In The Mountains

Scared the hell (amongst other substances) out of me...

My Playthrough (It gets really choppy towards the end, but I did it live so it can't be helped):

can someone tell me if this game has any jumpscares?

I don’t play a lot of horror games, but lately I’ve been looking to try some new things, so this was one of a batch of indie games I elected to try this week. While I adored quite a few of them, this is the first one that gave me that real authentic “oh shit” moment.

First impressions are pretty solid. This is one of those stories that only works because the player character is an idiot sticking their nose where it doesn’t belong, but I’ll come back to that later. The pixelated look is a classic for indie horror games, and this one uses it to its advantage very effectively. The environment is pretty static, which makes what few animated assets there are stand out, especially in tense moments. The limited visual fidelity also makes the monster that much scarier (spoiler, by the way: this game has a monster) by making it extremely unclear what exactly it is. You also don’t get a lot of story details as you progress through the game; like a lot of indie games, most of the context comes from notes that you find as you play, but these are sparse and give barely enough details to hint at what you’re up against and what the stakes are.

The level design is pretty good, and for the most part it feels very natural. During the introductory sections I found myself admiring the scenery, even though by design I had only a very limited view of it. This developer manages to do a lot with very little.

I had some trouble believing the tight hallways and oddly small navigable spaces in some of the interior structures, though, especially the one segment a few flights of stairs down that’s basically just a room surrounded by a single hallway with a closet and two restrooms. This section was blatantly designed with gameplay in mind first and worldbuilding second, especially since you need a key card to enter the central room, and the only reason to go into that room is to get another key card. This is also the one segment where I got stuck, because in the darkened rooms I could see a key card I needed to get to but couldn’t find how to get to it, mainly because by this point I was actually afraid to turn my flashlight on.

This next paragraph contains actual spoilers, so if you’re reading this and thinking about playing this game stop reading now.

I initially disliked the ending when I got to it, but as it played out I actually warmed up to it. I was expecting there to be some kind of final confrontation, but instead what we ultimately got was a cautionary tale, and this is why it makes sense that the player character gets themselves into the situation they’re in. You’re not a hero, you’re just a fool who stumbles in over their head, and the ending really suits that. I particularly like how it’s not just a fuck-up on our part, too, but rather that it causes a legitimate escalation of the situation. That’s a good touch that fits with the basic narrative of a video game.

Overall, I’d say this is a solid 7 out of 10 game. It’s a bit rough in places, but it hits all of the right notes once it gets going.

Awesome Game!!!

But can you tell me how you achieved the pixelated effect?