Developer Puppet Combo is well-known for its specific model of retro horror video games, harkening again to the period of PS1 and PS2. The studio combines dated visuals with fascinating recreation mechanics and ideas, juggling basic and trendy design concepts that stand the check of time. Its newest recreation, The Glass Staircase, is especially good, because it layers its horror with intelligent tips for overthinking and scares if you least anticipate them.

Whereas many Puppet Combo video games are restricted to the developer’s Patreon, The Glass Staircase is on the market on all main platforms and is the right little hit for any retro horror followers. It took me round two hours to complete, and I loved virtually each minute of it. My frustrations boiled right down to my very own foolish miscalculations and mistaking some intentional parts for game-breaking bugs till I found the trail ahead.

The Glass Staircase (PC, Change, Xbox One, Xbox Collection X/S, PS4, PS5 [Reviewed])
Developer: Puppet Combo
Writer: Puppet Combo
Launched: Could 24, 2024
MSRP: $5.95/£7.99

In The Glass Staircase, you start your journey as Helen, a younger lady seemingly being held hostage in a big, dilapidated, stately dwelling turned orphanage. After taking your designated tablet, you’re instructed to go downstairs and full a job the house owners have ready for you. Nevertheless, the duty itself isn’t the explanation for Helen’s launch, and also you quickly uncover that she and the opposite women are steadily there for a way more nefarious goal.

The haunting story spends about half its playtime increase rigidity. There’s the right mixture of dingy visuals and eerie music laced with off-key notes, crafting an environment good for the sudden soar scares. The presentation makes The Glass Staircase stuffed with frights which are rewarding, simply terrifying sufficient, and with out a lot time to digest what you stumbled upon.

As is normal with survival horror video games, the atmosphere and notes strewn throughout the grounds inform the broader context of why every little thing has gone to hell. These are prolonged, generally taking fairly a couple of minutes to parse, however the dread they add is price it. Alternatively, you can most likely benefit from the recreation simply as a lot with out studying a single be aware, it’s approachable in that approach.

What isn’t as approachable are the controls. You direct characters utilizing tank controls, and whereas sure, that is one of the simplest ways to manage characters in a survival horror recreation, there’s one thing a bit of off in The Glass Staircase. The characters really feel like they slide proper and left in sure rooms, and it’s all too straightforward to get caught up in objects protruding of the atmosphere.

In direction of the top, there was a puzzle that took me twice as lengthy to unravel because it ought to have due to the mounted digicam angles. These views really feel proper at dwelling right here, however I missed one part of the puzzle room a number of instances. Whereas the error is completely on me, I used to be a bit torn between the satisfaction of lastly getting it proper and the frustration of getting there. It’s a kind of little issues in a brief expertise like this the place small tweaks may make main enhancements and assist keep away from the runaround.

In the end, I’ve to say when the puzzle piece’s location dawned on me, I felt good. The thrill lasted simply sufficient to get me transferring on, and as is commonly the case in The Glass Staircase, I used to be pleasantly horrified by the reveal that adopted.

Mercifully, the atmosphere is kind of good at broadcasting objects that want your consideration. I used to be by no means left hammering X whereas strolling round a room, on the lookout for hidden objects to work together with. The gunplay can also be exact with out ruining the concept that this may very well be a recreation made for consoles within the ’90s. I solely took injury in fight after I misjudged an enemy’s motion.

So far as its retro horror inspirations, The Glass Staircase is way more Silent Hill than it’s Resident Evil. The hold-your-breath environment builds and builds, ready for the right second. Like a lot of basic Silent Hill, the crescendo by no means hit after I anticipated. It nails what the period was good at, however parts like this and its clear fight maintain The Glass Staircase refreshingly rooted within the now.

I can’t communicate an excessive amount of in regards to the enemies with out ruining the plot, however a few of that Resi DNA remains to be there. The sense of panic some foes instill feels a bit like when Nemesis comes crashing by a wall in Resident Evil 3 or when Jack Baker breaks his approach into your path in Resident Evil 7. They’re overwhelmingly highly effective, and also you’ve obtained to outmaneuver them as a substitute of outgunning them.

The Glass Staircase is a superb little retro horror recreation you may sit down and full in a morning or afternoon and really feel happy that you simply’ve skilled a genuinely distinctive tackle the style. No matter jank skilled is greater than made up for by the hand-crafted nature of the story and terror it provokes.

When you’re on the lookout for a whole and enjoyable time with a horror recreation, then that is it. It’s additionally the right jumping-off level for anybody seeking to get into indie horror video games with no need to get into one thing meaty or overly difficult. Its themes and environment are higher than these of some AAA titles within the style, and The Glass Staircase simply stands amongst the basic video games that impressed it whereas concurrently paying homage to them.

8

Nice

Spectacular efforts with a couple of noticeable issues holding them again. Will not astound everybody, however is price your time and money.

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