If you think you are ready to relive classic puzzles, levels with good first person design and all set in a dark, gloomy and mysterious environment, In Sound Mind can be a good discovery for you. At least, for me it has been the typical game that I might never have played, and I have had a great surprise that has made me relive moments of Outlast with touches of Resident Evil and The Medium thanks to its adventure of psychological terror. A game that captures from its first level to the end, with the intention of knowing more about its history, solving each puzzle and finding out why what is happening in a world that seems a complete nightmare.
Throughout this year, We Create Stuff, the developers of In Sound Mind, have been showing some details of their adventure. In fact, in March it had a small preview that served as a presentation of the game. The team behind are known to have previously launched the mod “Nightmare House 2” From Half-Life 2, however, they have now wanted to offer a much deeper experience with In Sound Mind.
This title will give you goosebumps and it is likely that it will surprise you as you progress, but pay attention to each of the details and pay attention to each step you take, as you are around will be in constant change. If I had to say something bad about the game, I would highlight the decrease in the speed of images per second, the little variety of objects to use and some failure in the translation, otherwise, the game gets caught and create an atmosphere of terror.
An adventure through the minds of others
In In Sound Mind you take on the role of Desmond, a therapist from the small town of Milton Haven where the game takes place. Desmond awakens from a flooded building and does not know what has happened, which begins to explore a sinister place while finding cassette tapes of their own patients. What, if you have to keep in mind, is that, from the beginning, your entire universe is altered and you will never find the world as it was before.
Fighting through your fears, feeling what others feel, and hearing the stories from a first-person perspective is what makes Desmond feel that his work is essential to others, but that sometimes it is not very helpful. To break the stigmata of mental diseases and helping certain fears return to their proper place is all the protagonist will seek. Everything ends up being relevant and encourages you to learn more about their history, patients, monsters and even what you do right there.
Unique levels thanks to their puzzles
Each level will be divided by cassette tapes. Once you find them, you will go to your office where Tonia is waiting for you. Who is Tonia? She is a white cat that watches over your office and gives off a lot of intrigue, since it chases you everywhere. Once you insert these tapes into the recorder, you are transported to a level based on the inner demons of each patient. Thus, different levels are offered: some take place in closed spaces such as a Super Market and others more open, such as the forest or the mountain. The theme of memories has reminded me a bit of Code Vein that also tells the story based on memories through vestiges, those of you who have played know what I mean.
Each level is unique with twisted and quite eccentric places, where the narration is not important, but takes a much more secondary role and everything focuses more on playable elements. In other words, it comprises levels with a structure that combines certain modern details with completely classic puzzles, having control of your actions most of the time. The beginning may leave you with a bittersweet taste in your mouth, as it is quite generic and does not provide much insight into what the game really offers you later on, but pay attention to every detail that they are intended for. show you some clue.
Everything is full of puzzles, some very obvious and others that you have to think about more, but it is important to read every paper you come across, as most have clues, riddles and riddles that help you solve them. However, some of the Spanish translations are wrong, which has led me to be reading and rereading, on more than one occasion, clues that were not correct and that has made me waste my time while using everything I had at my fingertips for nothing. In addition, you will have an inventory that helps to locate certain objects that are useful to move forward.
However, something that has seemed incredible to me is the attention to detail to make you believe that you are not alone in the adventure. I speak of the mannequins. It may seem strange, but in certain areas there are some mannequins that will move according to your actions, some they mark the way forward, others directly give you a key to continue or even position themselves so you can jump over them. Mannequins are scary in and of themselves, which made me laugh to see them as enemies and then realize that the only thing really they want is to help.
A progression with a minor combat
These tapes are found in a linear path during gameplay, but levels can be revisited to find collectibles that you may have lost the first time around or couldn’t be found because you didn’t have the proper tools. It is possible that part of what you find is a kind of pills that increases different characteristics of the character.
Because yes, in this game there is a kind of progression which is divided into four bars: speed, stealth, health, and stamina. All of them can be improved, in addition to recovering part, in the event that an enemy attacks you and you lose life, for example. I do not know to what extent I valued this progression, but it is very well implemented and it also encourages you to continue looking for every corner in order to make yourself with all the pills.
With a flashlight in hand and without a weapon, much like Alan Wake -that will have a remastering this year, by the way- the tension is increasing, and more without knowing how to defend yourself and seeing that the flashlight batteries run out, but the developers have thought something. Battery flashlight can be recovered with different distributed stacks for each area and, on the other hand, for your first weapon you need to find several parts and create it on a workbench, something very original.
Added to the above, it is also of crucial importance the implementation of more mechanics as you progress, since each demon requires a specific way to deal with it. However, don’t expect to find a lot of variety of objects to use, in fact, everything will fit everything to a gun, the flashlight and a fairly useful glass that, by the way, never breaks.
The developers have placed much more emphasis on scares than fighting, some enemies will be roaming different areas, but they do not release tension or they have extreme difficulty, easily with a few shots you can finish them off.
This has made me question how far they have wanted to take realism, that is, they put batteries in the flashlight so that you have the pressure that you run out of light and even a gas mask for some areas that take your life, but, on the other hand, you can use a crystal to split wood and it doesn’t break or you can shoot specters that are …ghosts? These details are not very understandable, but they also do not take you out of an immersive experience.
The tension is more than assured
Each area is very well set, since everything will revolve around the fears and phobias of each character, although you have to deal with the darkness a lot, which have created a good design of lights and shadows. The atmosphere is constantly creepy, though the dozens of details Spread across all areas, it’s what really makes you captivated by the psychological horror. It is not a game that gives off much fear, but it is capable of maintaining tension at all times, even in those places where you feel safe.
Its aesthetics are very successful, but the sound design is even more so. The atmospheric noise of the environment along with the soundtrack, creates a terror that increases with the darkness and if you have your helmets on, believe me you will feel deep into the story. There are times when you are calm and a telephone begins to ring in an abandoned corridor or the creaking of the walls and the floor makes you feel constantly looking around you.
However, sometimes the sound anticipates what is going to happen, causing you to know that there are enemies nearby and don’t be a surprise. In addition, performance has been impaired by poor frames per second, leading to some unnecessary jerks in zone changes or when walking in some areas.
I didn’t know i needed this game
In Sound Mind can be defined as a fun horror game, where you feel scared and full of tension and dread, but you can control each situation with complete freedom. Each level maintains its essence and its own identity, in addition there are very classic puzzles that will take you around when in reality the track is practically next to you. What stands out the most in this psychological horror game are all the details of its environment, not only aesthetic, but the use of mannequins to help you with your progress.
It is true that realism limps in some sections, since sometimes it does not take very good care of certain details such as that a glass cannot be broken, but it is true that it does not get you out of your immersive experience. However, this game deserves all the good that can happen to it, it lives up to its genre and is able to catch you at each level, all to find the answers to what is happening. In Sound Mind will be released on September 28 on PC and consoles.