[h1]Introduction[/h1]
There’s something truly fascinating about mixing themes that are beyond contradictory. Festive season’s a period of calmness, peaceful thoughts, gestures and family reunions. Horror elements like being stalked and outright hunted by an ethereal entity, is an entirely different story, right? Out of place when combined with implied tranquility. Only that this formula can create some interesting scenarios which have been adapted more frequently in motion pictures, yet gaming is slowly catching up. Irony Of Nightmare is the Steam debut of Steppe Hare Studio and I applaud the dev team’s bold decision of tackling a subject that leaves plenty of room for debate.
[h1]Story[/h1]
You might not realize right away when considering its title, but Irony Of Nightmare’s story is closely imbedded in the traditions of the Winter Holiday Season. Whether we are talking about Christmas or New Year’s Eve, it’s quite common to picture anything but a horror scenario unfolding during this period. The element of this twisted surprise comes in the form of never fully explaining the phenomenons unfolding before your eyes. Players step in the shoes of a nameless protagonist who’s home alone during Christmas period. We’re never given a location or an exact date for these events. It’s nearly midnight and you’re still spending your time, procrastinating in front of the PC. You hear a weird noise coming from the dining room and set out to investigate. The rest is yet unpredictable. Grim or not, it’ll be in your power to decide the outcome of this story.
Elements of horror from gore to jump scares, are present in-game and remind players that they’re constantly being watched and that there’s not time to waste any longer. The puzzle sections while not being overly difficult, shall require quick thinking. The rooms need to be examined thoroughly since they’ll constantly reveal clues about the several subplots found in Irony Of Nightmare. Since the protagonist’s a mystery and only one other character is being referred to as “Nick”, I consider that the story isn’t that well represented and its cryptic portrayal does more harm than anything. A thin line exists between a well deserved mystery and a plot hole, so it’s very hard to avoid this pitfall sometimes. Since we’re talking about an Early Access project, I do hope that its narrative thread shall get developed a bit more, along with the promise of extra puzzles.
[h1]Graphics[/h1]
An Unreal Engine 4 project, Irony Of Nightmare can really boast about its pretty looks which extend far beyond the crisp textures featured on most visual assets. The lighting effects also play a central role in maintaining the creepy atmosphere and the fireworks display at the end really convinced me of its symbolism as a bittersweet reward. The performance never showed signs of instability or any form of glitches. The occasional visual distortions which did occur, were all part of the intended story. As I mentioned already most objects found in this deserted yet still decorated house, are perfectly detailed. They may be minor details in the end, yet for a game as brief as Irony Of Nightmare, the dev team understood that they still need to focus on ensuring that their vision might never be mistook for a hastly developed project. "The devil is in the detail" and especially horror games need to understand this idiom.
[h1]Audio[/h1]
No voice acting and a limited selection of sound effects but at least the soundtrack was just as chilling as the rest of the story. I’m okay with the silent protagonist and the lack of many sounds simply makes the whole experience feel more genuine. Silence can always be interpreted, when you’re almost certain that a jump scare and “game over” might be just around the corner.
[h1]Gameplay[/h1]
You’re only able to explore the first two rooms at your own pace and with the full lighting still on. The nearly snail-paced start is almost a horror trope by itself. Both movies and games from this genre, like to slowly build-up the tension leading to the reveal of the mortal danger in which the protagonists found themselves. No horror video game portrayed this better than Doom 3, in my opinion. Exploring several level sections such as the lobby and cafeteria of a space base before Hell itself shall be literally set loose, proved that even a good horror title needs a few moments of “peaceful” exploration. So in Irony Of Nightmare you can admire the nameless hero’s room for as long as you like and then proceed to feast your eyes upon a very nicely rendered Christmas Tree which puts to shame even the one found in 2016’s Krampus.
The lights eventually go off but you can still spot a strange figure appearing ever closer to the snowy windows of your isolated house. This creature seems to be a cross between the Slender Man and Saw series’ Billy the Puppet. “Sinister” can't even begin to describe this unnatural menace that has descended upon you. Forced to explore the rest of the house by flashlight, players engage in a frantic race for survival since fighting back is not an option. Enviromental puzzles are fewer than the ones relying on object retrieval, so perhaps the gameplay can use more variety in that regard as well. A mysterious Nick contacts you through the real-time chat application on your PC and he seems helpful enough. But is he really trying to help you? The printer connected to your system has just ejected a very weird document that’s some sort of alphabet mixed with symbols. The plot thickens and time is of the essence. The shortest road to “safety” is not going to end how you’re excepting. Use your wits and you shall survive.
[h1]Verdict[/h1]
Irony Of Nightmare’s price tag reflects exactly for how long you’ll be playing it. True, it’s still in Early Access but I have to admire the developer’s efforts and accurate estimation of his project’s worth. You won’t feel cheated at all, even if you’ll be finishing the game’s storyline in less than an hour. It probably took me longer to write this than actually reach one of the title's endings.
[h1]Strong Points[/h1]
+ Beautiful graphics.
+ Interesting puzzle sections.
+ Nice atmosphere and setting.
[h1]Weak Points[/h1]
- No Steam Trading Cards nor Achievements.
- Very brief even with its multiple endings.
- Too cryptic for its own good.
[b]Rating 65/100 [/b]
[quote]This review was submitted for [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/sgiveaways]SUPER Giveaways[/url], through the generous contribution of [url=http://steamcommunity.com/id/ghostalau]GhostalaÜ[/url] and the Steam Curator Connect program.[/quote]
