Red Haze is an indie surprise of the last year. It is incredibly original and somehow really addicting, while it is able to create its own mythology and setting without stealing ideas from other horror games (maybe just a little from Silent Hill, but who doesn’t). And if you look in STEAM between the hundreds of uninspired copies of P.T. and Amnesia, you will have an idea of how much a rare quality this is right now. The game is really harsh, mature and disturbing, so surely it is not for everybody.
The protagonist of the game is Rockette, a homeless girl escaped from home and forced to prostitute to pay for drugs. Not a nice start, but from here on everything becomes more twisted and surreal. All the things that will happen in the abandoned building where she is living are far more difficult to explain by simple logic, painting a plot based on abandon, regret and grudge.
The gameplay is simple and based on exploration and puzzle solving. The game also feature several enemies, able to kill the main character with a simple touch. Rockette can evade the enemies sprinting or trying to hide, but a hidden stamina bar will make more difficult to outrun an enemy without slowing down. Not always, but usually being caught by an enemy means to restart the game from the beginning, without the possibility to load a save. Also there is only one save slot available and, combined with the permanent death, it makes the game very frustrating in some moments.
The game is build on trial and error, but in an effective way. Red Haze right now has around 20 different endings and multiple replays are necessary to discover everything. Some endings are very straightforward and the player can obtained them in few minutes of gameplay, or just by failing. However, other endings are incredibly difficult not only to achieve, but also to just figure how to get them. Exploring and experimenting allows to discover many endings, but for others a guide is necessary. However, the constant feeling of surprise, the joy to discover and to achieve a new ending is always able to keep the interest high. In the picture below you can have an idea of how much creepy and disturbing the game can be by watching the icons of the STEAM achievements.
Red Haze is also full of secrets, even without considering the 20 endings. Secret areas, random events, hidden monster, there is really everything. Sometime you can pass for the same room twenty time, and the next time something really unexpected will happen. If you want to discover everything, it will be necessary at least around 12 hours of gameplay (using guides).
The atmosphere is interesting, disturbing and innovative. A constant sense of uncomfortable dread will always follow the player around, while exploring the bizarre and surreal guts of this abandoned building. Every new room is a terrible and disturbing surprise, a new grotesque character or an unexpected enemy. Everything here is original and unique. The game is able to create its own personal mythology without stealing ideas from other games, creating a new and unique way to scare and to make feel the player uneasy. A surreal-horror mythology based on drugs, grotesque nudity and disturbing but bizarre entities. As I already mentioned the game is strong and explicit in every possible way and will always make you feel uncomfortable.
The sound effects play a fundamental role to keep an oppressive atmosphere. Whispers, maniac laughs, demonic sentences, everything is perfectly placed to build a positive pressure. It is also crucial to keep track of the noises to understand the pattern of the enemies, because this is the only way to effectively survive.
The enemies give a big contribution to define the sick and malevolent atmosphere. If at the beginning the main enemy is just a simple “killing frenzy” custodian, while advancing in the game and unlocking new endings, also the enemies will become more disturbing and interesting. If for example a hole where should live a hobo will be empty the 10 times you visited it, you should not be so sure that the 11th time should be empty again. Also the enemies act with weird and characteristic patterns. If some enemies will actively hunt for the player, others will try to reach him moving one step at time, like in a chessboard, while others will not directly harm, but will mirror the player movement making very difficult to advance.
The game is very brilliant and it always provides new and interesting situations, especially in some ending. Accept to play hide and seek with a mysterious entity and the game will change to first person perspective, for example. Also be prepared for really weird stuffs, like a godlike being living in a bathroom, another entity awarding the player with the possibility to actually being birth by it (with the actual act playable in a sort of first person “womb maze”), dolls controlling the weather, a woman living behind the walls to rebirth as a moth… and the list is really long.
As I said before, the core mechanic of the game is build around playing multiple times to achieve new endings. This can create lot of frustration, especially while watching the same scene over and over again, or when the search of a specific ending will prematurely end for an error. Luckily the game has a very active and supportive community, with very well done guides and support to new players.
The graphic is very simple, but has its own personality and fits very good in the personal atmosphere of the title. However, the art style during the cutscenes is really of bad quality, making me wonder if was not better to just use the same art style of the game.
Red Haze is a really unique game, with a personal mythology and an interesting concept for an intense and fresh surreal-horror experience. It draw inspiration from very few things, creating something very unique and self-referenced. This is also a game not for everyone, with many strong, delicate and graphical contents and themes, so definitely it is not a game for children. The game is long and always enriched with new and interesting discoveries. If you are not afraid of a bit of repetitiveness and a rough art-style, Red Haze is a game that can really surprise you.
Worth to say that the author will add a future big update including new areas and endings, that will reach a total of 26.
Red Haze is available on STEAM: http://store.steampowered.com/app/428860/Red_Haze/
Surreal and Creepy 