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[originally posted on tumblr; sorry if you've already seen this]
so, I started playing an indie game, ‘Claire’. It’s a psychological horror game in 2D/sprite art, and while I haven’t played for very long, it’s been pretty creepy so far.
aNYWAY i was wandering around a suitably horrifying hospital and that was okay, and then i found the pediatrics wing.
and i instantly went FUCK NO because it is a rule of horror storytelling that the pediatrics wing will have incredibly disturbing imagery. Because, you know, rooms full of sick and dying children. INHERENTLY AWFUL.
but the door was blocked, and i was supposed to find something in the ICU (which i guess is also terrifying, but not PEDIATRICS terrifying) so i didn’t have to worry about it.
so I got to the ICU, and then SURPRISE, I had to work through a memory of Claire adopting her dog Anubis. That ended up being a pretty fascinating (and creepy) sequence—you literally open a door in the hospital and then you’re little Claire walking through an animal shelter that really creepy…while the dialog makes it clear this a memory that Claire holds dear (later she says Anubis is in every good memory she has). And as you move through the memory of the animal shelter it sort of…merges with the horror-hospital you’re currently in, so things get pretty weird. Like, the moment when Claire first sees Anubis and decides to adopt him takes place in this room:
Anyway, the memory eventually ended. Only, it placed Claire in a new part of the hospital, one that I hadn’t seen, so I brought up the map and—
GODDAMNIT
And RIGHT AFTER I walk into the hallway and take two steps, this happens.
It’s hard to see but the black and white blobbish thing is a…uh, i dunno. But I’m pretty sure I would have died if I hadn’t hidden in a closet. (It’s also much scarier in motion…)
I ended up getting ripped to pieces a few rooms later by a smaller black-and-white blob monster that chased me through a door before I could find a hiding spot :S I didn’t really have the heart to keep going on after that.
But yeah. Pediatrics, man.
so, I started playing an indie game, ‘Claire’. It’s a psychological horror game in 2D/sprite art, and while I haven’t played for very long, it’s been pretty creepy so far.
aNYWAY i was wandering around a suitably horrifying hospital and that was okay, and then i found the pediatrics wing.
and i instantly went FUCK NO because it is a rule of horror storytelling that the pediatrics wing will have incredibly disturbing imagery. Because, you know, rooms full of sick and dying children. INHERENTLY AWFUL.
but the door was blocked, and i was supposed to find something in the ICU (which i guess is also terrifying, but not PEDIATRICS terrifying) so i didn’t have to worry about it.
so I got to the ICU, and then SURPRISE, I had to work through a memory of Claire adopting her dog Anubis. That ended up being a pretty fascinating (and creepy) sequence—you literally open a door in the hospital and then you’re little Claire walking through an animal shelter that really creepy…while the dialog makes it clear this a memory that Claire holds dear (later she says Anubis is in every good memory she has). And as you move through the memory of the animal shelter it sort of…merges with the horror-hospital you’re currently in, so things get pretty weird. Like, the moment when Claire first sees Anubis and decides to adopt him takes place in this room:
Anyway, the memory eventually ended. Only, it placed Claire in a new part of the hospital, one that I hadn’t seen, so I brought up the map and—
GODDAMNIT
And RIGHT AFTER I walk into the hallway and take two steps, this happens.
It’s hard to see but the black and white blobbish thing is a…uh, i dunno. But I’m pretty sure I would have died if I hadn’t hidden in a closet. (It’s also much scarier in motion…)
I ended up getting ripped to pieces a few rooms later by a smaller black-and-white blob monster that chased me through a door before I could find a hiding spot :S I didn’t really have the heart to keep going on after that.
But yeah. Pediatrics, man.
no subject
Date: 2014-07-21 03:31 pm (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2014-07-23 03:52 am (UTC)From:no subject
Date: 2014-07-28 04:21 am (UTC)From:Unfortunately, it's not free--I actually found out about it through Steam Greenlight prior to release, and it costs $9.99. Gameplay wise, it's mostly searching and puzzles--the puzzles tend to come in the form of NPC/ghost creatures that will ask you to find something, or do a certain task, etc. There's no way to attack, and if you encounter enemies you have to figure out a way around them--you can lure them to different rooms and use hiding places, for example, or just run by them.
If you've played Eternal Darkness, there's also something akin to that game's sanity meter--as Claire becomes frightened you'll see/hear creepy things that become more intense and frequent as your fear grows. It's also possible to die if your fear peaks for too long.
Uh, what else...oh, your dog will help you by growling when you enter rooms with enemies (unless enemies need to be triggered by something to come out) and is just generally a useful companion. That's about it, gameplay-wise.