What once began as a failed Kickstarter campaign has turned into one of the finest horror games of the last few years. Song of Horror Complete Edition, by developer Protocol Games and publisher Raiser Games, is a great throwback to the adventure horror games of old from its setting to its controls. It is also legitimately one of the scariest games I have recently played, so read on and you will be in for a horror treat!
Taking place in England, circa 1998, the main start of the game is Daniel, an assistant publisher (though grievingly at times, more like an errand boy), who is sent to find out what happens to his company’s top writer. What begins as a missing person’s case with a creepy Victorian manor quickly spirals out of control into a Lovecraftian nightmare of epic proportions.
One of the unique story aspects that Song of Horror Complete Edition contains is the ability to take command of 13 unique characters, each with their own gameplay stats. The characters you can play as depend on the episode, but the main character, Daniel, is present for multiple episodes. Replayability is great in this regard because each character has different responses to their surroundings; for example, the daughter of the antique store owner will respond with more knowledge to her environment versus the police officer who comes to check out the mysterious disturbances and disappearances. Environments are also a pleasure to explore, and reference the classics of the genre such as Obscure, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill to name a few via conventional settings such as haunted mansions, deserted urban complexes, and creepy schools and abandoned mental hospitals.
The big game changer Song of Horror Complete Edition brings to the table is permadeath. With the exception of Daniel, no other characters need to survive the story in order for it to continue (however, if either Daniel or all of your selectable character per episode dies, you must restart the episode from the beginning). This, of course, will change the course of the story, and also make you feel really bad for screwing up.
The big bad of the story is “The Presence,” an entity of pure evil that is released from a mysterious antique music box and can take on multiple forms, ranging from a cloud of dark evil, to a blind and bandaged creature that seeks you out by sound. You cannot fight this evil, only hide and avoid it, so escape gameplay varies from hiding under tables, slamming doors shut, and keeping quiet to name just a few (these events, as a rule, have at least one new change up per episode). These are usually played out via minigames and quick time events, usually controlled via shoulder buttons with a controller or different keys with a keyboard, which make you control the heartbeat or strength of the character in surviving against the evil.
For the most part, these minigames work just fine, however I have rarely been more frustrated than with the minigame for the Silence in episode 2. The instructions do not do too good of a job in explaining the proper way to survive this encounter, and I felt that I lost three characters due to a faulty control scheme more so than my own mistakes (which trust me, I made plenty of stupid moves in episode 1 to teach me to play better), and I resorted to changing the difficulty to a non-permadeath mode just to finish the episode and move on. This is something I hate doing, but I feared the frustration of doing all of the puzzles again and losing to a cheap minigame more than I did losing some of the tension and atmosphere (which is there in droves to begin with).
This unfortunately is a cardinal sin in horror games – if something because so frustrating to play or get past, or feels cheap, you lose a lot of the immersion or involvement to just pure anger at the game itself. I really wish the developers would replace this minigame with something much more accessible, or, switch it out for a QTE. As mentioned, every other minigame works well enough, but the Silence really brought down the fun for me, which is unfortunate. Some of the puzzles are also nefariously hard to negotiate, and while a good brain buster is great, these reminded me more of the fossil puzzle from Loom, notoriously seen as the toughest and cheapest puzzle in all of adventure games, or at least, the Lucas Arts library. Inevitably, you may just get fed up and go to a guide or try to brute force your way through it.
Do not let these issues get in the way though, because what the Song of Horror Complete Edition does well, it arguably does the best of any game in its genre. The rest of the controls are fluid and work exactly as an adventure game should, so there are absolutely zero issues there. Song of Horror’s real pleasure is its environmental design and audio work, which is second to none. The graphics look great for an indie adventure game, and besides some engine loading and stuttering issues which are noticeable, there is nothing game breaking there. Its environments are creepy, inspired, and most importantly, threatening. You will feel nervous to move from room to room, and running, while incredibly tempting, is a quick way to get yourself found by the Presence and earn yourself a one-way ticket to the boneyard. Especially coupled with the perma-death feature, you will watch your every move and feel pressure in any room of any location. The pressure is immense and never-ending and provides a truly threatening backdrop, and thus the best horror experience I have recently, or ever, played.
The audio, especially with a headset, only enhances the experience, as the sound design is without question the best, I have ever heard in a horror game. Whispers and laughter on the wind, creaking floorboards, and random noises in the environment will keep the hairs on the back of your neck on end for days.
My absolute favorite part of Song of Horror Complete Edition is how each playthrough can reveal different scares or tricks to provide for memorable and haunting scares. The third person camera allows the developers to revel in this, as you will see ghosts over the shoulder of the characters or off in the background in blink of the eye moments that will ensure a horrifying lasting memory. I cannot get this creepy scene out of my head from the first episode when I was going up the stairs on my third character (I died twice, and would one more time, surprise!), and saw a ghostly woman inviting me into a darkened hallway with her finger out while slithering back towards the door and shutting it. If my character had seen that, surely, they would be running for the hills faster than Scooby-Doo and Shaggy! This environmental blink and you miss it moments are my favorite part of the game, and are not only scarily effective, but their random nature based on your playthrough will ensure no two runs of the game will look the same for different players.
Song of Horror Complete Edition is not only a great horror adventure game, it is one of the best horror games I have had the true joy and terror of playing. Despite some frustrations with the minigame controls and ramped up difficulty of some of the puzzles, do not let that hold you back from one of the best in its genre. Song of Horror Complete Edition is not only sure to thrill and scare you, it is sure to leave you wanting more, a rewarding feeling for a game that struggled in its initial years, and by all means deserves all of the respect, praise, and attention it has earned.
Graphics – 9.5/10
Audio – 10/10
Gameplay – 8/10
Story/Setting – 10/10
Overall: 9.5/10
Check Out the Song of Horror Complete Edition Trailer:
Song of Horror Complete Edition is available for PC via Steam for $29.99.
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Your local neighborhood nutjob, gamer, and teacher! I'm an avid fan of many genres such as platformers, shooters, horror, etc. I am also an avid tabletop gamer - hugely into the worlds of Warhammer and all of their spinoffs. I'm a big believer in being objective - even if something is not my cup of tea, I want to talk about it on the objective level - is it well made, crafted with love, and with care for the fans? If so, that's a good game in my book for someone and well worth their hard earned dollarydoos!
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