Video Games- You play them, you accomplish a goal, and you watch the credits. Survival Horror- They try to get in your head, silently marking down all your actions as you play. Indie Games- In this case, the unrestricted creativity of one Jasper Byrne delivering one of the finest 2D experiences a single guy can deliver. Lone Survivor isn't just a 2D survival horror game, it's a beautiful spiral of soft, lush sprites, incredible music, and a hopeless desire to keep playing that'll draw your eyes in for hours on end.
Lone Survivor tells the story of "You", a nameless protagonist who has survived an apocalypse by unknown means in an apartment that isn't his. No other information is given, and the game sends you off on your own, to discover the twisted halls of the apartment complex you've found yourself trapped in. Before you venture outside of your room, you can take a tour of the kitchen, complete with a gas-less stove and a fridge full of rotten meat, or the bathroom, with a sink full of strange pills, Red, Blue and Green, which you can take, of course. This is the kind of ambiguity that makes LS special. You find a scrap of paper that tell you the controls, and the game decides never to explain anything again. It's a game of experimentation, and unlucky players will find that their choices have brought "You" to the depths of madness. You're expected to eat, rest and find ways to take your mind off of the apocalypse as your situation gets bleaker and bleaker. Saying too much would spoil the game's 4 hour story, but suffice to say that it goes to incredibly weird places, while still staying on a relatively small scale.
Even though zombies(?) are most of what you're going to see in Lone Survivor, there are still a handful of strange characters you'll meet along the way. About half of them are seen in the strong hallucinations and dreams you have over the course of the game. The game makes you really wonder whether or not the people you meet are actually real, or if they ever even were, and I'm itching to go through the game again to see if I can pick anything up on some of the more prominent characters. The player character isn't always the most interesting, but he makes all of his thoughts known to you, and a little bit of backstory is one of the main drives to playing the game. He'll sometimes say things that'll make you stop for a second and question his mental well being, but that's the point. Being attacked by monsters, not sleeping and generally taking poor care of him lowers his sanity for some subtle effects. There are 3 endings to LS which are determined both by your sanity and actions throughout the game. Actions that may seem unimportant are being out on an invisible checklist as you play, which is revealed to you after the credits. It's a good incentive to keep playing and it encourages you to mix up what you do on subsequent playthroughs, instead of just going through the motions. There are tons of paths and items to take during your exploration of the apartments and (eventually) the city streets, and the strange nature of what you might find in any number of side paths'll make you scratch your head.
The gameplay is a mix of shooting and stealth, with plenty of opportunities to creep past the enemies unnoticed. Ammo is shockingly scare in LS, more so than in almost any other game I've played to date, and considering the resilient nature of your foes, alternate routes in search of supplies or another way out are highly suggested. Jasper Byrne, the man who made the game, also composed the entire OST. It's a mix of the usual survival horror ambiance with some smooth tracks that might have you tapping your feet. Byrne recently scored a few tracks for the Hotline Miami soundtrack as well, and the LS soundtrack can be heard
here. Like the game itself, some of the tracks bring back misty eyed memories of Akira Yamoaka's work on the Silent Hill franchise, which goes great with the game's mysterious vibe.
Lone Survivor really is the perfect "Indie" experience. Like listening to an album only you and your friends know about on a Saturday night, you feel an attachment to it, both in its simplicity and yet, how it can make you feel real emotion in a small amount of time. This game has to be played to be understood, but everyone is going to understand it in their own way. That's the beauty of the mystery of Lone Survivor.
9/10
Best Post Yet, Sol.
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