“Fibrillation” isn’t so much of a game as it is a journey. There isn’t much of a back story and all you know is what is in front of you. Even then, your senses can’t be trusted. Do you have what it takes to see through the psychological horrors that await you, or will you close the program and vow never to open it again? Before we get started questioning life as we know it, I’d like to thank Egor Rezenov from Mechanical Starling for providing me with a free review copy.
Fibrillation (PC)
The main menu allows the player to start a new game or adjust the game options. The game’s options menu is fairly meaty in that it offers a difficulty slider, screen resolution drop down, brightness slider, fullscreen toggle, vsync toggle, graphics quality slider, audio sliders, and the ability to adjust the control keys and mouse sensitivity. I didn’t see a visible change in difficulty and based on what I experienced, I’m not exactly sure how the game could be “harder” or “easier.” There’s a launcher hidden behind the game once you start it up, which allows you to access various social media sites.
The game’s controls are easy…WASD keys move the character by default along with the ability to jump and accelerate, whatever that means. I attempted to use the acceleration button during the game but didn’t see how it affected anything. My walk speed didn’t change and I didn’t see anything different in my surroundings. Like the issue with the above mentioned difficulty slider, I feel that more direction or explanation is needed in regards to the game’s controls and mechanics. The left mouse button closed my eyes, but I didn’t see a real reason for doing so. I progressed through the game without ever utilizing it, making me believe that it was more for thematic purposes and to provide the player with a way to interact with the environment.
Try as I might, I couldn’t “accelerate” any faster away from that skull that was coming after me.
The game is made up various environments that you’ll be trying to navigate through. Some paths will have an obvious direction while others will take some thought in regards to progression. For example, one particularly long part of the game involved placing the player into a huge environment with pillars all about. Getting out of that environment and progressing to the next area required a little observation and thinking. I won’t spoil the solution, but needless to say that the game will play tricks on you from time to time. Oh, and there are birds. Lots and lots of birds.
The best part of the game is the atmosphere, camera view, and special effects. The view was constantly changing in color, growing staticky one minute and growing clear the next. You never know how your perception of the environment will change and thus, won’t know what to expect next. The worst part of the game is the narrator (your character), who chimes in from time to time to express how frustrated he is with his experience. The voice acting was of “Resident Evil” caliber and I was half expecting the Greg Proops soundalike to start announcing pod race results at one point. I recommend turning the voice slider all the way down in the options menu before playing the game, but feel free to play as you like.
Camera effects will kick in without warning, adding to the already wonderful atmosphere.
The game does lead to its conclusion about forty-five minutes in. At the very end of the game, you’ll have a choice to make (though on my first playthru, I didn’t know I even had a second choice). Depending on your choice, you’ll influence the outcome of the game. I don’t want to spoil what happens and what is really going on, but suffice it to say that the chaos you are going through has a symbolic meaning. It’s also worth noting that there is no saving in this game, so make sure that you have about an hour or so of uninterrupted time on your hands before you sit down to play it.
Overall, “Fibrillation” is an interesting adventure that everyone should experience at least once. It doesn’t do anything overly special and it didn’t really scare me as other games have, but it took me places that made me scratch my head in wonder. The game is going for $1.99 on Desura, which isn’t a bad price for a forty-five minute experience all things considered. If you’re a fan of psychological horror games (with emphasis on the former), you’ll want to give this a try.
Final Verdict: 6/10
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You can learn more about and purchase “Fibrillation” by visiting the following websites:
http://egorrezenov.com/fibrillation/
http://www.desura.com/games/fibrillation
You can help bring the game to Steam by voting for it on its Greenlight page, here:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=92922803
You can view video play sessions here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ApEgBQT9h_E
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Thanks, very helpful review, think I’ll give it a go!