Breakups can be hell, but at least most of us don’t have to deal with partners and exes who are also real demons. Unfortunately, that’s not the case for London store worker Michelle. Not only is she still reeling from her breakup with her very human girlfriend a few years ago, but she’s also recently attracted the attention of a very demanding archdevil named The Duchess, who simply won’t take no for an answer – Cursing Michelle with her third eye, if she doesn’t love the Duchess within three days, she will face death and eternal damnation.
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Developer: fashion gamePublisher: Akupala Gamesplatform: Played on computerAvailability: Now available on PC (Steam, GOG)
As romances go, it’s pretty intense—perhaps less a cyclone and more a Category 5 hurricane—but Sorry We’re Closed isn’t the high-energy visual novel you might be picturing in your mind right now. Instead, it’s a love story seen through the dark and sordid lens of survival horror, where celestial brawls crash down to earth in bars, hotels, subway stations and aquariums, and hearts are broken by the pursuit of excess. Axes, pistols, and soul-crushing shotguns. But while the PS1-era visuals and fixed third-person perspective give it an Angels vs. Demons Resident Evil vibe, that’s really only one side of the story. Because when you’re not fighting legions of Hellspawn, you’re also taking on branching side missions to fix your partner’s love life – many of whom, it turns out, also happen to be angels and demons. In other words, it’s a survival horror game with an RPG twist, and it could be one of the most compelling games you’ll play this year.
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Set against the backdrop of the three days of Michelle’s curse, our heroine discovers that the only way to escape the clutches of the Duchess is to follow the trail of the demon’s other star-crossed lovers, all of whom have transformed into gigantic, indescribable creatures in three different locations across London monster. (And very much wanting to kill Michelle herself in the process). by claiming their
Through the third eye, Michelle hopes to gain enough power to challenge the Duchess herself, though this will largely manifest as mature emotional growth rather than additional video game skills and abilities. But it doesn’t matter. Throughout its brisk six-hour runtime, Michelle has everything she needs to lead us through this diabolical fable of finding love in the modern era from the get-go, with developers By Pattern Games making the most of their limited tools. set.
Michelle’s third eye reveals the truth about her surroundings. | Image source: Eurogamer/Akupara Games
Chief among them is Michelle’s own third eye. With just a tap of the space bar (and a tap of her fingers), an aura of alternate realities opens around her, instantly revealing the raw truth behind her newly tainted underworld environment, and vice versa. In addition to being a neat visual trick, it also serves many different functions, such as turning ghostly apparitions of demons and angels into flesh-and-blood creatures and paving the way for some mild but cleverly designed puzzles in the three main dungeon locations the way.
Of course, dimension hopping and blending the real with the unreal is nothing new, but Sorry We’re Closed puts its own stamp on it, pushing it further than just that kind of objects and obstacles— —Puzzles based on the Resident Evil-style horror retro game. You see, this is also an integral part of the game’s first-person combat, as once an enemy crosses the border into your inner circle, their heart becomes visible, allowing you to shoot or swing an ax to deal lethal damage. Stronger enemies require more bullets to completely break their hearts, while bosses require you to charge up special one-shot bullets to take them down properly. The real kicker, however, is that those heart-pounding hits only come when your third eye opens. Anything else is absorbed into nothingness – if the bullets also go beyond the outer limits of your eye, they will disintegrate as well. The closer enemies get to you, especially when they come in groups, the more thrilling and tense combat becomes – and with the increasing variety of enemy types thrown at you in each major dungeon, the total There’s something new to make you think.
Once an enemy steps into your third eye’s pocket, you can only shoot them in the heart, requiring precise aim as they’ll jump in different parts of their body after each hit. | Image source: Eurogamer/Akupara Games
There’s inevitably a bit of awkwardness when you transition from third-person exploration to first-person shooting. When you start aiming, the camera naturally stays in whatever direction Michelle is facing, and she’s also always rooted to the ground, which can make a hasty retreat in a limited space a little crazy. But personally, I think it all adds to the feeling of fear and unease that seems to permeate its rusty, blood-stained interior. This isn’t a game with smoothed edges, and it works – everything from the brash neon color palette to the angular, jagged character models makes it clear this isn’t a game made for nostalgia’s sake. It’d rather bite your head off than succumb to this nonsense, and I like that it retains that sense of friction that keeps players striving for the best rewards. Sure, you can close your third eye and shoot at enemies wherever you like, but as the horde begins to swell, you’ll be paying for precious ammo and (most likely) vital and equally rare life-giving The price of a water bottle.
But exploring the depths of the underworld in search of extra eyeballs to fight demons isn’t what Sorry, We’re Closed is all about. In between your daily tours, you’ll jog between the lobby of the Duchess Hotel and the local streets of shops and apartment buildings. Here, Michelle’s various friends either need help resolving their own romantic entanglements, or they’re plotting to destroy each other. There are angels and demons who long for each other across the chasm, toxic boys who really need to get their act together, and con men who trample everyone else to try to get ahead – and Michelle can choose whether to participate in their destinies, and possibly change her in the process your own destiny, thanks to four different endings.
Always hit Darrell. | Image source: Eurogamer/Akupara Games
These decisions often take the form of simple requests, the binary consequences of which will push these side graphs in certain directions. For example, early on, you could tell passer-by Darrell whether to surprise his restaurateur boyfriend Oakley with a hamster (definitely not a rat) “now” or “later.” The former would coincide with a health check at Oakley’s that morning, thus alienating them further due to Darrell’s idiocy, while the latter would avoid such an awkward encounter and potentially get them back to repairing what was already pretty broken on the relationship track. Others will ask you to perform time-sensitive operations – say, deliver a letter, or take an incriminating photo with a disposable camera provided specifically for the task, before showing it to the right person.
You’ll need to pay close attention to these characters’ dialogue and locations to follow their side quests until the finale, as most characters have a key storyline happening every day that can be easily missed if you don’t move quickly. You can also ignore them entirely if you want – they’re completely optional at the end of the day, although some do take Michelle’s fate in more interesting and layered directions rather than just defaulting to it of “Break this curse and get the hell out of here.” here’. They’re worth a look if you ask me, and once again I admire the game’s hands-off nature, letting you figure things out on your own rather than being beholden to objective markers and clearly defined deadlines.
Even though you spend a lot of time in third person, switching to first person outside of combat reveals just how well built each space is. | Image source: Eurogamer/Akupara Games
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Toggle/hold aim and run options. On/off toggles hold to fire, enemy lock-on, camera pan, and typewriter effects. First person view slider. Slider to adjust weak point stickiness. Options for permanent healing. Key and controller remapping is possible. Various sports styles. On/off toggle inverts vertical and horizontal mouse appearance. Sliders for adjusting vertical and horizontal mouse appearance sensitivity. Dedicated sliders for mastering, effects, dialogue and music volume. 4 language options.
You get the same courtesy when it comes to the basic story of Sorry We’re Closed. For example, the Duchess may appear to be an outright villain at first—a symbol of control and emotional abuse—but her motives for Michelle have nuance and depth, and even a slight tragedy, that are undermined by Sensitively teased out. A raw and hard-hitting script. Every aspect of the romantic relationships you encounter in Sorry We’re Closed feels like it was pulled straight from the still-beating hearts of its creators, and it deftly debates what it means to love others and yourself great existential questions. How love changes a person and the impact it has on everyone around you. Not in a sweet, warm, saccharine way. But with its scarring, visceral, lived experiences, its celestial framing only heightens the life-changing stakes of its subject matter. Ultimately, you decide whether this transformation is worth pursuing for all these characters, even if it means breaking up and putting them through their own personal hellfire.
All in all, Sorry We’re Closed isn’t afraid at all to demand a lot from its audience, both thematically and mechanically, and I absolutely appreciate that. Of course, sometimes you want this or that to be a little smoother, or a little less fussy. The fact that you can never really tell when you’re taking damage from an enemy out of sight remains a problem. But these resistance points almost always fall in my favor, giving this not-at-all scary survival-horror RPG a bite and personality that makes it stick around long after you’ve reached the end. Credits in memory. There’s nothing better than Sorry We’re Closed and I implore you to set a date with it as soon as possible. It’s been one hell of a ride.
Publisher Akupara Games provided a copy of Sorry, We’re Closed for review.
