A unique take on the VR horror genre, that relies on building tension rather than using cheap jumpscares.

In case you didn't know, I freaking love my wife. I don't mean that in the cookie cutter, Hallmark greeting card definition of the word, I truly live for her - she's my single reason for not being a piece of human garbage and waking up each and every morning being thankful I'm alive. With this being said, the story that Stifled immerses the player in really struck a chord with me. You play as David, a character that is slowly losing his mind due to a traumatic event that you will explore through a series of memories; let's face it, no relationship, marriage or otherwise, is perfect all of the time. The game places you in the home of the protagonist as you follow his wife downstairs into the kitchen, only to have her disappear right in front of you. This alone sent shivers down my spine, as this is literally my nightmare painted on a virtual canvas and it gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. The loss of a loved one has been a common theme in storytelling for decades, with many games sharing a similar tone, but I haven't felt this invested in finding the missing spouse since Silent Hill 2. The journey you embark on to seek out your missing wife is the main selling point of Stifled, which is highly immersive and well worth the cost of admission, so I won't touch on it anymore to avoid spoilers. The game is a VR title but can be played on a standard TV, which was the sole method this was played for review. Our protagonist is visually challenged, and much like the recent title Perception, you will use sound to create an echo effect to view the world, which will slowly disappear as time progresses. I preferred the black and contrasting colors featured in this opposed to Perception’s take. The kicker is that creating sound will not only paint the picture of the game world for you, but will make you visible to the enemies that wander about the environments. If one additional peripheral option wasn't enough for you, you can use a microphone to use your voice or ambient sound to generate noise as needed, with a controller being an alternative if you prefer to not scream at your TV like a madman. This is something we've seen before in titles such as Alien: Isolation or Manhunt, but works splendidly to create a true sense of dread, and works much better in this title than in previous attempts at the mechanic. As far as horror titles go, most rely on jump scares, exclusively or otherwise. No matter how well placed or animated, they are getting to the point that they are stale and nothing but a cheap scare. Stifled uses absolutely none of these, outside of the occasions that you happen to stumble upon one of the adversaries that inhabit the game world at the wrong time, which I only experienced once during my playthrough. The true terror comes from what you don't see and instead hear, which is pretty much everything. The sound design is spot on, even when using the standard speakers from my mid-grade TV. There are a total of three enemy beings you will encounter on your journey, with the second, a set of twins, being the most troublesome. Sadly, the game suffers with misplaced checkpoints, leaving this portion of the game to be a bit of a slog, ruining what would otherwise be an amazing horror game rivaled only by the genre heavyweights like Resident Evil 7 or Outlast. I found myself terrified of making too much noise and ebbing my way through the encounter as slowly as possible, only to fail even when being completely silent. Honestly, had I not been so invested in the story, I would've given up at this point. At its heart, this is yet another walking simulator, with most of the gameplay requiring you to explore the game world, interact with specific items, and evade the enemies I previously mentioned. It can be completed in just a few short hours, and I don't foresee myself wanting to jump back into it unless I acquire a VR headset. If you have a VR headset (I can only imagine this being one of the more engaging titles on the market) or are a fan of horror titles in general, you have no excuse to not purchase Stifled immediately.

Stifled Blind Rage Stifled is a first person thriller game that can be played with or without vr all about sound… So you have to play using a mic... which does get a bit annoying... But makes for a decent immersion mechanic You play as a man that wakes up, goes down stairs, follows his wife into the kitchen and watch as she vanishes… You spend the rest of the game chasing after her... trying to find her.. This is one of those games where the fun is in piecing together the story so I won’t go too deep into it… But what happens is you essentially live through twisted memories you have with your wife… There are brief exploration sections between each of this games chapters… the entire game taking about 3 hrs. to complete.. But in between these exploration sections is a horror stealth section... Everything is dark and the only way to see it to make noise… Like you’re a bat… You can also pick up object in game to throw to echo around you to see… but mostly you’ll be using them to distract... as these sections are all filled with enemies to deal with… There are 3 enemy types and you deal with each separately… They aren’t too much of a nuisance to deal with except for the middle chapter of this game where you’re dealing with these 2 twins… This is easily one of the most unbearable sections I’ve ever had to suffer through in a game… as these enemies are practically invisible you can only see them if you make noise.. And making noise guess what... attracts them to you... Making this an insanely frustrating and challenging puzzle like section of throwing rocks to distract them, standing still to let them pass, and inch closer towards your goal... only for them to come back and attack you forcing you to have to go through every section all over again as in this particular chapter, checkpoints are terrible… This chapter hurts what otherwise is a really intriguing horror stealth game If I wasn’t reviewing the game I probably would’ve quit there.. Stifled isn’t this ultra-unique experience... There are games that do it better like perception, but stifled offers a rage inducing challenge around an intriguing story of.. Well... I’m not going to spoil it... I give Stifled… a 5.5/10