Uncanny Valley

This one was part of my Halloween sale spending splooge that saw me buy a load of Digerati games. It’s also the second game picked by my number selection program.

My resounding impression of the game is that it’s really fucking weird. You play a guy called Tom. At least that’s what I think his name is. My biggest criticism of the game is the fact that all dialogue is communicated via text boxes and the font is ridiculously hard to read. It’s an old style computer type from those text adventure things that makes ‘h’s ‘m’s and ‘n’s interchangeable.

Anyway, the story sees Tom travel from his home to some weird place in the middle of nowhere for a change of scenery and to escape some gangsters he has pissed off for some unknown reason. At the same time, he keeps having weird visions and nightmares of these black, shadowy zombie-like guys who chase him and look like they are going to kill him. This opening to the game is good at creating a feeling of horror and the music is apt as well. This, coupled with the fact that as the player, you have no idea what’s going on, does create a terrifying atmosphere.

Gameplay wise, you...have to do the job of a nightwatchman at the abandoned complex you work at. Or do you? You can actually do pretty much anything you want in the game within its own context. You get clues as to how to progress the game in certain ways but essentially you are free to do whatever you want. Like kill your supervisor with a fire extinguisher on the first day. Or steal his car.

The game is played in a 2D plane where you can go left or right and through doors. It’s a Steam port so the controls are a bit wonky especially when you have to use a gun. In fact, using the gun was probably the most difficult part of the game. It’s a bit of a shame that the controls are what influence this though.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 12 Achievements

With the open nature of the game comes a very varied and tricky achievement list. It is entirely possible to get through the whole game without unlocking any of them. There are essentially three endings that you need to unlock for respective achievements.

I admit, I did use a guide for this as I wanted to smash it out as quickly as possible. There are two achievements for collecting weird cassette tapes that are scattered around the place and one of them is needed in order to open a door during one of your playthroughs. I found the collectibles a little hard to see and there is another control failing here. I couldn’t work out whether I needed to use the A button or the RB button to pick stuff up and it seemed that the game didn’t either as it was wildly inconsistent when I was trying to pick stuff up.

All of the other achievements are situational ones that you will come across as you play. I will say this though, it’s an experience.

The one I struggled with was for shooting an android and actually this is where I wasted a lot of time with the playthroughs. The gun mechanics are difficult and unwieldy and when I tried to kill the android, he ended up killing me. This isn’t a game over though. It just changes the events you experience in game. This was massively problematic as it auto saves if you move too far and then you have to start your playthrough over again. So I had to do three and a half playthroughs rather than three.

Downloadable Content – N/A

Uncanny Valley was an interesting and varied few hours of gameplay even if I confess to not wholly getting it. It’s a solid 1,000 points to add to the score as well and doesn’t take overly long to get through all of the bits and pieces. The dialogue takes the main prize for originality despite being hard to read in places.