A very new and interesting indie game dropped into the PlayStation store this week (and on PC), that’s of course this eerie enigmatic thriller, TAPE: Unveil The Memories. Developed by indie company BlackChiliGoat Studios, this is their very first game. With a very ominous and poorly photoshopped poster, to a trailer that was in Spanish with some questionable graphics I had my hesitations going in. I always like to root for new studios coming up with exciting things to bring to the table and I’m fairly happy with what this Madrid-based company had to offer.
This is a first-person puzzle game that leads you to believe it’s a horror, but while there is a monster stalking you throughout the experience, it definitely leans more towards being a psychological thriller. Set in the 1990s, you play as Iria and with a Super8 camera you find, you will slowly uncover clues to the mystery of what happened to her father who has been gone for many years. The controls are fairly simple, but often can feel a bit clunky. There is a level of unpolish with this aspect that I can’t get my head around, but there’s something that just doesn’t feel right. The mechanics however are pretty interesting. This is one of the reasons why I’m so interested in indie games, they explore new territory and fresh ways to experience gaming. In the case of “TAPE” the big draw was the mechanics of the Super8 camera. While using it, you’re able to movie the setting around you backwards or forwards in time, which leads to some fun puzzle solving.
It’s apparent rather quickly that the developers of TAPE: Unveil The Memories are huge fans of cinema, as well as the horror genre. Iria’s father is even this famous horror film director in the game. There are clear homages of classic horror films, such as “The Shining,” among many others. But while the game is very much rooted in the world of horror cinema, the game doesn’t really try that hard to try and legitimately scare you. The disturbing revelations are found in memories you uncover when solving puzzles that link Iria closer and closer to solving the mystery. As stated previously there is a monster that will show up and try to amp up your stress levels, but it’s fairly similar to games we’ve seen before that have done the stalking monster trope. I do really think the design of the monster is pretty cool and creative.
TAPE: Unveil The Memories is a hard sell for the mass audience, but there is a lot here to appreciate and it’s always great to see obvious love put into the project by its developers. One other thing I thought was cool was near the end of the game you’ll have the option to take a couple different paths that lead to different endings. There is also a convenient Director’s Cut mode to help you quickly switch to the other option fairly quickly without needing to replay the entire game. Don’t go into this game expecting jump scare after jump scare, go into it prepared to ride an emotional rollercoaster of a nightmare. With a price tag of under 20 bucks, this isn’t much of an investment to have buyers’ remorse over to try something a bit different.
7/10
For more information, visit: https://store.playstation.com/en-us/concept/234878
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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