027

[b]027 (2024) (PC) by Caleb Ernstzen (Australian)[/b] I believe this is the first game from Caleb. He has also been working on one named ‘Flesh Eaters’ and recently released another game a few months back named ‘Animortis’ which can be found on his itchio page. Both are free and seem to be inspired from Five Nights at Freddies. Originally 027 sold for $29.50 which is insane pricing for what is on offer here. Now it has been made free on steam and has 5 achievements which all unlock. [b]The Story:[/b] You are the protagonist Emma who lost her friend Chris Williams when she was 12. All grown up now, Emma decides to return to her abandoned childhood town and investigate to see if she can find answers to whatever happened to him. To accomplish this, you must survive 5 levels. Let us discuss each one at a time… [b]First Level:[/b] For some reason we start our investigation at a hospital. Why wouldn’t we start at Chris’s house? Maybe we already knew he had an accident and had to go to hospital as a result. I will let it slide for now and give the developer the benefit of the doubt. The objective here is to simply find a hospital file about our friend Chris Williams. Once we do, the note will inform us that Chris is test subject 027, being tested with a ‘Mind Manipulation Gas’. The note will also give us a time stamp as it informs us that Chris’s date of birth is 2002 and that his height is 5 ft 4 and that he weighs 50kg with brown eyes and brown hair, none of which the protagonist disagrees with. After the note, she reveals that she is preset for some reason, with only being interested in finding an anomaly, which there are none in the hospital and so she decides to go to Chris’s house now. This whole hospital area seems a wasted opportunity and could have been used to properly establish lore and credibility. Instead, it gives us nothing. The note also informs us that Chris has already killed 4 people after being exposed to the gas for one hour. How does our protagonist react to that revelation? Does she gasp? Does she say anything? Nope. Just that she was hoping to find an anomaly and there is no anomaly. [b]Second Level:[/b] Chris House – Here we find a lot of strange things about Chris. Chris either has a fetish for clothes dryers (mechaphilia) or warm laundry (object philia) or both. Yes, they are real fetishes. Chris also has a cellar like room which houses the fuse box which is in a basement, which is hidden underneath another basement. Why? Who is this guy? Thanks to notes littered around the place and a foxy like plush toy that likes to vanish and later chase us through hallways giving us hugs with its spider-like appendages. We are enlightened in regards to Chris's transformation into becoming 027. These notes written by an unknown family member and kindly littered around the house and basement will inform us that Chris had an accident back in 1989 which made him permanently blind. How? He was born in 2002. Are you telling me Chris is from the future and went back in time and had an accident in his time machine which sent him blind? To further add to the absurdity, we are also informed that an unknown medical professional promised to restore Chris’s eyesight using unconventional treatment which was what presumably was responsible for swapping Chris’s appendages and turning his body and mind into a fox like soft cuddly toy filled with stuffing and long elongated spider-like limbs. This story reminds me of an old Outer Limits episode Season 1 episode 3 where a man was slowly being converted into an Alien in the hopes of confusing other nations that they needed to work together. The operation was such a success that the man no longer looked human and his wife did not even recognize him, but there was still some humanity somewhere deep inside him as the alien began to cry when he caught sight of his wife. Was the developer trying to allude to something similar? Who knows? Anyway, survive the chase. Crack a code and make your way back out. [b]Third Level:[/b] Survive outside in the dark. The objective is to stay in the light by following the pathway of lit street lights. There are 2 fuel cans which you can only carry one at a time to a generator located opposite the café. There is a shadow anomaly of a woman who will chase if she spots you, or will simply grab you if you stay too long in the dark. Who is she? Is she Chris’s wife, sister, mum, someone he killed? The game does not say. Does she even exist or are we dreaming her due to the mind manipulation gas? [b]Fourth Level:[/b] The mall. You must solve a puzzle which randomizes every playthrough. The solution on how to work this out is in the video below. Here you will be chased by mannequins that move when you are not looking at them. Why? I again assume they are a product of the mind manipulation gas. Unlocking the door will give you a key which then gives you access to the adjoining test Facility. [b]Fifth Level:[/b] The Facility. I am not sure how to turn the lights on in this place. All I can say is on your left is a room where the shadow woman exists. You need to make your way past her and open the door on the other side. If you hear her in your left ear, go right and if you hear her on your right, take the left path. If you successfully evade and open the door you will next be required to traverse the tops of some shelving units and then place the system into lock down and finish the game by finding the one green door that opens to the outside within a certain time limit. We also find out here, thanks to a note, that we also are affected by the ‘Mind Manipulation Gas’, but the side effects are temporary. Why this developer chose to write an ill-conceived narrative as if English was not their native language bewilders me. Maybe they were trying to guise their intentions while they were selling the product shamefully for $29.50. I also do not understand why a tiptoe mechanic was introduced if it never works anywhere? All enemies will grab you even if you use it. Resetting the game data does not work properly, as some data remains. You can also break the game by returning into Chris’s house when it turns morning. Also, a laundry door can smash you into dryer when it opens, forcing you to restart the whole game and the list of bugs goes on and on. In final, its free. I can cut them a lot of slack here since it is their first game and you can see definite improvement even in a short period of time with their second game. This game isn’t anything special. It’s definitely no warm blanket on high-speed tumble dry. OOOOOOOOhhh Yeah baby, now were talking… https://youtu.be/3j6csp6of6g?si=T_eddbBXEzwMmEIR My Reviews: https://store.steampowered.com/curator/6843548/ My Zombie Wiki Discord: https://discord.gg/cCCA44f