There have been many horror games I have played over the years, and some of my favourite ones are the Fatal Frame Series, where you feel completely powerless to fight the horror story you are in, and expect to die around the next corner. That being said, Re:Turn, while it doesn’t hold a candle to the fear I feel with Fatal Frame, it still sends Chills up my spine with every step I take. Here is our Re:Turn One Way Trip Review.
Developed by Red Ego Games and published by Green Man Gaming, this delve into the 2D horror adventure is a memorable tale from start to finish. The story sees you play as Saki, a young woman who is unnerved by ghost stories and finds herself in one with her friends.
STORY
Entering into a normal camping situation, 5 friends, 2 of whom are engaged and another 2 are in a relationship, are sitting around a campfire telling ghost stories when the fire suddenly ignites and dies, leaving them to find firewood. Upon doing so, Saki stumbles over a poem addressed to her, thinking it’s from her partner, she returns it to his bag, and an argument kicks off in the group, leading to everyone leaving camp while Saki sleeps. Not wanting to be alone, she ventures into the forest and comes across a derelict train, left to rot for nearly a century. Reluctantly, Saki boards and the Prelude concludes with the nightmare just beginning.
Upon entering the train, Saki is greeted with jump scares and a misleading set of clues, only to find out that when she reunites with one of her friends, she passes out and reverts back a century to when the train was in use, heading to Kyoto. Here she gets more clues and starts to piece together what might be going on in the world of Re:Turn, but to no avail; this is only Chapter 2 – 3 after all.
Entering chapter 3, after learning the truth of what you have been suspecting, you change to play as Eiji, who is the son of the owner of the train, back when it was running. This is only a short section, but it enlightens some truths within the game, all before being thrown back to modern times as Saki, where you find yourself in a cave.
Chapters 4 through 10 are more confusing as they cover a few events which lead to the overall outcome of the game, which, of course, is to escape. What you end up doing along the way is freeing the spirits which are trapped within the train, and subsequently losing your friends to the horrors of the train. Where things get confusing is when you have to deal with switching between past and present, and things don’t seem to add up with what you have learned. An example of this is the way Ayumi’s mother reacts to Ayumi. In the early game, she seems fed up with her daughter and her tendency to misplace her dolls and more spoiled nature, as opposed to the later game, where she seems more caring towards Ayumi.
Mechanics, Graphics, & Technical things
Mechanically, the game plays pretty well. I’m not one for playing side-scrollers, and less likely to pick up a sprite or pixel game, but Re:Turn is actually a pretty good game, in both terms of a game and a horror game. Interactions are simple and done with a little magnifying glass, to indicate there is something to interact with, be it a door, a pickup, or something of the like. Save points have their own interaction icon, which is a Save symbol.
As mechanics go, the generic playing of the game is not that impressive; what is impressive, if not somewhat basic, is the puzzles. You are first introduced to puzzles early in the game, but until you do the 2nd or 3rd ones, it doesn’t sink in how good and how much fun they are. Coming from basic Locomotion with simple overlapping interactions and things, the puzzles make you take a step back and think for a second.
Graphically, the game is pretty dated-looking with its 2d graphics, but it is really fun to play. While the graphics, some might say, degrade the experience, it is what pulls you in. That sounds like a contradiction, but while playing it, compared to playing other sprite games, it feels like the graphics are exactly what it needs. If it were any higher quality or different, I don’t think it would pull you in as much as it does. Personally, the graphics make the game come together perfectly.
CONCLUSION
To conclude, the game is a fantastic tale of horror and exploration into the supernatural. One of which is a fascinating horror story which takes you on a psychological thrill, which keeps you guessing. There are some aspects which I would have preferred to be different, the likes of better graphics, more to do control-wise, not as a side-scroller, and maybe more of a mysterious feel. These aren’t too bad because they are only my preferred items, which I would like to change. That being said, I wouldn’t change any of the game; everything works perfectly well together. The game also concludes on the ominous note that it’s not over yet, indicating there is still more of Saki’s tale. Thankfully, over on Xbox, at least at the time of writing, there is a sequel game, which could be where this comment is pointing to; it’s a mystery. Personally, I would have loved to play this masterpiece on PlayStation, but I stumbled upon it on Xbox, and it was worth every penny.
One thing I haven’t touched on, which drew me to this title, is the Theme music. Music and sound effects play a painfully important role in Horror; they not only set the mood of the experience, but they are also used in countless other ways, like to guide the player. Without going into the science of sound in video games its worth noting it reminds me of games like Dark Cloud/ Dark Chronicle, which are not horror. While this paints a vivid image in my head of the experience, which is presumably expected, it is only when the visuals go along with this that you get a full picture of what the game is about. As for the sounds, back at the beginning of this article, I mentioned that Fatal Frame made me feel powerless and expect to be killed around every corner. Re:Turn is very much the same when it comes to the use of sound effects within its adventure. The reason for this is the hollowing sound of every echo, footsteps, opening doors, and even adding an inventory item; they all add up to present the player with a spine chilling uneasyness.
While the game is fantastic, the achievements/ trophies ask you to do some pretty painful requirements, like completing the game without saving. Thankfully, for this, the game is short and easy to complete without saving, and likewise, completing the game twice. Other things are more giveaway unlockables like the toilet handle, completing the puzzles in a single attempt in 1 playthrough, and saving a total of ten times. From these respects, the 100% to show off to your friends isn’t difficult and would probably be around 6 hours to platinum.
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