PC Critic Reviews

Vertigo offers a thrilling and captivating playable story that touches on some very serious themes. Not for the feint hearted or weak in temperament.

A bit more polish on the story, better attention to technical details and improved camera/editing would have turned it into a masterpiece. Still, this solid interactive thriller is absolutely worth one full playthrough.

With Vertigo, Pendulo Studios is abandoning the genre of puzzle adventure games in favor of slightly interactive fictions, Dontnod Entertainment style. The initial promise was enticing, but the pacing issues, lack of real gameplay, and bugs got the better of our enthusiasm.

Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo offers a worthy tribute to the master of anxiety. Not only does it respect the codes of the films of the time and provides us with a soundtrack at the height of its model, but it also relies on a perfectly crafted scenario, with numerous twists and turns that keep us on the edge of our seats. It's a pity that it suffers from a not always perfect technique, as well as an often disastrous lip animation. But if you are a fan of narrative games and Hitchcock's films, you should forgive this pitfall as the atmosphere is there and the flashbacks are appreciable.

Vertigo is a thrilling adventure game with a cinematic atmosphere and a lack of any real gameplay. Most of the game is captivating, but the ending is disappointing.

Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo is an intriguing thriller if not breathtaking. Its common thread is woven through the mysteries that we are keen to unveil. But it suffers from such a slow pace that it can become heavy. The spectacle is also appreciated in half-tone; Pendulo Studios develops a conclusive sound atmosphere to the detriment of particularly lame animation and technique.

Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo is an interesting narrative-driven adventure game, or more like an interactive story, which incorporates several themes from Hitchcock's work. While not linked to the film of the same name, Vertigo is similar in many ways and - like Vertigo - features a compelling and well-told story with (mostly) interesting and well-developed characters. However, this story is countered by distracting facial animation, issues with balancing the generally good audio, and other technical problems. Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo isn't a bad interactive story, I'd even recommend the story, it misses the mark on too much for me to not offer some caution.

Given the low number of new releases and the genre' stagnation, you can play Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo, only via small sessions.

Vertigo's main problem, probably, is its ambition. When you choose such a cumbersome source of inspiration, the risk of ending up crushed by it is real. The Pendulo game wisely chooses not to retrace the path traced by Hitchcock, but to borrow the main theme. Unfortunately, however, it manages to keep the interest high only in the initial stages, then a under-the-bar acting and questionable narrative choices prevail over originality. You could appreciate the attempt, not so much the outcome.

With a great story and an engaging cast of characters, it feels a bit frustrating that the game falls so short on so many other elements like its gameplay, animation, controls, voice acting, pacing etc.