There aren’t many video games that take their inspiration from the written web page. There is of course the Metro sequence which was primarily based on a novel. Then there are The Witcher and S.T.A.L.Okay.E.R. sequence, however after that, it falls a bit brief, though you may argue that the Bioshock worldview was primarily based on the writings of Ann Rand’s fairly right-wing beliefs.
However The Prisoner of the Night time is one other; primarily based on the brief story A Prisioneira da Noite by Lima Arrais. It’s good to see a recreation primarily based on a literary world, however let’s see the way it performs out.
In The Prisoner of the Night time you play a younger lady known as Nartide. She lives fortunately together with her household in a large home, but one night time she ignores her mom’s recommendation and sleeps with out her trusted blanket; it’s this which presents her safety. That night the chilly wind of the night time – Cruviana – creeps into her bed room and takes Nartide as her Prisoner of the Night time. She then should do some platforming and survive horrors to strive to search out her manner dwelling…
The sport has a vigorous arrange and I appreciated the primary character and the story. Primarily based on the brief story and Brazilian folklore there’s something intriguing within the narrative. It creates a world of thriller and a fairytale setting that I loved. However in the end, it’s the platforming the place the sport’s coronary heart and soul sit.
Earlier than we begin, it should be talked about that the menus at the start of the sport are the slowest and clunkiest menus I’ve ever seen. I don’t know whether or not this was an inventive alternative however it’s a unusual one. And from there, you’ll discover some 159 platforming ranges to finish on this recreation and even although they’re brief phases, it’s rather a lot, possibly a bit an excessive amount of.
Drop in although and the controls work like all regular platforming recreation and there aren’t any surprises in what you may need performed earlier than. You soar, climb and push issues round to get to your objective. And so the creativity is discovered within the stage design and what you motion in every of the degrees is good enjoyable. The controls usually are not the perfect at occasions although and it takes some time to get used to the floaty soar system and accuracy present in The Prisoner of the Night time. It’s not up there with the most important platformers on the Xbox and so that you’ll be finest remembering that that is an indie recreation as a result of you’ll die rather a lot and it turns into very difficult at occasions.
Visually, The Prisoner of the Night time has a stunning artwork model; one which mixes surrealism and an nearly hand-crafted really feel to the animations. All the pieces feels purposely out of proportion and it reminds of these weirdly artistic video games that appeared again within the day on the unique Xbox and early PlayStations.
The sound design works nicely all through although, retaining the unusual environment intact. It has some pretty guitar and string sounds that just about lure you right into a trance. That’s helped alongside by a very calming voiceover in Portuguese; it feels as if somebody is telling you an evening time story.
I very a lot admire The Prisoner of the Night time. It’s a small indie recreation that explores a tradition and story that I by no means would have been conscious of in regular day-to-day life. The creativity on show, when it comes to the design and look of the world, in addition to the music with a chilled voice-over needs to be recommended. However sadly, the platforming components of the sport (that are a giant bulk) are pretty common and – at occasions – uninspiring. That is a particularly difficult recreation as nicely, happening over an enormous variety of ranges, so count on to be discovered dying rather a lot.
However in the event you fancy taking over the chilly wind, trying to outlive, then Prisoner of the Night time could possibly be for you.
