White Night is an effective psychological horror game by French indie developer OSome Studio. Set in the thirties somewhere outside of Boston, the game follows a man who gets into a car accident and stumbles into a nearby creepy mansion for help. Terror ensues!
Everything about this game stands out: the stark black-and-white visuals, the unnerving score, and the gameplay that mainly involves lighting matches and solving puzzles. The unnamed and injured main character must advance through various unlit rooms and corridors to find a way to call for assistance. Players can only carry a limited number of matches, and being in the pitch dark of the mansion for too long results in a game over screen...or worse. For you see, specters haunt the halls...
The mansion has four levels: the main floor, the upstairs, the attic, and the cellar. As soon as I saw the door leading down, I was like "NOPE!" But, naturally--and this is hardly a spoiler--the underground portions of the mansion serve as the final stage, the death icing on the cake of fear, as it were. Before getting there, however, it's a slow creep through once-glorious rooms, serial killer artwork, and recently unearthed tombs. Party time!
White Night has been described as Resident Evil without the combat, which it is. And it's seductive, with a fragmented story scattered throughout the mansion's rooms that compel players to discover ever more about the ghosts lurking...or about the living, clearly psychotic person who might be in there with you as you explore. The puzzles are fairly simple, such as finding keys to unlock rooms, or following a cord to plug in a lamp that will eliminate a spirit blocking the path. The soundtrack, which often consists of just one insistent, loud noise--such as a window banging open and shut, or eerie wind chimes--heightens the tension.
And there's a thematic weight to the character's exploration, underscored by each found diary entry, newspaper clipping, and letter. The mansion is home to a disturbed, conflicted family whose members have different ideas about power, wealth, responsibility, status, and love. Everything comes full circle in the end, with a conclusion that might be predictable to horror genre fans, but is nonetheless beautiful, tragic, and infuriating. You know, French.
TL; DR: Scary! Amazing! Highly recommended for horror fans!
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