Hear the phrase ‘orphanage’ and infrequently does it conjure up glad ideas. However they’re definitely locations we’re used to listening to or studying about, with the primary based in round 400 AD.
These days we see these establishments as locations the place horrors have occurred, from the actual ones to that of fantasy. The Glass Staircase creates an old-school horror expertise with some retro seems. Oh, and it comes with these love-them-or-hate-them tank controls…
The Glass Staircase is a survival horror that takes place in an enormous manor property that’s doubling up as an orphanage. The sport performs out over 4 days, and on every of those you play as one in every of 4 ladies attempting to work out why they’re there. Every lady takes a tablet in the beginning of the sport after which is instructed to finish a activity. As they progress they discover out way more in regards to the story and the reality of why they’ve been made prisoners. The sport then quickly ramps up when it comes to stress and horror, with all of the thrills and spills of a recreation of this style.
I feel the storytelling is superb, particularly in the way it delivers a way of dread and terror, all whereas being fairly mundane on the identical time. And the fastened digicam serves as an ideal movie editor of the story beats, working brilliantly as nicely.
The largest downside although is with the usage of tank controls for the character. For these that may’t bear in mind this management scheme, then you definately solely want to take a look at the unique Resident Evil video games or Alone within the Darkish to grasp. It’s not one thing that I preferred again within the day, and it’s not one thing I like now, particularly after years of gaming, having to remodel the mind into taking part in this fashion. It was that which dulled my enjoyment of the expertise considerably, even when I did slowly get used to issues.
One other downside is that The Glass Staircase does appear very floaty at instances, all the time getting caught in doorways or snagged on one factor or one other.
The Glass Staircase has fight as nicely; once more, very very similar to a Resident Evil or Silent Hill. Fortunately the aiming and capturing is ok, way more succesful, removing the problems I had with the shifting sections.
There are puzzles too, enjoyable to unravel and pretty difficult. There isn’t something right here that can shock you, however as a homage to these previous retro survival horror video games, The Glass Staircase is a masterclass.
It does an ideal job visually too, particularly in making a scary ominous place to spend a while in. The lighting is nice and the fastened digicam angle is ready to ship an ideal cinematic really feel to the sport at instances. You can too select from a spread of filters that allow you to swap up how issues are introduced; an old-time projector really feel is a private favorite. It’s respectable soundwise too, doing an ideal job in maintaining the creepy vibes.
With its throwback vibes, an ideal ambiance and story, The Glass Staircase is nicely value a play. It seems like a recreation ripped straight from the mid-90’s, however remains to be able to driving its personal lane. Private issues with the tank controls dampened my spirits fairly a bit, however others might really feel totally different. There’s little question that the puzzles are nice although, as is the inclusion of varied visible filters.
So if you wish to return in time, try to deal with The Glass Staircase.
