Fans of horror games sometimes get a raw deal. We keep looking for something new, hoping something will twist our dials and send shivers down our spines. The genre sometimes grabs hold of an idea and we are forced to endure countless variations of the same theme. Very rarely, you find that diamond, something that spooks you in all the right ways. When you find it, and the developers need a little help to bring it to life, you help them. That’s what happened when my husband and I backed a game from Illusion Ray Studio. This is The Beast Inside, a game that is perfect for Halloween.
Adam and his wife Emma have moved out into the country. This is not purely a break from civilization in 1979. Adam is working for the government and trying to crack a code. The day he moves in, he finds a journal from a man named Nicholas. Nicholas has come to this very house in 1864. His father has gone missing, but something else is waiting for him. Adam and Nicholas must discover what unties them before all that they love is ripped apart.
The Beast Inside quickly establishes a patter. Adam’s section is about exploring the area around the house and solving puzzles. Nicholas has a harder job. He must find a way to survive the supernatural onslaught that has taken residence in his family home. He must hide and attack. At first, I thought that Adam’s section broke up the pacing of the game, but I realized how necessary it was. If you just stayed with Nicholas, you would stop playing because your nerves would be shot. You need that break.
Alfred Hitchcock once said tension is not the shooting of the gun, but the anticipation of the shot. The Beast Inside takes this lesson to heart. Monsters do not jump out at you constantly. There is a dark figure on the stars, a door opening behind you. Soon, you don’t even need the game to scare you. I kept seeing things in the dark. The Beast Inside almost demands you play with someone else or record your gameplay to spot the things you might have missed. It’s a bold strategy, as you might miss some of the scares. Don’t worry, there are plenty more.
The graphics of The Beast Inside are stunning. I have heard of the term photo realistic, but this takes it to another level. Everything looks real, which is good while the sun is shining. It’s a different story when night falls. The monsters are of the rapidly twitching variety, one of my personal fears. The two stories dove tail at the end and I guarantee you won’t see the twists coming. The game has multiple endings, depending on your actions.
The Beast Inside borrows from the classic horror games while creating it’s own path. It succeeds by making the player psych themselves out. It can best be described as a video game that resembles a campfire story. I can not wait for what Illusion Ray Studio comes up with next. The only problem is, this will be a hard act to follow.
9/10
Available on PC
