has been looking into an abandoned laboratory the two of you wanted to explore and dig through... for what reason is never made clear, so we can chalk it up to the thrill of urban exploration itself. But the reason doesn't matter. What does is he found the place, and a way in! With the location in hand, you grab your backpack and rush out the door. Rain or shine, you are about to go see what this place has to offer! However, upon arrival, your buddy is nowhere to be seen. Oh well, guess first dibs are yours afterall... but it won't take long before you have to wonder if you really wanted them.
Inspired by the world of SCP, you will be dealing with a place where something very wrong and unnatural happened... and may just have left it's mark, discovering the effects of which will be most of the story in it's own right. There is more to it, sure, but only towards the end with one massive twist. Overall the story is a simple one, but when lack of information is the point and the objective is survival in the unknown, you really don't need much more then that as long as it flows well... and flow well it does indeed. Enjoy!
7/10
Graphics: Simply put, this game is gorgeous. You will play this game from a first person perspective as you break into and explore the lab... and the game opens up with an incredibly gloomy and abandoned atmosphere. Trash litters the decrepit corridors as you wander alone... or so you think. Slowly it becomes apparent that it's not just feral animals scrounging here with you... and then it all changes. Lonely walls become something else scary and intense..
And while looking at the graphics, lets take a second to admire the sheer volume of detail and skill with lighting used to achieve this atmosphere, especially as the game is basically made by a single person working with the CryEngine. Without considering that, it's already outstanding, but add that into the mix and this is a straight up marvel!
And the same goes for most of the others who inhabit this world as well! Outside your character when you see him (which admittedly doesn't look great) every character and creature looks amazing! Seriously this is a talent to keep an eye on!
9/10
Sound: This might be one of the best "behind the scenes" soundtracks I have seen in a while and the reason makes perfect sense. The developer spent the time to get Mikko Tarmia to make a soundtrack for the game. If you don't know the name, you might know some games he's worked on since he has worked heavily with Frictional Games on their Amnesia series and the game SOMA. This guy knows how to make a dark and moody feast for the ears... and what he does here, he does exceptionally well. But it's also subservient to the scene, often falling back to the point of subtlety where you are not even sure it's there while playing. Simply sublime in it's way to keep you engaged with the events over the ambiance.
Sound effects are another thing, as they are incredibly standard... also with good reason. The dev pulled from a library of royalty-free sound effects, so likely you will recognize a few from other projects here. There is also zero voice acting, which I can more then understand as a way to avoid the language barrier in the few conversations that will occur before the game is over.
Overall though these sounds are masterfully used and mastered into the environments to complete the picture of loneliness when needed, tension when needed, and just finish the feel of the world the graphics start.
8/10
Gameplay: Coldside is a horror walking-simulator which focusses on discovery of each horrifying detail as you progress through the game, and while this is arguably the weakest element of the whole, it works well enough to make the game complete. You will have a fairly linear path to travel with obstacles to overcome before you are allowed to finish. Occasionally you will have tasks you will need to do and figure the steps to them, but that's about the most it will ask of you to puzzle out. Everything else is in understanding and navigating the environment and dealing with the residence there of.
You will never fight back through your ordeal, but rather will be looking for ways to avoid most of the monsters, or to repel them as needed. There is no inventory and the game will always supply you with what you need to finish anything within the area you are. But that does not mean it's not dangerous. Giant monsters will eat you given the chance. Monsters will chase you down and rip you apart, and there are ways in which the world itself will threaten your life.
And while the game is short, it is both forgiving and unforgiving at the same time in how it handles your progress. The checkpoints are actually very forgiving if you make a mistake usually being only a short jaunt before what took you down. Sometimes they even offer a hint to what you did wrong. Sadly that hint is necessary once in a while, but the overall effect is a game which draws all its tension from what's going on, not your risk of wasting too much time getting stuck without a clue why you keep dying.
The checkpoints are not, however, save points. These are a lot more sparce and in fact will only be at the beginning of any given level, so if you think you might be running short of time for a session, but you are not sure, you might want to play it safe and let it go for the night when you finish one of the 6 levels that make the game.
6/10
Bugs: As I made my way through this title, I had three real bugs occur... and while one was pretty severe, nothing was game breaking. Considering the tech this game was made with, that is one HELL of an achievement for a single developer to complete.
- Odd reflecting sheens: This is the least major of the bugs I found while playing but sometimes depending on the camera angle you looked at, there were occasional reflections of light that did not behave right. The shining almost seemed to stripe rather then reflect off the surface like one would expect. It was always a distance off and really nothing more then a minor distraction.
- The Box Wasn't There: This bug was a bit more serious, unfortunately. Late in the game it appears there as supposed to be a box I was supposed to push out of the way to get through a doorway, but it wasn't there. What was there was an empty space where an icon to interact would appear and an empty space I could only get by via jumping over it. It wasn't difficult to get past so much as confusing, which is why even though this is a much more major bug, it is not game breaking.
- Wrong language: The developer this game is a single man living in Ukraine, and as such English is not their first language. You wouldn't know that playing through most of the game, which is beyond commendable. However, in the last chapter, there is a point where they introduce a new mechanic of throwing rocks... and the instruction explaining it is in Russian instead. (At least it looked like Russian.) Thankfully this mechanic is obvious once you hit the button highlighted by it, so it is easy to figure out without the actual text, but it is a slip up that needs to be noted.
Score: I can not complain too much about Coldside to be quite honest. It's cool, it's slick, and while it doesn't offer a lot of gameplay, it is too short for that to really get in the way of a cool and slick experience. On top of that I have to really tip my hat to the fact that a single guy put this game together on his own outside of what your ears hear. Everything you see and do was designed and implemented by a single person on their own and when you consider that it is absolutely beyond fantastic. But putting all situations aside, it is still solid for a few hours of fun if you like cosmic horror and/or are a fan of the SCP project. Enjoy this short gem.
7/10
System Requirements:
- Intel Core i3/AMD FX 4300
- 4 GB RAM
- NVidia GTX 460 or AMD Radeon 6850 (2 GB VRAM required)
- 10 GB hard drive space
- Windows 7/8.1/10 (64-bit only)
System Specs:
- Ryzen 7 (5700X) 3.4 Ghz
- 32 GB RAM
- AMD Radeon RX 6650 XT (8 GB VRAM)
- Windows 11 (64 Bit)
No comments:
Post a Comment