take your normal pills | Dark Fracture Prologue (DEMO)

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andynomical

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Published on March 17, 2023 4:51:03 AM ● Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq1oPF5Eylg

Game:

Dark Fracture: Prologue (2020)

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Vlog

Duration: 42:57

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4

must've been the wind

REVIEW
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Is this real life? Is this just fantasy? This is what Dark Fracture's prologue introduces to the player as not all is what it seems, a constant battle of reality between the mental and the seemingly impossible becoming possible. And yes, I am referencing Queen xd.

There are bits and piece to collect via interacting with the environment but the game sets up a peculiar baseline. Initially, it seems cliché to use the "challenged mental health" trope as the protagonist Edward suffers from psychological trauma, making an easy target for horror-related themes. Apart from that, it's unique that it takes place at a body farm, researching a variety of elements regarding human decomposition. Another aspect is that a facility mandated prescription must be taken for "business" reasons but the otherworldly horror that occurs over time is in fact not supernatural but "alien", some otherworldly force taking advantage of Edward's blight and uses him as a conduit for nefarious purposes (this is confirmed beyond the game but is suggestive regardless as seen at the end). The requirement of pills, the mysterious workplace and an foreign presence not human makes for an interesting tale that there is more to the place than meets the eye.

Gameplay is pretty untypical this time around and that's a good thing. You get your basic functions of item hunting, reading lore, inspecting miscellaneous stuff here and there but the main course of this game is the sanity aspect. I don't know how it'll play out in the main game but I get the feeling that random and scripted events will occur and while it immerses the player with scares added by passive fear and tension, it'll serve as a health factor. Get too overwhelmed by the horror and you die. That's not a gimmick done too often. You can offset this by collecting and using "sanity pills" sparingly but it is a balance of experiencing and managing horror not done often.

I didn't touch upon this at the end with my review but from the pictures of the main game, I got a feeling of "Scorn" vibes but only at the end did that play out. Otherwise, like I had to find out near the half-way point, it served gameplay in the veil of "Visage". Not that it's necessarily bad since it captures a buildup of unsettling suspense quite well, it just seemed to paint itself as one thing (bodily fleshy horror) but the prologue/demo presents another (walking simulator horror). Just my 2 cents.

I've put this game off for a while but I'm glad I finally played it because it introduces horror to me done in a way I enjoy. It takes itself at a slow pace, throwing different types of scares at you and displays a desire to approach first person horror in an unorthodox yet refreshing way. I'd definitely keep an eye out for this game once it comes out in 2023.

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