Horror movies often offer too imaginary fear (as, for example, in “Amnesia”), when a couple of times being caught, the player is less frightened, because after death he simply returns to save or checkpoint. Realizing this, the developers of Song of Horror made it so that all mini-games can very fatally end for your character. In case of death, you can send another hero for further passage, who at first will simply have to run to the place of death of the past brave man and pick up his items.
But the number of characters is limited, and if they all die, you will have to start the episode from the beginning. Moreover, Daniel cannot be “lost”, and some characters after death turn into a new kind of threat. This alignment adds additional headache and “fear” of losing and wasting time. In addition, all this is enhanced by one of the most controversial features.
The point is, mini-games and nightmares outside the doors aren’t the only way to die in Song of Horror. Sometimes, when interacting with elements of the environment, the game may ask you the question “Do you really want to do this?” Without giving it the proper importance, you click “Yes,” and suddenly your detective will kick back. And the saddest thing is that most often it is impossible to understand whether it is safe to make an extra movement. Ultimately, these random deaths and sudden survival mini-games create a very tense atmosphere, but in a not entirely fair way. Obviously a controversial point that not everyone will like.
As for the plot, Song of Horror is doing great here. The main character Daniel Neuer, who once heard the “Song of Horror” from the music box and came into contact with a certain nightmare, which is called Presence here, begins to torment horrors, and sometimes in reality. Having started looking for the owners of the box, he realizes that his prospects are far from bright. The narrative revolves around this.
The game in its original form was split into episodes, and they love to end with disturbing cliffhangers. The story itself has a very elaborate lore, and creativity served as a source of inspiration for the authors. Howard Lovecraft, Edgar Poe and Montague Rhodes James… The finale will not reveal all the details of the script, but it will put a fat point in the story of the characters and leave few people indifferent.
But in technical terms, Song of Horror turned out to be very poor – the budget shines through from everywhere. Lacking a big wallet, Protocol Games decided to put the most of her energy into models of nightmarish creatures and dynamic lighting, saving on everything else. As a result, the characters sometimes look and animate more terrifying than the creepiness of the Presence, the environment suffers from insufficient detail, and the plot between episodes is presented in the form of simple comics.
The voice acting of the characters is for the most part made at a pleasant level, but with the sound there are incomprehensible problems – sometimes the volume floats, and playing with headphones is not very convenient, since the frequencies are too high. There were also some bugs, although there are no critical ones. However, a mistake with a strong out of sync sound and animation in cutscenes can spoil the atmosphere.
