Uncanny Valley
Brought to us by Cowardly Creations, Uncanny Valley is an
action-consequence, horror/survival adventure game with a lot of pixelated fun
to give on a very short shift.
Uncanny Valley starts with our character Tom. He is
wandering around in a back alley, trying to find his way around. Once he
escapes the area he is quickly set upon by some dark figures with glowing eyes,
which culminate into a tidal wave around him. Stirring him from his sleep, we
realise it’s just a bad dream. Tom informs us that this is a frequent event.
In order to escape these terrors and clear his head, Tom leaves
the city and starts his new job as a security guard at Melior, a rather large research
facility, with another security guard, Buck. Heading back to the facility, your
fellow guard takes you on a quick tour of the facility, showing you the office,
warehouse door and a set of lifts- one of which he informs you accesses the
lower floors and does not require a patrol. This lift requires two access
cards, which you do not currently have.
It quickly becomes apparent to Tom that his patrol duties
are limited to the general lift and floors above, the apartment, the power
station and the woods in between. The lower floors are definitely a no go- but
this only makes them more intriguing…
Buck immediately sends Tom to the apartment to collect his
uniform. At this point you are able to take a walk around opening the few doors
that are not locked, and picking up a few odds and ends including a key, access
card, etc. When he returns to the facility Tom is left to continue his first
shift alone. It’s during this time that you are made aware that Tom is escaping
from something: whether it be just a nightmare or maybe more is not clearly
defined.
Pressing down on the right joystick, the game shows you Tom’s
shift time remaining. As with any good survival game, Uncanny Valley is also
allocated into days. A short time before the timer indicates the end of his
shift, you are given a warning that Tom is tired and should return to his bed.
If you fail to do so Tom will collapse on the floor in exhaustion and return to
a dream realm anyway.
The dream realm has reoccurring themes, with monsters and
giant hands, shadow characters, ugly and deformed child-like creatures. While
Tom can run it is only in short bursts before all he can do is walk. This
leaves you very vulnerable to the creatures chasing and tormenting you. Each
time these assailants capture you and you are awoken into a feverish state of
reality only to begin your next shift.
A few dreams in there is a red light that is noticed from
the bathroom wall of Tom’s room. It’s not explained and Tom cannot investigate
it at this time, but it gives you the eerie sense that Tom is being watched and
that there is something more sinister going on.
As well as the other security guard, Tom also meets a
character named Eve. She introduces herself as the cleaner and duty manager of
the apartments, even though there are so few tenants. Discussions with her
reveal that her partner used to work at the facility until he died, and she has
never left.
Walking around the facility on your night shift you can
switch on computers, collect tapes and find items like key cards. Computers
allow you to read emails sent and received between staff members which give you
hints of the low morale, animosity and inter-office relationships that had occurred.
Meanwhile the tapes will hint at the project the facility has been working on-
some kind of AI that seems to have discovered empathy.
Without divulging the rest of the treats this game has to
offer, it’s safe to say Tom has plenty of information to sort through and many
scandals uncover.
The controls of the game are pretty simple but do not
initially feel natural. Swapping movement control from the left joystick to the
d-pad made it a constant effort on my part to remember how to get around. One
other point particular to console versions, is while accessing your inventory
you need to navigate across the screen to a rather narrow area in order to
select and use an item. This isn’t always a quick process and could be a
difficulty in a time critical moment. While this is minor, it did affect my
enjoyment in the beginning. Otherwise the controls are fairly intuitive.
A point of high praise from me is the lack of lengthy load
screens. I never felt hampered or like I had to wait too long for the next area
to be accessible. This is a big plus in a game which may require you to access
the same areas repeatedly.
The graphics are designed to look like a 1980s game with heavy
pixels. It gives a sense of nostalgia but there’s an underlying sense that the
game has more polish than a game from the 80s would. The text used during
conversations matches this style as well and, while it can be a little
difficult to read at times it lends itself very well to the look the creators
have tried to achieve here. Conversations are brief however and get to the
point quickly- there are no lengthy conversations for the sake of having them.
Instead the game pushes you into action with short deadlines.
Many outdoor scenes during your night shift are almost
completely black, leaving you with just the light from your torch to see around
you. This immerses you into the feeling of terror about what might be around
the next corner, or even right in front of you. You begin to feel anxious for
Tom and step with some trepidation into each new scene- never knowing whether
it might hold some of the dark figures who already haunt his dreams.
The soundtrack is eerie when present, and brings a sense of
unease when it’s missing leaving only your footsteps to echo around the open
spaces. At the beginning of each day a foreboding tune plays to remind you that
Toms days are limited.
Mini-games also make a feature in Uncanny Valley and are
used to compete tasks in game. For example the first mini-game you will come
across is a puzzle you need to solve in order to reconnect terminals and
restore power to the grid. While not overly challenging to begin with it does
require some forethought and is a nice addition to keep things interesting.
Uncanny Valley is a challenging game- with objectives not
predefined but rather discovered you can find yourself searching everywhere for
the next step to move the story along. There are multiple possible endings you
can achieve but finding them is not a clear process so it definitely comes down
to trial and error and a LOT of walking back and forth. Get the game moving however
and you’ll find your gory ending approaching swiftly.
Boasting multiple gruesome endings, Uncanny Valley has
plenty of replayability and will be an achievement hunter’s dream. If sadistic
endings are your bag, Uncanny Valley is going to fill it for you.
Uncanny Valley is available on PC, PS4, Xbox One and Vita.
-Rem