CRY OF FEAR HORROR GAME REVIEW

With Halloween tomorrow, there’s not a better time to indulge in horror in all its forms – old or new, slashers or zombies. As such, I’d like to share about my favorite horror game, one that doesn’t content itself with just scaring you but tries to sink its claws into your mind: a game called “Cry of Fear.”

Finding its origins as a mod in 2012 before having a standalone release in 2013, Cry of Fear is a psychological survival horror game that has single-player and an optional multiplayer mode. The single-player mode will be the focus of this review, as it is the more interesting experience of the two. It should be noted that regardless of which mode you play through, gore and violence will be present, with depression, drug use, and suicide also playing notable roles in the game’s story.

The single-player story follows a troubled young man named Simon as he tries to make his way home after getting caught in an accident and waking up in an alley. However, as he tries to make his way to the train station to return home, he finds himself coming face-to-face with monsters and a mad doctor, all the while having to question his sanity. The gameplay of Cry of Fear pulls on elements from first-person shooters and survival horror games, with combat, exploration, and puzzle-solving being the main way you progress through the story.

As you begin exploring the city, you’ll likely notice that, apart from the monsters, the dark streets are devoid of life. This helps foster a sense of loneliness and helps to get you in Simon’s head. The lonely quiet of the city streets and buildings is juxtaposed by the chaotic cacophony of the “nightmare sequences,” where reality twists and contorts in horrid ways.

As for the gameplay side of exploration, the first important thing to note is that the number of items you can carry around is limited to six items or weapons, with ammo being excluded from this. As such, there might be times where you must leave something behind and come back for it later. You can also set three items to quick slots, combine items in your inventory, or dual-wield some items, often a light source to help you navigate the dark city streets, for instance.

The second big thing to note is that most items that can be picked up will usually pulse red or green, while readable notes are generally just pieces of paper lying on the ground, and both can be tucked away in alleyways or the corners of rooms. And with resources being limited, every item you can find helps.

Lastly, to bridge the gap between exploration and combat, it is best to keep an eye out for tape recorders laying on the ground or other surfaces. These tape recorders serve as save points, and should you die in combat or fall to the environment, you’ll have to reload from a save, so make sure you save whenever you see one.

Moving onto combat: You will mainly be making use of either melee weapons or guns. Guns are powerful, allowing you to kill the monsters you must face from more of a distance and a bit quicker. However, this power is curbed by the limited number of bullets that will be available to you. Furthermore, when reloading some guns, you will lose all the remaining bullets in the magazine, which makes the gravity of each bullet used even greater.

Whether or not you end up saving ammo or not, melee weapons are something you will have to fall back on at some point, and that means the risk of taking damage. You can double-tap the movement keys backwards or to either side to dodge in that direction, which can help you avoid damage when up close and personal with a threat. However, should you find yourself injured you might end up having to use a syringe to recover your health, hence why I made mention of drug use/abuse. And just like bullets for your guns, these tools are limited, meaning that combat is a balancing act of minimizing how much you get hit while making sure that you have the firepower to take down some of the nastier monsters and boss fights.

A few other details worth mentioning: There are a couple sections that rely on platforming and certain parts of the game require you to make use of a technique called crouch-jumping, which involves hitting the crouch button while you are jumping. Additionally, the game does have its issues. Certain sections of the game are brutal, with instant death being a constant threat that will send you back and you must do entire sections over and over until you do it perfectly.

The limited amount of healing items and ammo combined with the limited number of save slots could very well make it next to impossible to progress in the single-player story and winding up with you having to restart from the very beginning. What’s more, the story within the multiplayer mode takes away from the single-player story’s strength.

Despite such flaws, Cry of Fear is a solid horror game with a strong story and a fair amount of challenge. Its graphics are by no means pretty, but in my opinion do add to the game’s charm and help contribute to the feeling that something’s not quite right.

If you are interested in playing the game and experiencing its chilling story for yourself, it is free to download and play on PC through the Steam game storefront, no strings attached.