Halloween, Harrowing, All Hallow’s Eve, Samhain, Hallow’s End.

Don’t quote me on that but I think we’re the only species that likes to scare the crap out of themselves for recreation.
Maybe cats too, but they are weird anyway.
I’ve never had a cat, I am sure I am a dog person.
Well, as sure as one can be of being a dog person when one has never owned a cat.
I guess you know these things though.
I am pretty positive I would be a great Velociraptor owner.

Anyway! Halloween, horror, terror!

In an attempt to get the ball rolling on this blog thing and loosen up my fingers, I would like to talk about a game I discovered recently, a game with a very distinct and rare kind of creepiness.

DEVICE6  is one of the weirdest games I have played in a while. I paused a bit before calling it a game, even though a game it most certainly is, but my first instinct wato call it something… like an interactive… kinetic typography…book/app?

This is the lovechild of Myst and the House of Leaves, DEVICE6 for the iOS by SIMOGO.

It is the story of Anna, a woman that wakes up in a castle, with no memory of how she got there (confirming that amnesia is the second most common condition for adventure game protagonists, first being compulsive kleptomania).
The castle is devoid of life, but not of signs of life. That alone is enough to establish that something is off from the get-go. Add to that an air of 50s cold war paranoia and a dash of very bizarre settings and scenes and you have yourself a quite unsettled Garret.

There are no graphics ,not in the normal sense at least, to speak of. But there is design, and aesthetics, and beauty and , boy does, it come in spades.
Text is the primary way of storytelling in DEVICE6, it is a map , a compass and a narrator, assisted by brilliant design in the layout and clever use of pictures, sounds and interactivity.
    You go
        down
          dark
            and
             silent
                staircases and flip and turn the device when you make turns and other changes in direction. There is no UI, inventory or health. Pictures and sounds can hide clues that will help Anna proceed and delve deeper in the mystery that is DEVICE6.

All this is wrapped in a very self-aware narrative with a brilliant sense of design. Have a look at a teaser to get an idea.

This is the kind of horror I enjoy the most these days. I am not impressed by jump scares or gross outs. I like my horror to be subtle but deep. DEVICE6 delivers on that end remarkably. It will not haunt your dreams or make you check under the bed. But play it alone, in your bed at night and you’re in for a unique, high quality and stylishly creepy experience.

~Garret