Horror Tip: Korsakovia

Name: Korsakovia
Kind: Game (Half Life 2 Mod)
Hyperlink: Mod DB page (information + download)
Masterminded by the identical guy that made Dear Esther is a highly experimental horror game about a man with Korsakov's syndrome. Its tag line goes:

"The paramedics report that they have been unable to find his eyes. We consider he could have eaten them."

If you like me locate that awfully intriguing then go on and play the game now and study the rest of the post later!

I have place up posting a horror tip for Korsakovia for very a even though simply because of the basic explanation that I have not been able to full it! I have nonetheless not managed to do so, but thought it was time to make a post about it anyway. My inability to comprehensive it highlights the strength and weakness of the game quite properly: 1st, the game is fairly demanding on your eyes and ears with a dark environments and incredibly unnverving sounds at occasions. Secondly, the game is frustrating as hell as it is hard to orient oneself in the similarly seeking environments and some gameplay components are very unforgiving.

As stated above, and distinct compared to Dear Esthter, Korsakovia has actual gameplay components consisting on bashing (or avoiding) monster and some annoying very first individual platforming. Specifically the platforming feels quite unfair and is awefully frustrating to the point where the otherwise excellently built-up atomsphere goes away. I feel that the game would have been a lot far better without having any of this gameplay and experiencing this tends to make the game further fascinating to play. It clearly shows how the player's attention diverts from getting immersed to focusing on the game's mechanics when gameplay gets too frustrating.

What truly shines in Korsakovia (and created me play it as long as I did!) is the haunting atomosphere and the script consisting of the protagonist talking to his physician who may or could not be actual. The game is fairly abstract and there are no clear targets or motivations, but it managed to captivate me and want me to play much more. This also tends to make the game an superb experiement in player motivation, as it differs quite a bit from other games. Finally, as noted above, the game is quite tough on the senses and is far from a entertaining experience, proving the point that games do not have to be "fun" to be engaging. Note that these "brain-fuck"components of the game exactly where not what ultimately created me quit playing it was the mixture of that and the poor gameplay. Had the gameplay been much more streamlined and solid, I am certain I would have played to the finish.

In conclusion, Korsakovia is very intriguing game from a style viewpoint and I urge you all to play it as long as you can stand it. However, from a gameplay experience stand-point I feel it fails, mainly becuause of some unfair and extremly frustrating sections.

To play it Half Life two - Ep 2 is needed (I do not think the regular hl2 performs). Download the zip and extract to "steamappsSourceMods". Then start the game via steam.