Support Us!
$2
$3
$5
Powered by
Got any friends who might like this scary horror stuff? GO AHEAD AND SHARE, SHARE!

SEE THE NEWEST CONTENT BELOW!

SEE THE NEWEST CONTENT BELOW!

Monday, November 1, 2021

[Review] ‘Sunshine Manor’ Brings a Haunted House, Demons, and Psychic Abilities to Make a Creepy 8-Bit-Style RPG Action

Many variations of the ‘kids on Halloween decide to go check out a spooky thing’ as the spark for a horror story. When the thing is a house with a dark past, you know the shit is going to hit the fan the second those kids step over the threshold. In the case of Fossil Games’ Sunshine Manor, there’s a clear warning given as to what horrors await child protagonist Ada in the opening flashbacks, but the disarmingly adorable throwback visuals mask the deliciously dark-hearted journey Ada is about to take. It’s presented as being comforting, enticing even. Of course, that’s the point. 

This will be of little surprise to anyone who played 2016’s Camp Sunshine; the game this serves as a prequel too. That invoked nostalgic memories of the games of a different era, with sprite-style characters going on a fantastical adventure. Only that adventure was surviving a vicious killer dressed as a bear mascot with a deranged grin on its face. If anything, Sunshine Manor ups the cute factor visually speaking, which creates a tense psychological clash when the game draws deep from the horror well.

Ada and her friends dare each other to enter the notorious Sunshine Manor on Halloween night. Not long after they enter, Ada’s friends are snatched away by a chuckling cloaked figure. The figure would have seized Ada, too, if she didn’t suddenly develop psychic powers that repel the mysterious evil. With the only way out blocked, Ada must search the manor alone to find her friends and hopefully escape.

Unfortunately, this house has some seriously satanic baggage, so not only are there ghosts and the ever-present threat of that mysterious Shadow Man, but there’s a whole other dimension full of demons to contend with. It’s going to be one hell of a night for Ada.

Sunshine Manor plays out like a horror-led 2D Legend of Zelda game and asks players to guide Ada around the dilapidated homestead, searching for keys and items of interest that can help her go deeper into the house in search of her friends. This primarily involves exploration where Ada finds something she needs, like a key, and for whatever reason, it’s currently out of reach. So she must then search for the relevant item to get a hold of it. Yes, it’s a game idea as old as time, but it can still work well when handled with proper care. Sunshine Manor ensures there’s enjoyment and engagement to be found in this cycle as it continually offers up morsels of new information and secrets about the manor as Ada heads back and forth across it. Diving into the ‘other side’ offers exciting changes to the locale, and new powers, activated by unique costumes, also give access to new areas. It’s a good kind of survival horror-style backtracking and rediscovery.

Along the way, Ada finds objects moving by themselves, and with a jolt of her psychic blast, they are revealed to be spirits trapped in the house. It soon becomes clear that Ada needs to help these spirits cross over by entering the demon realm and defeating the boss demon that holds them. These encounters generally see Ada and the boss confined to a closed-off space where Ada must use her power and wits to withstand the foe’s unique assaults. Happily, Fossil Games has a bit of fun with the expected structure from the off with a beautiful build-up and payoff to the game’s first boss fight. 

Humor plays an integral part in Sunshine Manor’s appeal. It has a delicate balance of spooks and goofs, never pushing either beyond the game’s overall tone. Ada is endearing with her retorts and musings rather than trying to be a quote machine, and there’s plenty of gleefully absurd conversations with evil beings. There’s a whole host of amusing nods to classic horror movies too, which adds to the exploration of the manor. 

Ada’s toolset of psychic abilities is reined in sufficiently as to make situations tense. A Psychic burst or dash will instantly drain Ada’s power bar, requiring a short wait for a recharge. So while Ada’s well-equipped to deal with the demonic threat, she has to be careful and time the use of her powers. 

Considering the 8-bit art style, the monster design manages to be suitably creepy where it matters. Fossil Games does not skimp on the gruesome and the gory, especially in the demon world, and the result is a vibrantly nasty collection of ghouls that could almost be lovable if they weren’t y’know…blood-spattered demons. My personal favorite is the spindly-legged things that live inside dinner platters. You see the tray on the floor for the first time and investigate it, thinking it’ll be some item you’ll need, and then bam, out pop the long bristly legs, and that gruesome grinning maw is on the way to welcome you to hell.

The game does hit some familiar notes but manages to maintain its own identity. It evokes the cursed child-friendly franchise setup of Five Night’s at Freddy’s, has a dash of Dario Argento’s Phenomena, has a dog companion a la Haunting Ground, and has the warm/dark/creepy formula of games like Undertale. Again these callbacks aren’t exactly blatant; they come as part of a game that’s not so secretly a celebration of the horror influences the developers have grown up with that just so happens to be a cracking horror adventure in its own right.

I was already fairly sure I’d enjoy Sunshine Manor before playing it. After all, it had authentic horror ingredients I’m very much into, but I still managed to come away from the finished product surprised. It’s elevated by a sturdy gameplay cycle of fetch and return, gentle subversions of expectations, and an engaging cast of characters.

Sunshine Manor review code provided by the publisher.

Sunshine Manor is out now on PC.



source https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3689963/review-sunshine-manor-brings-haunted-house-demons-psychic-abilities-make-creepy-8-bit-style-rpg-action/

No comments:

Post a Comment


Support Us!
$2
$3
$5
Powered by
Got any friends who might like this scary horror stuff? GO AHEAD AND SHARE, SHARE!



The Top 10 Streaming Scary Movies of Today (According to Netflix)

Given that Netflix really is the master of their own data, how many times a viewer streams The Ridiculous 6, or what films don't get watched all the way straight through, or how many times someone watches an episode of Bill Nye Saves the World, it was easy for them to come up with the list based on just one percentage: 70 percent.

Got any friends who might like this scary horror stuff? GO AHEAD AND SHARE, SHARE!


Top 5 Original Horror Movies of 2020 (Even During a Pandemic)


3 Frightening Clowns Not from the Underworld or Magical Hell


3 Viral Videos Proving Spiders Are Still Scary as Hell


Stephen King Adores These 22 Horror Films


3 Super Stories on 'Halloween' and Horror That'll Make You Want to Wear the Mask

xmlns:og='http://ogp.me/ns#'