Game: Sagebrush
Genre: Puzzle Adventure
System: Switch, PS4, Steam & Xbox
Developer/ Publisher: Redact Games | Ratalaika Games
Age Rating: EU: 16+| USA: M (Mature)
Price: €5.99| £5.99| $5.99
Release Date: 9th August 2019
Thanks to Ratalaika for kindly providing a review code!
Arrive at a mysterious, abandoned community and relive the disturbing events that befell a misguided cult leading to their untimely demise. Sagebrush is a dark, suspenseful tale! I sat down to play with my wife and our friend for company.
Searching The Dark
The game opens with a recorded voice speaking. The quality of the audio and the seemingly mundane subject matter already set you up, expecting something more but the payoff is still far off. You soon arrive at an old gate at dusk where the game launches you straight into your adventure. After quickly learning the simple controls, you search the immediate area and make your way through the fence and onwards. One thing you’ll notice straight away as you approach the first landmark is how dark the games lighting is. You can adjust the brightness in the options menu which I resorted to as I struggled to find my way in the first building. It was a little frustrating but it could also have been my TV so nothing too serious.
Within the Community Hall, you learn to examine everything. In standard point and click fashion you are looking for keys, taking note of locked areas and absorbing all the written notes left by the mysteriously absent population to help guide you forwards. The game also has tape recorders that play audio which explains over the course of the game many key facts and clues. The game dims the surroundings as you listen which makes for very tense moments as other ambient noises continue creating a thrilling atmosphere. It can be a little finicky selecting the interactive elements, especially smaller ones. Occasionally trying to read the journals or switching on lights can be a little irksome.
Uncovering The Truth
The whole game bears a very tense atmosphere as you search the dark on your quest. The rural abandoned setting and the ambient noises leave you on edge the entire time. You soon discover that the small community were a misguided religious cult being misled by a sinister character. It isn’t until very late that you uncover the missing peoples involvement in a tragic accident, their motives and what role you the player have. I’m a big fan of the narrative and how you are slowly fed more and more detail as you brave further into the ominous setting.
There is nothing downright scary about this game, for example there are no jump scares or enemies to face. Rather it plays much like a thriller movie, where a lot of the horror comes from your own interpretation of the disturbing events. I would warn new players, that there are some unsettling scenes later in the game. The use of religious imagery, and the extremist behaviour the characters exhibited could be a little much to digest. The tape recorders towards the end of the game reveal the truly dark nature of the main person behind the events. There is a scene of dark figures burning, and your characters emotional struggle makes for very tense and challenging experience. I was lucky to be playing alongside company as I admittedly may have struggled alone as the experience was indeed quite thrilling. It’s good to be scared sometimes, and if you let yourself be absorbed by the story then this is a good game for that very reason.
Creating That Thrilling Experience
The games use of its setting, lighting, sound and narrative are very expertly executed. Much like a great film, the way the game requires your immersion means you are paying close attention to every detail and lapping up every part of the game’s design. The small settlement has every landmark isolated from one another means a lot of tense walking in the dark. How dark the game is, and how the sun sets as you progress adds to this feeling of being alone and helpless. I must reiterate how good the tape recorders are, the way the lighting isolates you into a small circle of light as you listen to the crackling recordings is a great mechanic.
The audio throughout is largely the rustling of grass, creaking of floorboards, doors and your own footsteps. Only briefly is it punctuated by the recordings or the occasional brief background music track to signify your progress. Those who consider silence golden may reconsider in this case. All of this combined with the unsettling story and the direct interaction you have as a player makes a very solid case for the horror game genre. A similar game I really enjoyed was Oxenfree, another thriller/horror indie game that took a lo-fi approach and produced amazing results.
The Verdict
Sagebrush really took me by surprise. Instead of a brief point and click lark, I have been gifted a well told dark tale. The games design is consistently solid and the story a superb mix of engaging and thrilling. If the idea of playing a thriller/horror is something that appeals to you, then look no further. There may be no zombies, or other such dark creatures. But Sagebrush is an excellent example of creating atmosphere and terror using other means.
