GYLT

After struggling with (and then giving up on) Stadia's performance issues, my wife and I were disappointed to lose out on playing GYLT. So I'm thrilled that it has finally been freed from the now-sunk prison that was Stadia. The gameplay is quite approachable for a "survival horror" title, consisting largely of sneaking and distracting/hiding from enemies while collecting items and solving puzzles. You do gain an offensive capability, so it's not all Amnesia in that regard; you can fight back if you so choose. Narrative-wise, there is some easily understood symbolism stemming largely from the main character's experiences with bullying and depression. For better or worse, it's pretty straightforward, not delving very deep into the themes at play. You'll need to look to something heavier like Hellblade for that. While GYLT does technically count "horror" among its genres, I would hesitate to compare it to something like Silent Hill. Yes, the ominous environments do a good job of conveying dread, but you probably don't need to worry about it keeping you awake at night. If you're looking for depraved imagery and trauma-inducing mindjob sequences, you'll have to keep moving. If you have previously played anything where your ability to remain hidden depends on how you deal with light/dark and sound, this should be familiar. If you have not, this game is not a bad first stepping stone. The game is also supported by a great soundtrack and excellent voice acting. Overall, it's an approachable, if simple, stealth survival puzzle game that is concise and competently executed.

I enjoyed the game, it has a good mix of variety and familiarity. The mechanics of using the torch & stealth are easy to get used to, and the game introduces more mechanics later on as the story progresses, which ensures the gameplay doesn't become stale. Most of the puzzles are straightforward enough to complete without external help, with the exception of a few slightly challenging ones. The game does a good job of creating an unsettling atmosphere with the creepy town, patrolling monsters, and a general sense of helplessness without resorting to gore or venturing into R-rated territory. The story is supported by decent voice-acting and hand-drawn style cutscenes which encourages you to empathise with the main characters and find out the truth behind why the town looks so creepy and weird. Besides the present-day plot about Sally's cousin getting bullied at school, there is also hidden lore in the game about the town's history that is not explicitly mentioned in the main storyline. To uncover the hidden lore, you have to hunt for collectibles which are scattered around the map. Thankfully, the game's semi-open zone design means that you're able to backtrack to previous areas, which remain accessible instead of being blocked off in other more linear games. Overall, people who like a story-oriented adventure game (rather than pure horror) won't be disappointed with this title.

Gylt is an excellent little adventure that takes most of the core mechanics and atmosphere from the Evil Within franchise and transposes it onto a dark but mostly family-friendly storyline. This *is* a creepy game, with monsters and jump scares and dark corners, but there's no gore, no violence, and the story centers around bullying and loneliness rather that evil corporations creating mutants. Since it's taking such a strong inspiration as its starting point, Gylt is really good in terms of it core gameplay. Lots of adventure, exploration, puzzle solving, and stealth mechanics, albeit with a somewhat awkward combat system if you get noticed. The world-building is very good, and extremely rewarding as it unspools. Things you noticed earlier become available later in the game as your abilities increase. The animation and cut-scenes are first rate, combined with some very eerie music. At around 10 hrs of gameplay, Gylt is an extremely satisfying and scary little adventure. It does have a couple downsides though. First, it makes the common mistake of thinking that they have to "up their game" in the final sequence, and thus abandon everything that made the earlier chapters great. The last scene (the "point of no return") involves some purely perfunctory linear play punctuated by a tedious chase sequence. I'd blame the developers more except that this is such a common mistake across losts of games. Why abandon a formula that has worked for the entire rest of the game? Makes no sense. Second, the story is both incoherent and frankly trite to the point of offensiveness. Bullying is a serious issue. In Gylt, the protagonist basically ends of flagellating herself for being the bully, and it's neither helpful nor meaningful. Meanwhile, the bullied mcguffin for the whole story just instantly forgives our protagonist for "saving her". That's not how bullying is addressed, or broken relationships fixed, sorry. Otherwise, excellent game.

It's a nice gateway to survival horror for younger audiences and for people who can't deal with the stress inherent to the genre. And for me, since I like horror quite a bit, it's just a nice and simple experience with a pretty art style and some engaging exploration. Most of the things this game does, it does just well enough. There's the sense of discovery you'd want from a game like this, and the scares are competent; they can still give you the chills without overwhelming anyone. I have just two complaints. One, combat is meh. It's so simple that it's over quick, but I think I'd actually prefer it to be discouraged more, because stealth is more tense. I suspect (but as of writing this have not yet confirmed myself) that there's some sort of hidden ending hidden behind collectibles and, possibly, if you don't kill any monsters. So maybe it makes more sense than I think. And then my issue number two, I think the story handles the theme of bullying in an uninspired way. I think neither kid nor adult will take anything compelling out of it. The mechanisms are not highlighted too well, the metaphors don't say anything other than "bullying bad", and both non-secret endings don't complement the message quite well enough.