Reveil
Table of Contents
ABOUT REVEIL
Reveil is a narrative first-person psycho-thriller game that focuses on story, puzzles, and exploration. Find out what’s going on inside Walter Thompson and what his dark past at the Nelson Bros Circus has to do with it.
A unique, visually appealing, mentally challenging story. Versatile puzzles, unanswered questions, confusing clues, and a disturbing psyche demand a lot from both the player and the protagonist, Walter Thompson.
THE REVEIL DEMO
I accidentally stumbled upon the Reveil demo as I browsed horror video games. I’m sure that I heard about it before, but I can’t remember when. Regardless, I took a look at the photos and watched the video posted on the Steam page. Listed as a psycho-thriller game and with what I saw, I figured I’d give it a try.
VISUALS
There is no denying that the Reveil demo is visually appealing. The graphics are impressive and the game seems to be well optimized. It ran great for me at 4k on a 2060 Super. The lighting is fantastic. I’m not a fan of games that have next to no light and you can’t see anything. The Reveil demo doesn’t do that. Kudos on that note.
THE PROTAGONIST
I can’t say that I am a fan of Walter Thompson. The voice of Walter sounds hollow. His voice made me think of someone sitting at a desk while reading a script into a mic. The emotions sound forced and phony. I’m not sure if the intention is to make Walter sound this way. By the time I finished the Reveil demo, I didn’t get any vibes that there were any intentions.
PUZZLES
I have mixed feelings about the puzzles in the Reveil demo. I did like the puzzle that had me moving a marble around a maze while tilting the puzzle to move the marble and avoid holes. I always enjoy those puzzles anyway so no surprise there.
In contrast, the puzzle to get the marble had me furious. You may not call it a puzzle but I sure felt like it was. You have to put a coin in a box and then get the marbles to flow down some ramps to the bottom. The problem I had was I couldn’t find the handle it told me to pull. It wasn’t until I accidentally figured it out by pressing a bunch of buttons. I think the directions can be a bit more clear or maybe I’m just a dummy.
HORROR
The last couple of minutes of the Reveil demo is the only part that has some horror. I will say that it’s quite scary and made me feel uneasy. However, it is short-lived and over before you know it. If the final release of Reveil contains more elements like this, then there is potential for a horrifying video game.
The rest of the horror is entertaining but not so horrifying. There is a funhouse that feels like something some of us may have experienced as children. There are horror elements but they are light enough to be presented to children. I’ll admit that the funhouse is fun to traverse. It brought me back to my childhood when my grandmother would take me through funhouses whenever there was one nearby.
AS I SEE IT
The Reveil demo did not get me amped for the video game. It looks beautiful but the gameplay and horror factor are not there. I’m hoping that the developers made a mistake by choosing this particular part of the game as the demo. I’ll keep an eye out for its release and wait to see what everyone else has to say first.