CHARACTER GYLT UPGRADE

On the note of body horror, one enemy crawls around like a spider and has a video projector that bulges out of its mouth… it’s some real nightmare fuel. I’ve rarely seen these POV shots used in horror games, and I think it’s something more games could benefit from. Sometimes you’ll see Sally being stalked or chased through the monster’s eyes. Gylt nails the elements of perspective and body horror. Honestly, this game isn’t all that difficult with pushover enemies and plentiful supplies, and I took more damage from face-checking environmental hazards than from enemies.ĭon’t get me wrong, this game has plenty of scares. Inhalers and batteries are how you heal and recharge your flashlight respectively, and they can be found almost everywhere. All you see on screen are your health and inhaler count. Aspects like this lead to the HUD being clean and minimal, meaning the horror gets all of the focus. Using your flashlight in any sort of way that could damage or stun enemies will drain its power, which is, in a neat bit of diegetic game design, shown on a meter on the camera in-game. On the other hand, Gylt features a good amount of exploration for secret collectibles, so having the enemies gone for good makes exploration easier. To be honest, some enemies become completely nullified by this upgrade, and you get it really early on. You can also sneak up on enemies for an sick melee takedown that has beams of light erupting from their bodies.

CHARACTER GYLT UPGRADE

For example, the flashlight has an upgrade that allows you to permanently vanquish your foes by directing light at their bright-colored weak spots. There are also more direct ways of dealing with enemies.

If you’re clever, you can lure them into electrified puddles which will take them out instantly, but you have to turn on the power, which might put you in their sight lines. You’re also given a flashlight that can be used to distract enemies, they’ll follow it like a cat following a laser pointer. None of the enemies have far sight lines, so you can easily get away with some pretty brazen moves. There are various ways to deal with the monsters the game throws at you, with the most simple option being to sneak around them. While not all that menacing, they’re certainly uncanny enough to want to avoid. As they lumber around, their lanky arms swing side to side. Their heads are pointy, their faces are upside down, and their top halves are disproportionately larger than their legs. They’re large purple creatures covered in glowing yellow sacks. This is where the horror starts, as the monsters make their first appearance. On the bright side, Sally notices Emily in the window of the school and tries to find a way in. The earth has ruptured as if there were an earthquake power lines are down, and no one is to be seen. It’s just a lot of confusion that could have been spared by a still of Sally ascending.ĭespite the initial confusion, the rest of the opening unravels smoothly. Why would a factory only accessible by cable car have one? When you finally do get onto the cable car, the camera is at a canted angle, making it look like you’re going up. On top of that, there’s a parking lot visible. Save for a few missable prompts, there was no indication that the setting changed. This makes the new objective of going home confusing. It turns out that between putting up posters and getting into the bike crash, the location changed from Bethelwood to Tomm. This is where the story becomes confusing. Her bike is destroyed and she has to find a way home. Shortly after Sally is done putting up the missing signs, she crashes her bike while being chased by a few neighborhood bullies. The factory is only accessible by a single ascending cable car, a cartoony detail. She lives in Bethelwood, a town in Maine where most people are employed at a factory called Tomm on a nearby mountain. The game sets the desperate scene, with Sally putting up missing posters where there are already a dozen plastered.

You play as Sally, a young girl looking for her missing cousin, Emily. Gylt, a narrative-driven horror game, manages to avoid those pitfalls while striking a balance between cartoony graphics and genuine thrills, all while tackling the problem of bullying. It’s easy to fall into countless pitfalls and end up creating a trite experience.

Character gylt