Related
With the release of its first episode in October of last year , Song of Horrorfocused on land back traditional survival repulsion gameplay to the mass with a permadeath bend . After four episodes that easy ramped up the tenseness of this level of cursed euphony and otherworldly threat , Song of Horrorhas now reached its conclusion .
Once againSong of Horrorsticks to those one-time - schooling endurance horror mechanics that have do it so well inprevious episodes . Rather than the disconsolate star sign or abandon abbey that have played home to the panic attack so far , the concluding installment in the first place takes place within an quondam mental asylum , although the action does sporadically move to different eccentric and locations . From a gameplay linear perspective the asylum fits the series super well , with plenty of cramp corridors , grim scenes , and dark atmosphere to contend with .
Related : World War Z Game of the Year Edition Review
The move to the Hartwood Mental Hospital come under the guise of finally finding out the source of the titular vocal of horror , and with it a way to break its spell and place it back to whence it come . Within the institution itself developer Protocol Games find oodles of ways to explain this through long - stand modal value of storytelling within horror games , initially through the discovery of doctor ’s notes and recordings of therapy sessions .
It ’s not just the environmental storytelling that tiesSong of Horror’sfinal episode to the roots of survival repulsion , either . Although the player does need to be aware of the threat of the Presence , much of the gameplay is still puzzler based , such as finding passcodes or play the keys on a piano in the veracious order . Of course , playing music of any kind in a game about a cursed melody is a risk of exposure in its own right hand .
Song of Horrorstill maintain respect for item - accumulate , although again this may find too opaque for those who do n’t have a history with classic risky venture games or early selection horror experience . There are a couple of rather gross example of deep puzzler here , such as having to poke at the right part of a taxidermy owl to get a hidden key , or the extremum of having to depend through a variety of different aspects of a pic of a band of doctors to come up with a seven digit passcode .
Overall this installment carries both the good and worst of traditional survival horror . Those who loved the classics such asResident EvilandAlone in the Darkwill get on with it a treat , with its wet camera angles , sidelong thought puzzles and by design awkward controls . However , those who opt the more late progressions of the genre may feel things too antediluvian - much like the rest ofSong of Horroras a whole .
The final episode ofSong of Horrordoes ramp up the tenseness via its chief resister , too . This metre the Presence , the creeping blackness that pursues the player throughout the series , sense more aggressive and acts more of a constant menace . This for sure make the fifth episode feel more presentiment , specially when mixed up with the odd in force and neat start panic .
Those who are used to handling the Presence will care with it in familiar ways . It can still be identify by listen at door , while the same quick time result for dealing with the more specific manifestations are in effect . Nonetheless it ’s still one of the most impressive foe in a horror game of recent years , particularly in those hair - raising minute where the player needs to run and hide from its creeping , Silent Hill - esque total darkness as it infects the humanity around it .
That ’s not to say that this net episode does n’t take any risks , as there are moments that go up from its survival horror roots . Much likeepisode three , the finale has a few physics - bending moment that are genuinely unsettling , with several sections of dreaming , doppelganger outlandishness . These convey through to an acute closing curtain where the player jumps into the incubus of those previously consumed by the Sung .
alas , Song of Horrordoes fall a small short with its downright conclusion . It ’s a shame give that its eldritch horror mystery had been carefully cultivated , with a steady expansion of its lore over the track of all five episodes without giving away all the answers . However , the ultimate conclusion feel rather sharp , which will be a dashing hopes to those hop for aparticularly scary end .
Even so , Song of Horror ’s fifth and concluding episode does maintain the calibre that has been present throughout the game . Those who enjoyed the earlier parts ofSong of Horrorwill no doubt value the majority of episode five , even if its last five proceedings do n’t quite live up to what has come before .
More : The Persistence Review : A Terrifying Roguelike , With Or Without VR
Song of Horror Episode 5is available for PC . Screen Rant was provided with a personal computer download computer code for the purposes of this review .
