Anna (Video Game Review)

Read the review in full on Paranerds.com

If there’s anything which is worth crediting Anna for it’s that the game does a brilliant job of building up atmosphere. Even when you’re in the cheerful outdoors area prior to entering the house in which the game is set you keep getting the sense that there is something terribly wrong. While walking around you occasionally get hints of someone watching you like strange creaking noises which sound as if they are originating from the roof of the building. When you get inside, things only start to get progressively worse for you with hints of a dark history of the place. With every puzzle you complete more of reality seems to warp and peel away around you, and the protagonist’s sanity seems to decay.

This is really the strength of the game more than anything else. Despite the developers Dreampainters deeming it a horror game, it never feels overtly terrifying. There’s no bold attempt to scare you out of your wits, or repetitive jump scares, and it progresses at a very slow pace. Honestly though, that’s probably what makes it so worth playing. Rather than slasher horror titles like Dead Space I kept being reminded more of titles like Silent Hill 2 or the more trippy sequences in F.E.A.R. Perseus Mandate where you go nuts for a few minutes.

You’re stuck in a very small enclosed area, poking about with things which are clearly supernatural and the powerful semi-aware environment clearly disliking you. It apparently doesn’t even regard you as being enough of an irritation to actually do more than just freak you out with haunted acts of mindbuggery. It’s arguable that it manages to pull this whole thing off better than Silent Hill 2 as there are no actual enemies or combat. There’s nothing to distract you from how screwed up the environment really is or threats to directly combat. While it might be in a much smaller area with a much shorter time until you complete it, it never feels like it begins to lose the emotions it started to evoke. Even the most calming part of the whole game, the oddly cheerfully out of place soundtrack, starts to make the whole experience more and more unnerving as time goes by.

The game can be bought from here, here and here for £7.99. I’d recommend it to anyone looking for a horror title who wants something more to a game than mowing down zombies with semi-automatic weapons. Further links to reviews and details can be found on the developer’s blog.

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Anna and all related characters and media are owned by Dreampainters.