by Geir Gunnarsson
(Editor's Note/Disclaimer/Preface/Confession : I was originally going to review this game, but just from the trailer I could see it was going to be PT inspired and terrifying so intentionally palmed it off to Geir for review - Ashraa)
Visage is a first-person psychological horror game where you explore a mysterious ever-changing house in a slow-paced, atmospheric world that combines both uncannily comforting and horrifyingly realistic environments, and enjoy a genuinely terrifying experience.
That is the short description of the game on Steam and probably for the first time in my life I agree with the description of the horror game. I have always considered my self to be nearly immune to these scary games in the past, and even enjoyed a fair number of them ever since I played the original Resident Evil on PC as a young teenager up to playing Phasmophobia with friends. I've played and finished Frictional Games' Penumbra and Amnesia series, Alien Isolation, Observer, Evil within series and Outlast, but Visage has taught me that a well made psychological horror game will absolutely scare the pants off of you. Full disclosure I did not finish Visage, I barely managed to play Visage for any length of time, mostly in a burst of an hour or two at a time before the dread had built up to unmanageable levels and I had to stop playing and turn all the lights on and just sit there fully illuminated until the dread and fear had dissipated, and therefore this review will most likely be shorter than I am used to.
The gameplay is slow and encourages exploration but you have to be careful and stay in the light as much as possible. Staying in the dark for any length of time will increase your dread and insanity, the higher your dread and insanity go the more paranormal activities happen in the house which in turn will increase your dread and insanity. You can find candles and light bulbs to light up the dark rooms with the added benefit of candles to restore your sanity. You'll find different keys that open up different doors and each key is a different chapter with their own mini contained story and puzzles related to said chapter. I only played the first chapter/key I found called the mirror key, which opened a very dark room with a covered mirror in the corner. As soon as I pulled the cover off the mirror the lights went out, I turned around and flipped the light switch and when I had turned back to the mirror, it was gone. What followed was a very terrified and slow chase finding the mirror in different places in the house, TV turning on to static and all those horror clichés but working really well here. The atmosphere absolutely dripping with terror.
Visage has beautiful graphics and excellent sound design that really sells the atmosphere. I was using Dolby Atmos headphones and hearing all the creaks in the house around you, doors closing, foot steps and all those spooky sounds immerses you into the experience and the slow pace of the game builds up the dread when walking around and exploring the mysterious ever changing house. The sound design is probably the biggest factor I had a hard time playing the game for any length of time as it builds the suspense and dread masterfully and before you know it you are so terrified you have to turn off the console, turn on all the lights and preferably watch some cartoons just to calm down.
In conclusion I have learned that there are gaming experiences out there that I can't take for too long and that any fans of the horror genre should definitely try out Visage to see if they are up to the task. I highly recommend this game since it does exactly what it says on the tin.
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