Very interesting Indie title.
The short version – Paranormal investigator extrodiaire meets Far Cry.
You appear on a shore, behind you a ship. Likely the vessel that brought you here. A land devoid of color stay for an unpretencious amount of red.
This game is not just visually strking, its stunning. You are given the option to play in shades of grey or blast the color saturation up to see lush forests and gated strongholds.
The actual gameplay mechanics more or less revolve around two things. Exploration and killing things. Through your exploration you are likely to discover chests with goodies, pages with exposition that give insight into the goings on, gravestones among other things. Bascially, it's a completionists absolute dream or worst nightmare. The main draw though is to gain insight into the investigations. About the ghosts.. I didn't mention the ghosts?!
There are two worlds/dimensions to explore, though the same clues and collectables can be found in either. The dark world, the world in perpetual night where hostile undead things will spring forth from underground to ward you off the investigation. Where items must be "cleasned of corruption" before preceeding. And the light or daytime world. Hostile baddies still are here but their purpose seems less warding and more left over neural pathways of repeated and ingrained behavior from their time in life. Very real since of LIMBO here.
Character progression is not necessarily "gated" but there is a very real MetroidVania -esk feel to upgrading your characters weapons from damage, speed of reloading, noise levels, amount of ammo held, amount of water (health packs) and charms that aid in movement speed, reload speed, and enemy detection.
The sound design is absolutely phenominal. Listening to the wind to find your direction. The wind insisting its innocent. Audio cues to detect the natives who are virtually undetectable otherwise. I should mention the wind I speak about is more a button to listen to the wind as the actual wind is used as a stealth mechanic to hinder your noise and detection level. The beasties make crazy scary noises, very distinct ones. To the point of knowing what enemy is behind the bush. The screams are unnerving, you don't really get used to to ambiance, comfortable perhaps, its always slightly disqueiting. Even at the end when I was fully confident in my ability to survive I was still nervous to face enemies to some degree. My only caveat remains that enemies don't react to your shots until their health is completely depleted and become victims to the physics. I just wish you could interupt their attack to some degree.
Overall, one of the most memorable and unique games I've played in awhile.
