The Shore review

There's a little Cthulu in all of us

The Cthulu mythos has inspired, scared and interested people for more than a hundred years now. It has inspired several creations in both movies, video games, and several books that have been written outside its original author H.P Lovecraft. It's a mythos that I've never really sunken my teeth into but only had heard about when looking at video games that had been inspired by it. Usually, these games would always have been in the genre of horror games (except for maybe Bloodborne) and considering myself somewhat of a horror aficionado it's a wonder that I hadn't played any of them. Until now.

The Shore is developed by indie solo-developer Ares Dragonis for whom this seems to be their first game release and they sure have hit the ground running since this will surely leave some kind of mark on anyone that plays it.

You find yourself in the shoes of a fisherman called Andrew who is in search of his daughter that's gone missing during their fishing trip on an unknown island. While walking around the island you will come across several strange artifacts and items that have been left behind by people that've been on the island before you. By searching through these items and reading through various notes that are to be found. You'll get the sense that this is not your normal holiday-getaway island but a place that inhabits something that ordinary people shouldn't come across. As you continue your journey you'll find out what that is and start regretting that you ever set foot on the island.

The inner voice

Initially, you'll be just walking through the environments on the island trying to figure out where your daughter is and figuring out what's going on but not long after you'll come across a voice that beckons to you. From here on out this voice will be your companion but also your guide, telling you what objectives it wants you to complete and where you need to go in order to find your daughter. Of course, it only does all this to a certain extent, leaving just enough out for you to figure out by yourself.

At the start, your movement is restricted to only being able to walk and interact with objects in the game. Once you reach a certain point you will be also able to run and even further into the game you'll be able to jump. This has to be the first time ever for me that player movement gets unlocked in this way, depending on how far you've progressed in the game. It sure is an interesting game-design decision that leaves one wondering what the motivation was behind it. It's not as though if you had all the movement abilities from the start, you'd be able to get into parts of the game where you weren't supposed to be. Nevertheless, it's not something that takes away from the experience but is just an initial crutch that maybe didn't have to be there in the first place.

Being someone that isn't all too familiar with the Cthulu mythos and only having a puddle deep understanding of what it might entail, I can just say that if the Cthulu mythos was like how this game represented it. I would believe it. Everything from the locales to the horrific creatures that show up are all well done and featured showing that the developer behind this game had a good grasp on what they wanted to represent. I say this even though I'm not that familiar with the source material but one thing I do know about the whole Cthulu universe is that it is supposed to represent otherworldliness and induce madness in those that come in contact with it. And on those two points, I would say mission accomplished. Because as Andrew continues his journey he will shift between the two different places. One that is more grounded in reality and another which represents an otherwordly realm where cosmic horrors reside.

The tone and atmosphere do feel oppressive and somber at times but never do they feel scary. Sure you'll come across some horrifyingly looking creatures but that's all they are scary looking not scary. I'm not sure if I feel this way because of all the horror media I've consumed throughout the years and I have just become desensitized or if it's just that the game has such a lenient death penalty that it isn't such a big deal if you die since you'll just start over just before the enemy encounter. I will say though that during those times that you do find yourself in the otherwordly realm, you do feel like you don't belong there and that you shouldn't be there.

It's scarily beautiful

Visually this game looks great and what's even more impressive is that it's all done by a single person. Just take a look at some of the trailers or screenshots and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes it feels like indie developers take the easy road in the sense that they don't want to work with the more advanced graphics engines. Sticking to the tried and reliable pixel art and 2D graphics not wanting to make it too hard. Here, however, this is not the case. It's not just a matter of the impressively looking giant creatures that are portrayed here but also the environments themselves. They are both varied and thought-provoking and I can guarantee that some of them will be such that they'll at least represent something you've never seen before.

What would a horror game be without good sound design, well a bad one of course. However, that is not the category which in The Shore resides since it does have a quite good sound design for the most part. There were occasions where it did falter in the sense that the sound didn't always seem to be the correct one considering what type of surface you were currently treading on. There was an occasion when I was walking on shallow water but it sounded more like I was threading on wooden floorboards.

Another part that is a bit of a letdown is the voice acting. When it comes to our protagonist, for the most part, it does fair well. There are occasions however where I wondered if our protagonist was really aware of the situation he found himself in. When you start the game Andrew will walk around the initial area talking to himself very casually and at points nonsensically. I started wondering if he had forgotten about the fact that his daughter was missing because considering the calm demeanor that Andrew shows in the initial stages of the game sure had me asking if he was aware of the situation. Apart from Andrew, there was a point in the game where that dark voice that had been guiding us during the game all of a sudden got an accent without having one before. It's like the voice actor got switched mid-game.

Overall this game was an interesting ride that should be played by horror and Cthulu fans alike. It offers some interesting-looking locales together with several monsters from the Cthulu universe in a giant format. Who you never get the chance to fight but sure are cool to look at.