Game Review: Visage
SadSquare
I’ve played more or less every milestone singleplayer horror game to hit the market for the past few decades. I marveled as gameplay took a great leap forward with Amnesia, shrieked and laughed through the early days of Phasmophobia, stumbled through the sketchy static and fog of the first Silent Hill, and cried silently in my childhood basement as a man named Barry saved a woman named Jill from becoming a sandwich. I’ve played Love, Sam, broken my sprint key in Outlast, and braved the famed horrors of Shalebridge Cradle.
I’m a naturally jumpy person, and I’ve screamed, squealed and swore my way through hundreds of horrifying video game moments. I should really be getting desensitized by this point, but there’s something about putting on the headphones and turning off the lights that taps directly into my amygdala with a rusty nail.
Git Gud at Not Being Scared
No game has scared me as much as Visage, both in pivotal moments of the story, and with regard to how long it lingered in my memory. I now have this recurring nightmare that a friend will gain access to my computer and secretly mod Dolores, a chapter character in Visage, into another game and I will literally die when she appears.
So if you are the type of person that gets scared, if you’ve ever experienced such a thing in another game, know that Visage is not here to pull punches. The game is as dark as anything I’ve played by a long, haunted distance.
Content warning: this game contains scenes of domestic violence and neglect, as well as unflinching depictions of mental illness, addiction, murder, and suicide. Some of these involve children.
Visage is a suffocating, harrowing journey into both supernatural and psychological horror. The player assumes the role of Dwayne Anderson, an isolated alcoholic who squanders his days in a large empty house where lights flicker and doors slam of their own accord. Throughout the course of the game, Dwayne will revisit the lives of three of the home’s past residents, as well as the events that led to the loss of his own family.
SadSquare
I played Visage in Early Access back in 2019 and could immediately see the monumental potential of the title. Inspired by the now-canceled and endlessly lamented P.T., Visage takes that game’s DNA and realizes it as a fully developed horror title, complete with a shrouded story, complex characters, and a dark mystery as to what exactly it is about the house that attracts and presumably traps troubled souls.
Visage is also a masterclass in non-linear storytelling, with each part of the game a bleak picture that came together piece-by-piece. While not always complete, those finalized narratives were full enough to be affecting, and that feels exceptionally rare in horror games. This component alone will mean I keep tabs on all future SadSquare games (if there are any), and am eagerly awaiting what the developer does next.
Dark History Best Left Unseen
The three chapters of the game can be completed in any order, each centered on a past resident of the house: Lucy, a young girl haunted by a demon in 1961; Dolores, a new mother who suffers bouts of violent rage and deep depression in 1962; and Rakan Al-Mutawa, a once-institutionalized former rugby player who succumbed to intense paranoia and scopophobia (fear of being watched) in 1970. Dwayne will relive each of their stories throughout the game, and have the optional fourth chapter of exploring what led him to his solitudinarian’s existence amid the overflowing ashtrays and endless beer cans that now litter the house.
Each chapter presents unique gameplay elements and themes, and the developers did a great job of making each one feel distinct in terms of both setting and activity. While some chapters are undoubtedly more satisfying than others (I found Dolores’s to be the best), each feels like a necessary piece of the full puzzle.
SadSquare
The core gameplay is based around survival and sanity management, with Dwayne having to stay near sources of light to maintain his mental state (similar to Amnesia: The Dark Descent), lest he trigger a ghost attack. Prescription pills can be used to recover his sanity as needed, but these are rare and Dwayne more often has to rely on lighters, candles, and replacement light bulbs to keep the environs habitable.
It sounds fairly straightforward, except that the spirits who haunt the home will regularly slam doors, turn off lights (or smash them outright), and manipulate objects. Witnessing these events causes Dwayne’s sanity to drop dramatically. Ultimately, ghost attacks become an unavoidable thing, but the player can limit their frequency by playing well.
Beyond this, Dwayne will have to complete a multitude of puzzles, most of which are very well-crafted and sensible. More often than not, audio cues tipped me in the right direction, though I did consult a guide once or twice when the hints seemed a bit too obscure.
I know other players have complained about Visage’s puzzles being too obtuse, but I didn’t find this to be the case. I would say give a good attempt at most of them, but don’t be afraid to seek answers elsewhere if you find yourself stuck for long.
SadSquare
I cannot overstate the perpetual sense of menace that permeates every moment of Visage. Even when you have a good grasp of the game’s mechanics and know where you’re going next, walking down a hallway can feel suffocating, and the sprint across a dark room to the light switch is as tense on the twentieth rendition as it was on the first. This is something very difficult to pull off in a game, and Visage does it in a way no other title has managed. For whatever shortcomings it has, Visage nails the atmosphere to the wall, and at least in my experience, that perpetual dread was never something I grew accustomed to throughout my 10-hour playthrough.
The game also understands that the most terrifying moments can also be ones where the protagonist isn’t actively being threatened. In one instance, I exited a bedroom high on the recent discovery of a major story revelation that brought me one step closer to resolving the chapter. As I cross the threshold, my eyes are drawn across the landing to an open bathroom door, where the chapter’s antagonist is staring back at me and laughing quietly.
The ghost doesn’t attack, doesn’t begin a chase or become aggressive. They simply laughs in a rising cadence, and their face distorts ever so slightly. Then the bathroom light clicks off, taking the ghastly, emaciated form with it and I think I’m safe.
Then I remember where I’m going: to a room that is on the other side of the bathroom where the laughing ghost has just turned out the lights.
Shit.
I don’t want to spoil too much, but Visage is filled with these little horrific setpieces that balance novelty with terror, and that’s something only the smartest horror properties can manage.
SadSquare
These Ghosts or My Hands
All that being said, Visage does have a few shortcomings, but none of them are significant enough to deter an interested player in my assessment. So long as you’re willing to accept and adapt, this game’s strengths vastly outpace its weaknesses.
The foremost issue is that item usage and inventory management are both significantly clunky, with the right and left hands being managed independently and Dwayne only being able to actively carry two items at once, with five more stored in his pockets. Untangling the procedure of how exactly to place a candle and light it with the lighter can be frustrating, especially with a ghost breathing down your neck and your sanity dropping rapidly. This becomes manageable with practice, but this system never quite feels smooth.
Beyond that, I did have an incident or two where I transitioned between flashbacks or setpieces and was killed by a ghost before I could move into the light or pop a pill. This was easy to overlook since it happened so rarely, but I do see how you could have some bad luck when scripted sanity hits interweave with the random supernatural events.
SadSquare
All in all, Visage is too powerful and too good to spoil, and is a must-play for horror fans with the strongest nerves.
Unfortunately, the game had a troubled development and SadSquare has gone more or less dark on social media since October of 2020. It seems unlikely we’re ever going to see another title from them, which is a real shame.
Score 9.3/10
Strengths:
Hands-down the scariest game I’ve ever played
Distinct chapters with excellent stories
Top-notch graphics
Weaknesses
Wonky inventory
Chapter quality varies, with one in particular feeling rushed/incomplete
Occasionally inscrutable puzzles
Closest comparison: P.T.; living in an actual haunted house
Visage is available on on Steam, GOG.com, Xbox, and Playstation.
