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Now here’s a title that I did not expect for me to enjoy, let alone find. Normally I don’t take much stock in the reviews I read when it comes to Xbox Live Indie Game titles. They are either way off the mark of don’t explain well enough in what I should expect out of the title. I know we shouldn’t treat them like big budget, AAA titles but at the same time I expect a little more out of them to be worthy of my time and money. For the most part I usually end up deleting them the moment I start up the game when I see how cheesy the title screen is and swear to never download another title just by how the title art looks. I know it’s wrong of me to judge a book by its cover but sadly that seems like the best way to disqualify about half of what the XBLIG catalog has to offer. But on occasion I’ll be steered toward a game that I hear is good either via word of mouth or just from a random search that I stumbled upon as I noodle my way across cyberspace. That’s how I came to know of this indie adventure game. Again I didn’t think much of the game at first from the title, but the write up I read on the game caught my attention. Sadly I don’t recall who’s write up I read but it was enough for me to give the first part, out of four parts, a try long ago. I enjoyed the $1.00 part 1 but at the time I felt that the $2.99 price for parts 2, 3, and 4 were a bit much. Fast forward to 2015 and with word of Xbox Live Indie Games soon to die I felt it was the right time to buy this series before it goes away forever. So is the XLIG title Decay worth your time? Well that may depend on your mindset.

 

Decay tells the story about your player character waking up in a decrepit apartment building to find that they apparently tried to kill themselves. Having lost all memory of who you are and how you ended up here, you investigate your surroundings and learn that you are not actually in the real world at all. Instead you’re trapped in a dark, grainy, rundown hell of a world created by a demented serial killer that is somehow involves you, your family and others where you are seen as his slaves. It’s from there that you have to follow the clues and gather the items you need to not just escape this world, but save those trapped within it and bring an end to the “The Pale Man’s” little play world.

In truth you don’t figure out most of the story’s plot till you’re halfway thru the game. But the process in how you learn of this is where this game shines. What struck me about this game is its simplistic design and control in playing this game. Since I’ve grown to love more modern adventure games released by TellTale Games, you’d think I’d become spoiled in expecting a high level of character design, interactive elements and slick visuals when it comes to my adventure games. But here with Decay all the design, control and visuals all complement this indie game title. Think of it as a less cluttered Silent Hill feel of visuals but with more grainer effects and browner color pallet. I know we’ve come to complain when we run into games that can’t seem to have more than one drab color on screen, like the FPS’s of last gaming generation, but in here those colors actually help give the game it’s stark, grainy feel. It feels less like a cheap visual effect and more like an actual rundown location. The visuals give it a less looking cheap feel and more of an outer worldly area that fits the narrative perfectly in where you are and why it looks like it does. Even the quick changing camera angles as you explore different parts of the world work well with this design. It may seem confusing at first given how we’ve come use to panning and scanning environments in more recent adventures games, but you adjust quickly to the set up as you try to make progress.

The game play itself is very simplistic when it comes to progress. You won’t find a lot of brain teaser puzzles in this game but they are abstract enough that you’ll find yourself thinking outside of the box to figure them out. Nothing to mind boggling mind you or actions that make you wonder how you were supposed to know to do “X” action to get “Y” result mind you, but it’s enough to make the game more of a thinking game and less of it feeling like “padding” to extend the playtime. I actually had to use a note pad to write down one particular puzzle when the player character suggested I write these clues down. It gets even harder when you have to use a cypher to guess a really long password. The only real problem I had with some of the puzzles was that they were so simple that I found myself overthinking in how to solve them. It can get annoying at times, especially when you want to blame the game’s controls, but usually I found myself having to slow down, rethink my actions and take it slow in the end.  Thankfully there is no rush to complete any given section of the game, but at the same time I wanted to move on if only to stop revisiting certain sections of the game that I had already been in previous chapters. It’s also nice that the inventory system is just what you’d expect out of an adventure game, with few items and logical means of inspecting/combining them. There’s even one tricky puzzle in how to get lighter fluid for your empty lighter. I wasn’t expecting it but found it clever just the same.

The mechanics of the world are also something of otherworldly nature. The use of the “gates” in this world is rather disturbing for me given the nature of the gates themselves. It just hits me in the lower recesses of my inner mind of actions you just don’t do to move forward to the next level. Forgive me but the first thing in my mind when I see a pool of water so dark that I can’t see the bottom is to NOT jump in.

The only thing that one might consider lacking in this game is its music. Though there is some it only consists of one track or various different smaller tunes during certain events. You’d think you’d get tired of hearing one track over again over but here it’s one of those tunes that just fits perfect with the theme of the game. It doesn’t get overbearing or wear out its welcome. If anything you’ll get so use to it that you’ll start to worry when you hear a different tune that proves to be unsettling.

But all together it’s quite shocking to see such a well-made little nugget of horror game goodness here. It can’t stand toe to toe with a heavy hitter in the survival horror genre but it makes do with what it has and it’s able to make the most of it. The only true weakness of this game could be seen as its strengths. It’s here where I mentioned that your interest in this game will vary depending on your mindset. There are three outlying factors that may turn you on or off to this game regardless of what I’ve said so far. One its main scare tactic is the use of jump scares. Thankfully they don’t happen randomly. The usually happen during certain sections of the game that call for it or during puzzle sequences or as you progress through the story. You may not like them but in this game to me they use them quite effectively. You think your one your way or just about figure out a puzzle when they come out of nowhere. They actually got me a couple of times. I attribute that to the use of the lighting and surroundings the game offers. They maybe jump scares but they feel more “natural” because of the world it portrays. It’s no Five Night’s at Freddy’s but they do the job when they happen. Still a jump scare is a jump scare.

Another factor to liking or not liking this game is the story. Despite what I mentioned up top it can get confusing trying to keep names, locations, clues and characters straight as your trying to find your way out of this place. The game does give you a red herring in who you might be, which only confused me all the more as I continued.

And of course the last thing that might turn you off to this game is the length. It’s one of those games that you could finish in one sitting if your mind was set in the adventure game mood. And for a game that costs almost $10 that might be a price too high to swallow. Its replayability might be very low given how the story is pretty straight forward, offering no side missions or alternate paths of play. The puzzles can be a challenge for an adventure game scrub like me but veteran adventures gamers might find this a breeze. Also newbies may not like the cut and dry flow of gameplay in this game when compared to current adventure games that give you sub missions to do for the story narrative.

Despite this I found the game to be a nice change of pace for this year’s Octoberween Gaming List for 2015. It’s not a AAA horror title but it offers enough charm and scares to make it compelling enough to play in short sittings, or one long sitting if you want a taste of surreal horror, creepy dolls and hangman shadows notwithstanding. Like I said I bought the first part for $1.00 and the remaining three parts for $2.99 each. Coming around a little under $10 might be too steep for some but if you want to try out something different and enjoy an actual decent indie title off of Xbox Live, you can’t do no worse than Decay. Give it a try before it’s gone by the end of 2017. I may not come around to it after this year, but I can see myself revisiting when I start to forget what Decay was all about. Not to say it’s not memorable. It just doesn’t have enough staying power but it has just enough of itself to make you re-curious to revisit it again on some dark Octoberween night.

My Top 11 Octoberween Game Titles for 2015:

11) Zombie Panic in Wonderland – 1000 Wii Points

10) Trouble Witches NEO - $9.99 + $1.99 DLC character

09) Slender: The Arrival – on sale $7.49

08) Costume Quest 1 & 2 – on sale $7.49 each + $4.99 DLC “Grubbins on Ice”

07) Fatal Frame - on sale $5.99

06) Metro 2033 – Free thanks to Microsoft’s “Games with Gold” program.

05) Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly – on sale $5.99

04) Decay - $1.00 part 1 + $2.99 x 3 for parts 2, 3, &4 = $9.97

Ta-ta

“N”

Going to give it a try? Let me know what you think?

Bonus Video

In this episode of “Camera Obsucra” Clare doesn’t want to be alone but gets more than what she bargained for tonight! Enjoy

 

Sleep well tonight….