It’s no secret that I love horror. Movies, games, TV shows, all of it. I have played every Silent Hill game, every Resident Evil game, and everything else that has come and gone. In this modern age of third person and first person horror games we have been given an amazing gift in Uncanny Valley by the Cowardly Creations development team.
Uncanny Valley started out as an IndieGoGo campaign then found it’s way to Steam Greenlight. This game is a love letter to the survival horror games of the past. It’s a 2D side-scroller with some intense action. Actions have consequences whether you pass or fail which makes multiple playthroughs a must. You play through the game as Tom, a security guard who works the night shift at a remote facility. There’s also your co-worker, but he’s got the day shift. As you get bored at night you start to explore the facility and find… look, if I went any further I would give away the story. I can’t do that. Let’s just say stuff gets weird, scary, and be prepared to run.
The graphics have that old-school retro sprite look to them. I did notice some graphical issues especially surrounding buttons in menus. There were times where I would enter a new room and would see Tom fall into place. While not tremendously jarring it does ruin the mood and take you out of the experience. Moving the cursor as a point-and-click style game didn’t work well for me as the speed was too slow and made for some awkward moments.
Uncanny Valley nails is it’s sound design. Your footsteps echo in empty halls as you explore your surroundings. Music swells and fades at just the right moment to keep chills running down your spine. There are some awesome sound effects and I don’t mind admitting that I jumped a few times due to startling sounds.
The core gameplay is, at heart, survival horror. Explore, solve puzzles, run away. The major difference (as pointed out earlier) is that if you fail at something, you don’t die. You just deal with those consequences later on. Which to me, adds a whole new level of both ingenuity, and nostalgia to this genre’s entry.
Overall, if you are a fan of survival horror, I would suggest picking this game up. At $13.99 you won’t find a better horror experience for this price point. As I’ve stated once, Uncanny Valley is a love letter to the survival horror days of the past, and it’s time this letter was read aloud. You can find Uncanny Valley on Steam, Xbox One, PS4, and Vita.
