Visage

History is such an incomprehensible thing that eats into things. People leave, but the objects with which they surround themselves remain. Every little thing is able to outlive a person - and causes much more impressions than it could.

The old crystal service, which stands on the shelves of the sideboard, reminds of grandmother. She received it for a wedding back in the 60s. Then the service was an incredible item of value, and such a gift evoked sincere joy and gratitude. Now the grandmother is gone - but the crystal bowl is still on the shelf, reminding of the deceased relative. How she loved her husband. How she enjoyed the holiday. How sad and angry she was when her husband cheated. When she was ready to open his skull with this crystal vase - but she resisted and let her spouse go.

Grandma is gone. But her ghost lives in this set.

Horrors of an old mansion

Visage is a chamber horror movie set in a huge old mansion. It has outlived all of its many owners. Some of them were happy and quite successful people. Others were constantly haunted by failures, invariably leading to a tragic death. The memory of all these people was absorbed into the walls of the mansion.

The main character enters this mansion in order to understand what exactly has led so many of its inhabitants to a tragic death. As usual, the house is revealed to be inhabited by ghosts (this is not a spoiler, as if something else could be expected). But at the same time, not only supernatural entities pose a danger to the character.

An important feature of the gameplay is the "sanity" of the character. The more often he encounters paranormal phenomena, the more time he spends in the dark, the lower his indicator of "purity of mind." At the same time, the number of spawn points of ghosts increases, so once you start losing the remnants of your mind, you won't be able to stop.

How to play Visage in general

Most of Visage's gameplay is about exploring the house, tied to a single mechanic: you need to look for keys and open doors. During the study of the mansion, the hero will find out why the inhabitants of the building have lost the remnants of their minds. The plot is divided into four chapters, each of which tells the story of the death of a character.

The mansion is semi-open for exploration. That is, you can calmly wander through the floors and rooms, go down into incomprehensible dungeons and just look at the environment. As in classic horror films, the mystical atmosphere builds up gradually - for example, at some point the player can find children's drawings of one of the characters. They will depict not only a girl, but also some dark entity standing behind her.

However, there are also artificial restrictions. First, don't forget about ghosts. The only contact with these supernatural entities can lead to the death of the character. Ghosts wander around the house and are very dangerous. Therefore, some parts of the mansion are closed to the public in this way.

Secondly, some doors are closed. In order to access the rooms behind them, you need to find the appropriate key. So you have to go through half of the mansion again, opening drawers of tables, safes and other vaults, trying to find at least something.

The player also has a small inventory. It includes lighters, liquid for them and spare bulbs. Ghosts in Visage are not too afraid of light, but the character really does not like being in the dark - and therefore it is extremely important for him to change burnt-out chandeliers in order to maintain peace of mind and a clear mind.

What scares Visage

The classic horror game Visage scares with two elements - a dark, oppressive atmosphere, and screamers. The first is achieved primarily through the use of an appropriate environment. Victorian mansions are, in principle, quite scary places, but here it is also known from the beginning that ghosts live in the house.

Doors creak. The lights are blinking. The fans are humming. Thunder is heard periodically outside the window. In general, the atmosphere is eerie, and very "sticky", so even after leaving the game, you will shy away from dark rooms and creaking doors for a long time.

There are also screamers, how can we do without them. Periodically, at the most unexpected moment, a ghost appears in the middle of the corridor, which either stands calmly, causing terror with its unpleasant appearance alone, or quickly moves towards the player. And also the light goes out. A thunderstorm outside the window, as without a power outage.

Despite some banality - well, we all saw Victorian mansions inhabited by ghosts, keeping dark secrets - Visage still manages to scare, because it correctly builds the atmosphere and plot twists and turns.

There is also an episode in which the kitchen utensils are talking.