GYLT tackles an extremely difficult and timely issue: school bullying. Young Sally fell into a nightmare at the crossroads Stranger Things, Silent Hill etc Alan WakeShe will do anything to save her missing and abused little cousin. The sets, the enemies, reading the newspapers are so many punches in the stomach that tell us about the suffering of the lost girl. Apart from the darkness of its settings, its atmosphere and its theme, GYLT is a good stealth game, not very difficult but addictive… and above all it ends in an “apotheosis” with an epilogue of cruelty rarely seen in video games. In short, a modern story.
“Maybe the others are right…”
In a deserted town with no residents, Sally searches desperately for her cousin. Emily has been missing without a trace for a few weeks. As if she had never existed. Oh yes, only to be abused, humiliated and tortured by his classmates. But it’s no big deal It was for fun, wasn’t it? And here is Sally on an odyssey through the school, turned into a horrifying purgatory, haunted by creatures with frozen smiles and just as frightening. Guaranteed discomfort.
The first few moments as we follow Sally to venture into a bloodless city inevitably make us think of the license silent Hill, less the erotic-slippery side. Likewise the sight of a typical American small town without history and the power of light, which is conveyed by a simple flashlight Alan Wake clearly. And it won’t be a luxury (ahah), because I’ve rarely experienced such a gloomy game. Whether in form or content. But there I speak above all of the sombre atmosphere that prevails in these places where young Emily witnessed the martyrdom of her comrades. On this page, too, the world is upside down to “stranger things“Hits the mark and triggers conflicting sensations. This school seems very familiar, but much changed… Indeed fantastic elements plunge us into a breathtaking nightmare. I’ll just name those dolls frozen for eternity in grotesque poses mimicking abuse, or those doors barred with tentacles blindfolded with huge eyes staring at Sally non-stop.
In addition to school, Sally will visit a prison gymnasium, a cultural center displaying traumatic torture works. The transformation of this village is not deceptive: it is difficult to plan GYLT for children. naive graphics First Compatible with all audiences making a tough statement, about the story of a girl, Emily, who doubts the meaning of life when every day is so exhausting… Rude. And a few sentences read in the recovered journals are so many uppercuts. “Maybe I deserve it.” “The worst are those who watch without saying anything.” “Maybe the others are right…”
…Maybe I’m shit”
The staging also requires respect. The little Sally we embody is followed in the third person, from such a vantage point that I felt as if she was being crushed by the sets, constantly surrounded and, above all, an anomaly in those places. This world is definitely not for the living. He is haunted by shadows with disturbing, glazed smiles.
In this Avoidance and infiltration game, Sally still has countermeasures to defend herself or create distraction. Although she is 11 years old, she can sneak around, but it’s amazing that she can’t climb simple boxes. So you have to do exactly what’s planned: solve a small elemental puzzle to activate something that releases a ladder, for example. With big level overruns, we quickly realize that everything has to be done in a certain order. The feeling of freedom is therefore less…and at the same time, given the nightmare Emily is going through, such a feeling would feel a little strange.
GYLT alone is not hardly difficult. Batteries for the lamp and heal are plentiful and enemy AI is very limited. In these types of games, boss fights are often tedious and I would like to point out that they are more than okay in GYLT. The boss, who we live from his point of view, deserves a special mention
I appreciated the following:
- One of the darkest games I’ve ever played
- The darkness of the subject, captivating and disturbing
- An evocative story silent Hill, stranger things etc Alan Wakeonly that!
- A good stealth game with enough options to defend yourself
- The collectibles that trace Emily’s ordeal
- With three endings, good replayability
- 9 hours playing time for a first round
- The game in full VF
I liked the least:
Accessibility Criteria
| visual impairment | hard of hearing | |
| ✘ High contrast (target reticle) | ✘ Subtitles with mood hints | |
| ✘ Font color size | ✅ Identification of the person speaking | |
| ✘ Tag enemies | ✘ Customizable font | |
| ✘ Customizable interface | ✘ Customizable font color | |
| ✘ Customizable mini-map color | ✘ Alternative alarm options (vibration, flash…) | |
| ✘ Option for color blindness | ✘ Reported ambient noise (presence notification) | |
| ✘ Text to Speech option | ||
| ✘ Game slowdown |
test conditions
| TV details | 4K | Game provided by the publisher | Yes | |
| console | Xbox Series X | Time spent in game | 9 hours | |
| difficulty level | THE | game over | Yes |
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