Reveil Review - Retreading Horror Tropes

Horror house walkthroughs are nothing new. Games designed around this principle have existed for decades. However, it’s arguable that in more recent times – thanks to the advancement of video game hardware – they have truly found their footing. There’s little trade-off between immersion and visual quality, and developers are able to conjure unique atmosphere and pacing that had for many years been just out of reach. Reveil is one such title that aims to capture the essence of the modern horror house, in possibly the most literal sense imaginable.

Reveil is weird. Intentionally so, but weird nonetheless. The game begins with you – playing as Walter – walking a few feet, then some getting transported onto a ghost house style ride with the lights dimming in-and-out of darkness, before finally waking up believing it was all a dream.

You’re then given your first taste of actual gameplay. A small area in which to examine your surroundings and the items therein. Facing a singular problem and playing with the available items through a chain of interactions, you’re eventually lead to overcoming said problem. In this case, finding the key to unlock the door. It’s not a complicated procedure and there is no time limit. Reveil is more about the journey than any real kind of challenge. Once the mystery is solved, it’s a short walk with colour adding flesh to the story before another exploration area, and so on. Or is it all just a dream?

The formula isn’t exactly anything new. It lands somewhere between the intentionally restrictive nature of Devil Inside Us: Roots of Evil and the free form puzzle-solving of Martha is Dead. It’s a slow paced atmosphere builder that keeps the player guessing. The attempted jump scares of the opening belie a more plodding pace of game. One wherein the moment-to-moment character development is just as important as the sudden scare tactic. But maybe, it’s all just a dream anyway.

While the game isn’t particularly inspiring through it’s core gameplay loop, it does have some interesting ideas. As the story unfolds you learn about Walter. How it seems he wasn’t as nice a guy as you initially thought. There’s also the fact, as you may have guessed this review has been hinting at, the game will frequently cut back to your character waking in his bed believing everything so far has been a dream. Not just a story element; but often regardless of whether you had succeeded or failed in the task before you.

It’s an interesting twist that, in practice, never lets you know if you were ever actually meant to succeed at a certain task. Or if failure was inevitable to progress. Honestly, it feels like it’s better not to know, and that replaying said instances would only undo the magic. While Walter occasionally dives ‘through the looking glass’, you as the player shouldn’t need to.

It’s a shame this mechanic wasn’t taken further. Later instances in the game will provide you with very obvious win-or-lose states. Failure in these will simply reload a checkpoint. The lack of consistency in this mechanic is not only odd, but a missed opportunity. Given the regular twisting of the environment you reawaken in, it surely would’ve made sense to repurpose a shortcut to wherever you previously where through any number of doors?

That being said, Reveil is intended to be played multiple times. The game offers dozens of collectibles and a smattering of different endings. The trouble is, we’re just not sure it’s worth going through the same routine time-and-again. For the five-or-so hours entertainment that Reveil provides, it will surely engross many horror fans. However, the lack of challenge and slow pace doesn’t make it welcoming to a second playthrough. Or a third. Or a fourth, for that matter. Instead, Reveil is best enjoyed as it stands and then put to the side for any of the many competing horrific delights. The time is now for haunted house fans, and so Reveil is one of many titles you should be playing.