- 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 30/Aug 00:01

DEADCAM – Preview

Solo indie developer Joure Visser has made a few games already, but DEADCAM is a departure from all those previous titles. This horror anthology is planned to contain a series of tapes, each tape representing a completely new survival horror experience with a unique narrative and an analog touch. It sounds ambitious, though for now the Early Access only allows us to play one such tape: Onryo. We decided to dive into a macabre found-footage story to see if this game is one to keep our eye on. As mentioned, DEADCAM will aim to become an anthology about a series of found-footage tapes surfacing on the internet, each showing off spooky events. For now, only the first tape is available, titled Onryo. Onryo is about a Japanese high school that was abandoned and has fallen into decay after a mysterious accident killed one of the female students. The main character is drawn back there by the guilt of his past, showing he might be involved in the tragic occurrence. Once there, he discovers the deceased girl might still linger in the place where she once died. The vibes are those of a classic Japanese ghost story, as you’re probably able to tell. The idea isn’t the most original, but it was executed very well, with some emotional impact and enough of a scary vibe. It makes us excited to see what else the other tapes will contain. Overall, we also liked the graphics well enough. The character models are a bit rough around the edges when they’re moving around, but the actual school environment looks creepy, and the lighting is doing some heavy lifting. What we also want to compliment is that since DEADCAM places a lot of importance in maintaining that analog vibe, the game goes through a lot of effort to mimic the look of an old camera. All the little visual effects and details, like your camera’s playback time, complete the picture. It provides a nice atmosphere for the game. By contrast, DEADCAM’s sound design is a little all over the place. We didn’t enjoy some of the sound effects that sounded very cliché, as well as the longer stretches of silence that permeated the game. That being said, when the background music did kick in, it was very good music. And the Japanese voice acting was surprisingly professional for an indie game. This might simply be a sign of the game’s current unfinished state, but it’s something we hope the developer takes into account moving forward when they make more tapes. And then there is the equally ‘all over the place’ gameplay. DEADCAM has a confusing blend between survival horror and something that edges too much into frustrating action segments for our taste. The game starts out strong, playing more like a typical walking simulator with a focus on story and decent scares. Simple puzzles guide you along a linear path, and it’s easy to be immersed. Personally, given the game’s good atmosphere, we found this was where DEADCAM shines the most. Things take a turn as soon as you pick up a weapon, though. You’ll find a simple katana, and enemies start spawning in. From there on, the game becomes a lot more action-oriented. Enemies spawn in continuously, literally five or six at the same time. You run around while slashing at them with your katana, while trying to get to where you need to go. Need to backtrack to solve a puzzle? Well, good luck, since all those enemies will have respawned. Combined with the frustrating controls of the combat, specifically, DEADCAM feels like it comes to a grinding halt and loses most of the charm it initially had. To make things easier, you can unlock a (totally optional) gun. And the survival elements seem to kick in as you’ll have to struggle to find enough health and ammo to get by. But overall, we found this aspect of the game to be badly executed. According to the developer, future tapes will alternate between some that are more action-focused and others that take a more classical horror approach. While it’s too early for us to judge, we hope the developer will take feedback into account and consider either adjusting the combat or pivoting back to horror, where the game is more adept at pleasing us. Conclusion While we can’t say DEADCAM has fully won us over, we do admit we like some of the stuff put forward here. We see potential for a solid analog horror experience, and there is passion written all over this project. For people who enjoy the genre, we do recommend keeping an eye on this one as its Early Access period progresses, and see if the seed will flourish into something amazing.