Name: Beacon
Type: Game (Windows exe)
Link: Download and short info
The core of the game is simple: You are trapped in a cave and need to escape. To do so one must go through gloomy caves avoiding darkness at all cost. Helping the player accomplish this are crystals that spread light and a mysterious beacon that moves around, illuminating the surroundings where it goes. The game starts out slow and then progressively get more challenging.
This is not really a horror game, but the way darkness is handled makes it quite interesting. First of all since darkness is deadly it serves as a sort of unseen foe and it is up to the player's imagination to decide what hides in the shadows. The brief and sometimes obscure text messages at death also add to this and leaves what happens to the player open for interpretation.
Even though the game is really simple in its graphics, the darkness makes one feel like there are more details than what there really is. Many times one gets a quick look at some creature passing by, hinting that there is a vast world hidden in the darkness. These brief creature appearances also makes one wonder what might be lurking up ahead ready to attack. Finally, the minimalistic ambient track adds greatly to the atmosphere and although very simple the game becomes quite immersive.
Closer to the end, the game gets quite unforgiving in the platform jumping, taking away some of the atmosphere. This is only true for the last few maps though and works nicely as finale. Added to this is a nice little twist ending. The games should take less than 30 minutes to complete, so make sure to play until the end!
Also worth noting is that the game was made in 48 hours, which is quite a feat!
As always, we are interested in hearing your comments!
Really great work! Great concept, I loved the fact that there was terror without actual horror, it was genuinely scary!
ReplyDeleteI could feel that some link was growing between me and the light... which made the ending really emotional.
I thought the last screens were great despite being more difficult. You gotta have some gameplay too besides atmosphere, and overall it was very progressive so it never felt too frustrating (and it was never too hard anyway). It also made me relieved to reach the next screen, which made the ending even better since it came right at that moment.
I think this is the best horror tip. I like those creatures stalking me in the dark. Very creepy ;)
ReplyDeleteI liked this game. The last few screens were a bit hard but I found it worthwhile. The part I liked most about this was sometimes I had to make leaps of faith and hope a platform was there. Maybe this was my brightness settings being too low or something, but it enhanced the atmosphere
ReplyDeleteHey guys, try Out of Hell mod for Unreal Tournament 2004 - really good horror stuff.
ReplyDelete