It all starts in 1972 on the Island of Glory, when a sect is about to perform a mysterious ritual. A young woman escapes at the last moment, thus causing the anger of the guru and the beginning of a small chase serving mainly to present the basic commands to the player. Because this introduction is actually just a flashback, the rest of the adventure taking place today. The heroine that we play is called Jess and joins her friend Kim on the Island of Glory to participate in a spiritual retreat. Naturally, after a few walks in the forest and other yoga poses, things will very quickly escalate. It must be said that each of the participants has their own traumas (in the case of Jess, the drowning of her sister during her childhood) and that Tyler, the group leader, is also more like a guru than a friendly summer camp director. . The scenario will then unfold a score made of parallel dimension, frightening creatures, cosmic energy and supernatural crystals. If all this naturally evokes a whole bunch of horror films, and a few games of the same ilk (the recent The Quarry for example), the atmosphere is more particularly reminiscent of that of Lost. Because of the supernatural island, the presence of communities seeking to settle there, and continuous references to a past to be rediscovered. Jess regularly stumbles upon film reels from the 70s, with the Prismic Science organization's briefings and propaganda clearly inspired by those of the Dharma Project from the famous television series. This aspect is also one of the main qualities of the game, which offers us a scenario and a relatively interesting universe. Nothing revolutionary, but the dark forces make good use of the traumas of the various protagonists, while the cult atmosphere works well and correctly justifies the switch between realism and the supernatural.
ZEN, SOYONS ZEN
The game also revolves entirely around mysticism. Thus, the three main characteristics to manage are mental, health, and spirituality, whose gauges are recharged respectively thanks to lavender, ginger and mushrooms. This zen and new-age theme is even found in the weapons to be crafted. It is thus possible to give blows with a sage staff, an incandescent whip and a witch's staff, while the consumables to be thrown at enemies or placed on the ground as traps are essential oil, salt and oil. A wheel of prisms also allows you to choose between six special powers, unlocked one after the other over the course of the adventure. It is then possible to slow down enemies, push them back, bring out spikes from the ground, summon tortured creatures, send insects from hell on a target, and even become invisible for a few moments. A system of improvements is added to the whole, but all this is not enough to create a perfectly convincing combat system. The light attacks seemed to us much more effective than the powerful ones, the dodging clearly lacks dynamism and speed and, in the end, the various subtleties prove to be hardly useful. Why bother setting traps or figuring out which type of attack hurts which monster the most, when messing with any weapon's light attack is enough most of the time? We are obviously talking here about the normal mode, and not the easy mode. One could also take offense to the fact that blowing sage bunches is enough to get rid of infernal creatures, but that would be looking for the little beast.
A VERY ENCHANTING SONG
Fortunately, the fights are only one component of the gameplay which, survival horror obliges, also gives pride of place to small puzzles. These require us to find keys, fuses and gears, or to correctly place light beams. Nothing but classic but the difficulty, never trivial or frustrating, is rather well balanced. The game also has a dialogue system, but this is actually completely anecdotal because interactions of this type remain extremely rare. The three different endings seem to simply depend on the gauge that each player has increased or used the most. For our part, we were treated to the end "Mental", not very great by the way. The writing does not arouse enthusiasm either, while the French voices, neither really good nor really bad, are passable. At least they have the merit of existing, and some games with a much larger budget can't even say the same.
On the other hand, the design of these creatures turns out to be rather successful and some of them are even downright sensational. Which is no mean feat considering the game's graphical lag! More precisely, the visuals constantly oscillate between modern techniques and extremely dated aspects.
The modest size of the studio also makes certain pitfalls quite understandable, like a structure that is a little too predictable at times. For example, information on the different creatures to fight is present in the levels. A commendable initiative, but which falls a little flat when you realize that finding the card of such and such an enemy inevitably means that Jess will meet him and face him in the following minutes. On the other hand, the design of these creatures turns out to be rather successful and some of them are even downright sensational. Which is no mean feat considering the game's graphical lag! More precisely, the visuals constantly oscillate between modern techniques and extremely dated aspects. Some textures look very detailed and some not at all, facial animations are relatively convincing but glued to sketchy body models, and animations range from acceptable to way too rigid. As for the beards and hair, let's not talk about it, the first look like hairpieces and the second like tufts of straw. The adventure should therefore be reserved for understanding and indulgent players!
