ColdSide Review

 

*Contains Spoilers*
Entertaining, But Lacking

The game begins in our character’s room on a rainy night. We get an email from our “friend” Oliver, who tells us they have located an entrance to an abandoned underground laboratory. Why we’re going there and what exactly we hope to accomplish by sneaking in is not explained, and Oliver continues to be just as absent and equally as cryptic for the remainder of the game. 

The story leaves much to be desired and the conclusion left me scratching my head, but I do give the game extra points for having alternate endings, depending on choices the player makes near the end of the game.

Graphically, the game looks very nice. It is full of dark, yet colorful environments and spooky creatures lurking about which keep the player on their toes. There are creepy humanoid statue-like figures, giant centipedes, and other humans who definitely don’t have your best interests at heart. Though I appreciated all of the visuals, I wish I knew more about these creatures, other characters, and the various environments my character found themselves in. The statue-like beings, for instance, are creepy but were never really explained, so I found them to be less intimidating. It felt as though this was just an aspect of the game that was thrown in as an afterthought to take up space, rather than serve any meaningful purpose.

One thing I particularly enjoyed about this game was its use of sound to keep the player constantly on edge. Throughout my playthrough, I heard faint rustling noises which gave me a constant feeling of being stalked and watched from the shadows. However, I also found that the player’s footstep sound was delayed very slightly, which detracted from the suspense. Starting out, it kept me on edge, thinking that someone or something was following me. Once I realized it was my own footsteps that were delayed, I slowly stopped noticing or caring about other little sounds in the game which would otherwise make me wary and anxious.

Overall, I found ColdSide to be an entertaining experience. The game was not incredibly lengthy, but did offer the player a little replayablility if they should decide to pursue the alternate ending. There were several well-placed scares and a few minor puzzles, but I believe it would have been even more effective had the story been stronger. The “abandoned underground laboratory” was never explained well enough for me to be fully invested in my character’s adventure in the lab or beyond. I would recommend playing ColdSide for the eerie atmosphere and decent scares, but if you are someone who prefers a solid and interesting storyline in your horror games, you may find this one a bit lacking.

[Lady played ColdSide on PC with a mouse and keyboard]