WHATEVER of the week: 5.1

Jasper Byrne

Lone Survivor & Original Soundtrack

(2012)

why you''l love it: old school survival horror game - actually scary! - exceptionally moody soundtrack

why you'll hate it: easy to get lost and frustrated - short game / short tracks

Something a bit different this week. Still a review, but not exactly just a music album, and without a bonus thrown on top. This weekend I played the indie retro survival horror computer game, Lone Survivor. Created by Jasper Byrne, whose previous titles were the browser-based puzzle platformer, Soul Brother, and a retro-remake of the first act of Silent Hill 2 (Soundless Mountain).

Lone Survivor feels like it used Soundless Mountain as a blueprint to create a full game. Two Parts Maniac Mansion, one part Twin Peaks, and 20 parts Silent Hill; "You" must escape from an apartment building, battling off monsters, drugs, hallucinations, and starvation along the way. If Silent Hill isn't going to do Silent Hill well enough, then someone else might as well. Amazingly, for a SNES style game, Lone Survivor nails the Silent Hill atmosphere, especially in the sound design.

Just like any great Silent Hill soundtrack, the Lone Survivor soundtrack has an eclectic emotional mix. Great use of actual instruments, grinding electronics, somber moments, groovy lounge numbers, and creepy ambience. Of course, these tracks are all the more effective and memorable if you play the game to associate certain melodies with certain moments. On their own, they are not as strong. You can clearly tell they are made to be looped in a room you aren't meant to spend more than two minutes in. The production is still above what you would expect from an indie game, especially one that looks like this.

The game is very much worth playing to experience all the strange WTF moments. If you love survival horror, it's all there. The good and the bad. It's tough, resource heavy, and you may get lost or confused often. Once you figure out how everything works, there are a few mechanics in place that allow you never to run out of flashlight batteries or ammunition (the bare necessities to complete the game, but not to get the best possible ending).

Try out Lone Survivor! Eight dollars is a bit much for a 5 hour game (although I plan on playing it again later this year); but like the shorter and pricer PSN title, Journey, it's an experience you should not pass up.