PERCEPTION – PREVIEW

perception

BACKGROUND

Perception was born from the closure of major video game company and creator of the Bioshock series, Irrational Games. The Deep End Games is a new studioPerception that was formed by the ex-Bioshock contributors a husband and wife duo, Bill Gardner (Creative Director) and Amanda Gardner (Writer).

The Deep End Games’ first endeavor was made possible by their Kickstarter campaign that launched on May 26, 2015 and finished June 25, 2015 with 4,357 backers that pledged a total of $168,041.

PREMISE AND STORY

perceptionThey say that the scariest things are those that you know exist but cannot see. The best horror games excel with their subtlety and simply the idea of the opposing force looming in the shadows. Imagine such a force is not only hidden but not seen at all, at least conventionally.

Perception is a narrative focused game where you play as a young blind woman (Cassie) who attempts to uncover theperception mystery of an ominous mansion and its living qualities.

Cassie was experiencing an unrelenting stream of disturbing and transcendent dreams that compelled her to research the desolate Echo Bluff Estate and eventually, so desperate and curious to understand it, flies across the country to see it firsthand. What she finds is the same immaterial force that drove her there, which unsurprisingly doesn’t want to let her go.

GAMEPLAY

perceptionThe thought of living in a world you cannot see is terrifying enough, and to wander a creepy mansion that beckoned you by a sort of hypnosis sets up a game that is sure to be filled with a tense atmosphere. By removing your sight and heightening all other senses it inherently puts you on edge. The protagonist has extraordinary hearing, turning a pin drop into a firecracker.

Though you cannot see in the conventional sense you can still function in the world with a system of echo location. Eachperception noise you or the world makes creates an enveloping vibration that sketches your surroundings. But as the vibrations fade into dark you are left with a world that could seemingly change into anything – in a flash of black you could be face to face with an inconceivable horror. Even if you make as much noise as you can to allow you as clear a vision of the world as possible, you will draw near the incorporeal beings that roam the halls of the mansion. So you need to be wary of the sounds you make at the expense of your limited vision. This sets up a scenario of cat and mouse similar to that of the Amnesia series, where torch light alerted creatures to your presence.

As you move through the game and solve the mysteries surrounding Echo Bluff it triggers a radical change in the environment. You can feel the mansion responding to your progress with the creaking and moaning of a seemingly living mansion, which builds an environment of terror in and of itself.

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