[STEAM] Unhinged review – Trapped in linear, under the guise of choice

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has, on occasion, added genuinely incredible video games to its catalog. Shifting through an array of mid games filled with AI images are brilliant works of art such as IMMORTALITY, Before Your Eyes, and OXENFREE. But these aren’t original

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Games.

The corporation, having a bit of an identity crisis with its serial killer and true crime obsession, has released a video game inspired by the very things it keeps shoving in front of its younger audiences. With a ******** cast and the real horror of a home invasion as its selling points, I went into

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expecting something similar to ****** Mirror‘s Bandersnatch. While that was a mixed bag of tricks, I was completely wrong to believe that Unhinged would be any different. And it’s a right shame when the story was crafted by OXENFREE‘s Night School Studio.

In the midst of a storm, where warnings of a hurricane have seen people evacuate for the night, Ava wakes to a phone call from her friend, Claire. The stairwell doors are locked thanks to the superintendent, and the power is off, meaning the lift is out of order. So when Ava goes out to check on her friendly neighbor, only to discover the door to her apartment seemingly unlocked itself, Ava realizes she isn’t alone tonight.

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Now I started this review laying into

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, but don’t get me wrong, Unhinged has a few great things going for it

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Screenshot by Destructoid As there are no real choices in Unhinged, because the game is just about surviving the night and nothing more. The endings are split at the very last choice you make in the game. Yes, Unhinged is short, but without any differences in what happens, why would you play the entire game again just to see a cutscene with different dialogue? Like watching the Stranger Things finale, my time was wasted all over again. I’m frustrated because Unhinged looked really promising and could have been awesome.

Marketing this

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Game as an interactive story all about reflexes is a white lie to the consumer who wants to make quick decisions in an anxiety-inducing setting. Unhinged had potential if only it actually was the very thing it sold itself to be: A game of choice.

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