We were fortunate enough to receive our first review code at We Got Comms for the P.T.-inspired horror game, Visage, this past week. But, quickly, we found out that it’s a game you definitely have to be ready and in the mood for. Dalan’s still working on the review for us, but here’s some impressions of the game so far in case it’s too spooky for him to make it through to review.
The reason being? SadSquare Studio’s Visage shows you right from the start that it’s not messing around. From the opening cut scene to the way you start the nightmare, it’s dripping with tension. “Inspired by P.T.” is an understatement; it’s really like if you’re stepping back into that world again.
It’s small in scope, like Kojima’s P.T. demo, which means that the rooms and world you’re in can be shown in very high fidelity — even on the PS4 Pro, which is what I played it on. Creepy sounds and the house “settling in” follow your petrified self as you try to open doors and advance in your quest.
Where it departs from P.T., of course, is that you can consider it a more fleshed-out experience since you have more items to use, interact with, and puzzles to solve. And, without trying to go into too many spoilers, Visage does go beyond just that hallway experience while you explore the rest of the two-story house you are thrown into.
You get some things to help you along the way (i.e. lighters, candles, pills, etc.), but Visage is genuinely terrifying. Any time I had an “encounter,” or was sure one was coming up, I could feel literal goosebumps running along my skin. And, that’s even after I noooope’d out of using headphones about 20 minutes into my playthrough.
Considering the game started its life as a moderate indie success on Kickstarter, you can forgive some of the polish you’d expect from bigger publishers. The controls are not as intuitive as you would like sometimes and the inventory system definitely leaves something to be desired.
Regardless, the ideas and frights presented in Visage are strong enough to greatly expand on the P.T. blueprint to give you its own trippy, demented experience. At least, at first blush playing through most of the first chapter — here’s hoping Dalan can muster up the courage I couldn’t to play on and give us a full review in the near future.
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