Karma: World of Darkness understands that horror lives in your mind

Stephen King once famously wrote that there are three levels of horror: blood and guts everywhere. As King puts it, the horror of horror: “Unnatural spider-sized, dead bodies walking up and down, things that were claws grabbing at your arms”; and horror: “When the lights go out, when you feel When you're behind something, you hear it breathe, and then you turn around and there's nothing there.” King considers horror to be the best emotion of the three, and it's the one he always tries to evoke in his readers. There is no doubt that horror is an emotion. The horror is what you experience. Horror is the work of the mind, of the absent imagination, of what is possible under the rug or around the corner. this is you alive. Karma: Yes, the dark world has its share of horrors, yes. But it's mostly about horror. What's more important OK in it.

Sometimes, during a demo I played for about two hours at night, with the headphones turned off, I had to stop and breathe. Horror games don't usually “scare” me. I don’t jump, I don’t yell, I don’t scream. I know the tricks. But it was two mornings and I was tired and alone with my headphones on and something got into my brain and when I had to climb that vent into that cordoned off red room I decided that at night enough.

Karma is full of those little moments where you don’t want to move forward, don’t want to witness the testimony, but you have to. Karma is an alternate history set in 1976 where you are stepping into the shoes of roaming agent Daniel McGovern. Daniel is what they call a night rider. He is an employee of the omnipresent Leviathan Corporation's Thought Bureau and spends most of his time talking over other people's heads. When my presentation began, he was sent to investigate Sean Mehndez, who was accused of stealing from the Winston Research Institute. You are to investigate this, as well as the “unusual events” occurring in the clerk's office at the same time. As Daniel pointed out, it sounds pretty routine. no.

Big brother is watching

The world of Karma is decidedly dystopian, and you'll notice how it feels like everything is on the bat. Some people have TV in charge. There is a social dimension to everyone, and every little infraction is recorded, categorized, tracked and fought against you – even something as trivial as a stain on your work uniform or makeup on during working hours. TV screens that require user ID (shaped like floppy disks) are associated with social levels and hang in every room. The full sight of Leviathan is upon you. None of the demos I played explained any of this stuff. It doesn't need to be; you understand it instantly, the same way you understand a weight on your neck, the same way you understand a noose. this world is Wrongwhich only adds to what's to come.

Karma is a first-person game that only adds to the fear that creeps into you as you play. You're always aware of what you can't see, what you have to look at, rather than progress, and what might happen if you do. Daniel's investigation begins innocently enough. You explore the institute, piece together what happened and solve simple puzzles. You need an ID to open the cache, so you piece together the code by reading journal entries and using it to find clues you need in the world. But soon, Terror™ began to spread. “Don't Look Back” seems to be scraping against the wall when you flick it from the light switch. If you do this, you will see… something, a man, a shape, a ghost, appear and then disappear. When you examine the recording of the offending, there's something…too much leg stuff that seems to be in the image. Something is wrong here.

Karma also builds fear in more subtle ways. Musical stimuli appear and then disappear as suddenly as they arrive, seemingly at random. Room lighting. The destroyed area you want to investigate. It always feels like you're heading towards something, witnessing something, and often you don't want to. Daniel even moved slowly, awkwardly, like he knew he wasn't supposed to be here, that moving forward would take him to a place he didn't want to be.

chest

The most memorable moment I spent with Karma came after I discovered evidence of Mayendez's crimes. When I went to return it through the pneumatic tube where the order was assigned, I saw Menendez walking down the hallway like a ghost. I followed him and he led me into a dark room with a door. When I entered, I found myself in what can best be described as a twin-peaked black cabin: red curtains everywhere, mannequins, a family around a table. It took me a moment to realize that I was seeing Mendez's memories – his life, maybe his fears. something. I read about his daughter and saw her room and then when I came back they moved to the TV and eventually they led me to the elevator down. I dropped.

What ensues is one of the most disturbing sequences I've ever experienced in a horror game. The alarm clock hangs from the ceiling, extinguished. Bodies were covered in some kind of black goo, and mannequins filled with blood lay haphazardly along the Gurneys. I found out what happened to Mehndez, his wife, his daughter. I watched their home fall apart. I put my hands on a computer and watched as a man bound his arms and exploded. I entered the office and watched it as a crazy, cow-whining model in fear. At one point I turned around and tried the other way and they were suddenly behind me, hands up, forcing me forward. Sometimes the greatest horror is being forced to watch. I thought about revelation. A voice said, “Come and see,” and I looked.

I saw those mannequins circling, saw the black sticky floor, watched Mehndez's home disintegrate further, and learned about his family. And the curtains around me are always red curtains. Then back to the office, answering the previously silent ring. “War. Peace. Freedom. Slavery. Ignorance. Power,” said the voice on the other end. I recognized the words. Orwell. 1984. Big brother is watching you. Then I followed them, followed them, until I got to the office and could walk around the screen and see the big eyes that were always looking at me, I saw the eyes sprouting more eyes and I watched it follow me as I climbed Go up the stairs. With nothing left, I saw three doors out of nowhere, another phone call, which I answered, and a woman told me she was sorry and that none of this should have happened. I entered the door in front of me, something I had barely glimpsed, but it terrified me and I fell. Then Daniel woke up and I was so breathless I didn't know I was holding him.

Is it true? Did it happen? Did Daniel imagine it? Does it matter? Like him, I went through it and I will remember those images, whether they were real or not. Unreal, strange, false dreams that look like dreams may haunt us. This is where horror lives. In the heart. There are many more from my past demos, but horror is the best experience, so I'll end it here and say Karma: The Dark World beckons you to check it out. And if developer Pollard Studio can deliver that feeling, that scary, shocking, you-think-for-the-rest-of-Karma: World of Darkness runtime, that's a ride I'd be happy to take. My eyes open.