Close to the Sun
Released: May 5, 2020
Game Length: 4 Hours
Grade: D
Expectations: When the Epic Games Store first came out in December 6, 2018, I thought it was going to be another exclusive gaming platform like Uplay or Origins. I never thought companies would flock to it for a reduced cut in production sales, neither did I see them release a game for free each week. They had a lot of smaller games produced like Observation or Outer Wilds that would stay with them exclusively for a year and then pounce on over to Steam for the rest of the crowd. So when Close to the Sun came out for $20 and then came out for free on April 9th - 16th, 2020, right at the end of their exclusive contract, I knew the game was probably going to be problematic. Combine that with reviews and that it is in the horror genre, I probably won't be able to play the whole game. I've never even heard of the company Storm in a Tea Cup. I guess the only games they really produced were a visual game called Lantern and a puzzle game called ENKI. Let's see how long I last.
Reality: I lasted about 2 hours, but mostly because I had so many issues just trying to play the stupid game. I guess Unreal Engine 4 didn't work too well for the company. I immediately noticed how horrible everything looked when the game first started. The floors were blurry, I couldn't read the newspaper, my gloves barely had any visible lines, and even the kitchen sink looked like it was from the Playstation era. I checked my Nvidia Control Panel, browsed online for issues, and checked the settings. I threw the biggest fit when all I had to do was change from "High" to "Very High" within the texture settings. There was barely any difference between "Low" to "High" settings that I could see in the game. The game also did not like my gamepad controller. There were no options to use the directional pad at all and I had to max out the movement sensitivity from 1 to 1.4 just to be able to click on the buttons. Turning off the shaky camera helped a little bit, but your head still bobbed around a little bit when exploring. The gamma was set entirely way too low to the point where I couldn't even see the outlines of the doors. The game still had massive stuttering and lag issues whenever anything happened around me. Turning down my settings barely had an affect. The thing that really bothered me is that the game doesn't do a well enough job saving your progress. I think it saved maybe twice within an entire chapter. There are only 10 chapters.
Tension: A clever observer could probably point out every single stereotype, cliche, and trope the game had in order to make it more scary. You are summoned by an automated boat in 1897 to visit a large ship which supposedly has hundreds of people on-board. Instead you are alone, tasked to do all the normal procedures yourself, without seeing or hearing a single person within the first 30 minutes of the game. You see red on the floor that turns out to be spilled paint, hear weird noises that is simply coming from faulty machines, and react to very loud sounds coming from electricity making its way through the system. You see strange things that appear and disappear, shadows of people moving in the distance, and disarray of items all over the place. I still can't believe a popping balloon is what scared me the most.
Then the game introduces you to voices of random people, mutilated bodies all over the floor, and a knife-wielding maniac. This is when the game lost me. Clearly they used the puzzle elements from their previous game, but their chase sequences were the worst. Not only was your pathway not clearly marked, but you had to click on the "jump" mechanic at just the right time. Spamming the button while facing ahead didn't work. Ramming the object and then pressing the button didn't work either. It was as if you had to physically put your cursor over the circle prompt and press it within a split second before touching the object. After seeing my pursuer physically bludgeon me with the knife six times, I was done with this game. It wasn't worth playing anymore.