REVIEW : In Nightmare (PS5)
Our protagonist goes into a long slumber and emerges in a nightmare dreamworld after shutting his heart to reality. In Nightmare is an action-adventure game with a narrative focus. It follows a young child on the lookout for love’s last hope, who is figuring out his own salvation by navigating his fears.
A young youngster will escape reality into a fantastical realm made from his own recollections after seeing the impact of a broken family and the anguish it causes. As a result, he embarks on a quest to discover the truth about himself. His past traumas manifest as terrible monsters intent on trapping him in an endless nightmare. The youngster will find ways to slip past opponents and conquer difficult obstacles with the help of his dream ghost.
After closing his heart to reality, our protagonist falls into a deep sleep and awakens in a horror dreamworld. In Nightmare is a horror adventure game with a storyline that combines stealth gameplay with a range of puzzles. It follows a young boy on the quest for love’s last chance, who is navigating his worries to find his own salvation.
After seeing the impact of a shattered family and the misery it involves, a young child will escape from reality into a gloomy, surreal realm made from his own recollections. As a result, he sets off on a quest to learn more about himself. Once he has encountered reality, his previous trauma morphs into a fiction. Hide and seek is one of the most difficult games to master. Games have attempted to empower players and continue living out their wish fulfillment since the dawn of time, so it’s a bit of a departure for one to purposefully take that away from you. You play as Bill, a young guy who is terrified of the psychological trauma he suffered as a child. This is clear from the notes and recollections you’ll encounter throughout the game. I didn’t get to figure out what Bill’s condition was in the actual world, but I guessed he was aged, having a bad dream, and trying to make sense of it.
The story’s execution is shoddy, with numerous spelling errors and imprecise language, and it heavily relies on ambiguous relationships. I like the idea of games that deal with mental health issues, and everyone who knows me knows I love a good story about a helpless child, but this one is a little too exaggerated for my liking. Bill’s life is so full of disasters, many of which are caused by the failings of several people in his life to recognise the harm they are creating, that it becomes highly unlikeable in its melodramatic execution.
There were a lot of related topics that were addressed, making it simple to comprehend the character even when there were no actual spoken words. I liked the idea of seeing the world through the eyes of a child, because while many situations are understandable to an adult, their repercussions on a child aren’t. It can be a little depressing at times, especially when you’re exploring levels and learning more about the backstory through collectable notes and other means.
I’m not saying that kids like Bill don’t exist, but the movie uses such a blunt method to demonstrating how horrible his life is that any sense of nuance is rapidly lost. If you toss in a few random items, you’ll eventually find your way.
While I like the varied setting and investigating the levels for mysteries and mythology, it was frustrating to play as a stealth-centric title. Monsters all have one-hit death strikes, which is nice, although their detecting cones can be a bit strange at times. I’ve had creatures gaze straight at me and not notice me, as well as monsters who were entirely off-screen but still saw me from afar. There are strategies like throwing stuff to confuse them, which I discovered to be a frequent strategy, but I often got caught by accident and had to restart key sections. The story’s execution is shoddy, with numerous spelling errors and clumsy language, and involves questionable relationships. I like the idea of games that deal with mental health issues, and everyone who knows me knows I love a good story about a helpless child, but this one is a little too exaggerated for my liking. Bill’s life is so full of disasters, many of which are caused by the failings of several people in his life to recognise the harm they are creating, that it becomes highly unlikeable in its melodramatic execution.
Sometimes they were in the middle of something, and sometimes they weren’t, and on the occasions when they weren’t, I almost wanted to give up in frustration. It felt unfair in several situations, not in the difficult sense, but in the sense that you thought the game was being unfair to you. That’s not to say I didn’t have a wonderful time, because there are some excellent stealth areas in the game. It just seemed odd in a way that it shouldn’t have. Everything in the game revolves around those attempting to pursue you, so it’s important to the story, and it’s still scary, but after the first level, I wasn’t terrified of any of the monsters. This was due to the player’s habit of redoing areas after being captured or becoming annoyed with other aspects of the game, particularly the riddles, which I’ll return to shortly. The pacing and primary reason for playing In Nightmare is lost; but, the instant the player stops to find a cause to relate to Bill and feel his pain, the pacing and core reason for playing In Nightmare is restored.
When there is any obvious glaring flaw in In Nightmare, it is, without a doubt, the acting. Because In Nightmare isn’t really pushing the PS5 (at least, there’s no reason to suppose it is), it plays like a slideshow. The frame rate is extremely uneven, with drops being apparent shortly after entering the game environment. It chugs so hard just from typical movement that it made me feel uneasy at times — enough to make me want to take a long break out of fear of having a headache. It’s actually that horrible, which is a pity because the planet is a pleasant place to explore. It’s a problem, to be sure, but one that may hopefully be rectified in the future.
REVIEW : Frightence (XBOX Series X)
