Song of Horror Review

Song of Horror is an episodic horror themed point and click puzzle adventure developed by Protocol Games and published by Raiser Games. Song of Horror episode one, two and three are currently available on Steam for £6.99 each or with the option of buying a season pass for £18.99 which will give you access to all episodes as they release.

Song of Horror introduces you to its game and story with a small prologue explaining that an editor is sent out to investigate the disappearance of an aspiring author and his family only to end up disappearing himself during that search. This begins the story of Song of Horror and as you play as various other characters trying to solve the mystery around these disappearances, events get more and more strange as the story goes on. For the purpose of not spoiling this game for anyone I will keep the story related information brief as this is a story driven game and a pretty decent one at that which should not be spoiled.

The game begins at a character screen with several characters to choose from, each character has their own personality, their own set of skills and each are related in some way to the story and its events. For example, you can play as a housekeeper who lives in the family home of the author who has gone missing. He has his own backstory, carries a candle as his source of light, he has his own benefits and drawbacks in his skill bars and carries a metal flask as a utility item to help during the game. It is worth me mentioning at this point that in Song of Horror when you die the character you were playing as dies for good and becomes unavailable for the rest of the game, meaning that if you die playing each character it is effectively game over at that point and you need to start the episode from the beginning again. I found this to be unique and it added to the tension that you already are experiencing as you are trying to piece together the mysteries of what has happened.

Once you have chosen your character you are brought into the game arriving at the house where the disappearances occurred, it is then your job to explore the home and solve the puzzle as to what has happened all while experiencing these paranormal events. The house is submerged in darkness and you need to rely on your own source of light until you solve the puzzle of getting the electrics working again so you can turn on the lights, the puzzles are the standard tried and tested puzzles of finding keys for locked doors to finding fuel for generators or combinations to a safe. During your time in this home you will experience occasional paranormal events from a being called the 'Presence' and when these occur they will result in a couple of different ways to handle them, one being situations where you need to hide causing you to scramble looking for the nearest hiding place before your fear level gets too much causing you to get caught, another is this 'Presence' trying to force its way through a door which you have to button mash to prevent it from getting in. These encounters are quite intense and can be extremely dramatic especially with the music that plays and the sound of your characters heartbeat as it gets faster and faster the closer you get to danger. The awesome thing about the games antagonist, this 'Presence' is that it is controlled by an AI which adapts and changes depending on the choices and decisions you make during the game effectively making it so you can rarely predict where it is going to be or what it is going to do. Overall the gameplay in Song of Horror is as good as any other episodic adventure game and with it brings suspense and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

The graphics in Song of Horror are as what you can expect from a smaller title like this, they are decent but nothing super amazing to make you go wow but that's fine, the game does enough to keep it looking and feeling atmospheric as you would expect in a horror game and speaking of atmosphere, the sound and music in Song of Horror is on point and I experienced no bugs or glitches in either sound or visuals.

Song of Horror is a solid title and if you are a fan of horror mystery and games such as those in the Tell Tales series or other point and click adventure games then you are sure to enjoy this one. It's not a game I can say drop what you are doing and get this right now...you need it in your life, no, but it does enough for me to recommend it to people who enjoy what these types of games can offer. Once again thank you for taking the time to read this review.