Released May 22, 2018, by Labs Games, Safe House is an espionage-themed puzzle game that includes cracking codes and forging documents. Follow a choice affected campaign or play on endless. You’re now known as the “manager” and you are in charge of a top-secret American headquarters in a fictional African country called Kazataire. Buy building and upgrading rooms you’ll be able to uncover new operations. Recruiting, training, and deploying soldiers and spies you will strive to complete your mission. On top of this, you must keep intel safe from the enemy which will help you gain cash and keep your safe house open.
I love puzzle games and I am always excited to play a new one. I was really hyped when I heard about Safe House. Code cracking and problem-solving has always been something I have enjoyed. I wouldn’t say Safe House disappointed, but I do think there is definitely room for improvement.
Safe House is sort of time-based. You have a clock and how many tasks you complete determines the cash you get. This is pretty normal for money management games, but the cursor and WASD scroll is so laggy it takes up a lot of your time. I spent so much time fighting with my cursor that I am only able to do about three tasks a “day.” I really wish that you could see the whole building at once so you could more easily manage the rooms and tasks. I also hope they fix the laggy cursor problem because it gets really frustrating and takes away from the game greatly.
I enjoy the storyline and the fact that it is more than just cracking codes. The art is a little weird. The Steam description says that it’s a “retro art style that evokes classic spy films of the ‘60s” but I, personally, don’t think that is very true. The character’s when giving dialogue are pretty cartoony and aesthetically pleasing for this genre but the animation in game is really choppy and awkward. The spies, that you have to exchange secret messages with, remind me of the black spy in Mad magazine’s Spy vs. Spy. Spy vs. Spy did first come out in the 1960’s so I can see it relate to that era in that aspect but not ’60s films.
The sound is alright. There is a sound like a car horn that goes off every once and a while and I thought it was like a way to notify you of a room having a task but it’s not. So the useless car noise is kind of annoying after a while. I think it was meant to help immersion but really it’s unnecessary.
I honestly find this game enjoyable. I really like puzzles and espionage-themed games, but the issues I do have with it will definitely keep me from playing this game regularly. I think with improving the controls and making a few tweaks here and there, this will be a really awesome game.
6/10
Check Out the SAFE HOUSE Steam Launch Trailer:
Safe House is now available for PC on Steam.
PC Review
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Overall Score - 6/106/10
I'm a postgraduate Information and Library Studies student at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. I'm originally from Texas and have a BFA in Creative Writing from SFASU. I grew up playing video games and now enjoy watching other people play as well. I love anything with a good story!
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