Plaion kindly invited us to test it The singing during Gamescom 2022. Suffice it to say that trying out horror games is quite difficult. On the one hand you have to like the genre and on the other hand you need a suitable environment. But all the conditions for this were met.
The song, a fascinating story
This opus is set during a spiritual retreat on a remote island. You must try to survive against many obstacles that are unleashed after a shamanic ritual goes wrong. The latter opens a portal to a nightmare dimension called The Gloom. This dimension feeds on negative energy and begins to drive you and the other members of the party insane. It also preys on your own fears and anxieties, manifesting as interdimensional creatures. The title finally takes you on a psychedelic horror journey like you’ve never experienced before.
The first thing that strikes you when playing the demo is the detail of the graphics. The characters are quite realistic and the faces are full of details. We feel the agony, the fear, the anger that animates the few protagonists we’ve seen on screen. In addition, the sets offer many small corners with secrets at the end. The overall atmosphere of the software is similar to the first resident Evil with his creepy side. Nevertheless, here our protagonist can walk and step over windows, it will be very useful to you.
Puzzles, riddles, is it an escape game?
In the demo we embody Jess. This young woman goes in search of her boyfriend who has gone completely insane. To do this, she has to solve a few puzzles by piecing together items collected here and there. However, his path will be strewn with pitfalls. In fact, creatures come to annoy him and it is his duty to destroy them. Except Jess isn’t a warrior, she’s a shaman. As such, her only weapons are smoldering sage bushes and flaming twigs, which she can craft with the few twigs harvested previously. You can also build traps with salt you’ve collected by searching everywhere.
The game features simple puzzles. In fact, a heart-shaped padlock locks a door. To open it you need? A heart-shaped key, of course. A door with a geometric shape is blocking your progress? Assemble a cube and a triangle found in unusual places and you can progress. This may seem contradictory to you, but in the world of The singing, it is not. I remind you that an interdimensional portal is open and you are navigating through two intersecting worlds.
On the gameplay side, the game requires you to manage three gauges. One, easy to understand, is life. The second is sanity, the longer you hang around in the fog the lower the meter gets. The same applies when you fight monsters. The latter can still increase thanks to yoga. You have to be careful that it doesn’t go to zero otherwise Jess won’t be able to fight at all and there will be a panic attack. At the same time, you must take care of your spiritual strength. In fact, this third bar can improve your psyche and serve as a resource for certain skills.
Conclusion, we want more!
This is the first game from the studio of brass token and it already promises to be fantastic if you like the genre. The main character is easy to control, we feel vulnerable Jess, but she knows how to run. Which is pretty rare in horror games. The puzzles are instinctive and the combination of objects and crafting comes naturally. Finally mixing the graphic paste resident Evil etc life is strange is definitely a good idea. I for one can’t wait to see the final version. Also, there was no jump scare in the demo. Finally, the last positive thing to mention, the horror is skilfully accompanied by a successful soundscape.