Estranged: Act I

Someone at Town Hall decided to decommission a lighthouse so now, here you are, stranded on an island you know nothing about, watching as your ship lays smashed on the shoreline rocks, slowly burning. That’s how you start off this action horror game called Estranged: Act I.

Estranged: Act I is created using the already acclaimed Source Engine which is also ‘responsible’ for that beautiful thing called Half-Life 2. Right off the bat you can expect some pretty good graphics but the game actually exceeds expectations.

Apart from the vibrant high-quality textures and vast world interaction, you also get enhanced dynamic lighting along with film grain and lens flare effects to give atmosphere a wonderful boost. And speaking of, in Estranged: Act I, the horror factor of the game predominantly relies on its soundtrack.

Don’t feel disappointment coming on, it’s original soundtrack makes things perpetually eerie, even when you’re in a fully lit room and it sounds great. Audio effects are also crystal clear and haunting at times.

In Estranged: Act I, there’s no background story that helps you make sense of things, that happens as you play along. At first the game makes sure you get familiar with the creepy layout of the island, the plot unravels later, but no too late.

You’re walking around and a guy shoots a man that has yellow glowing eyes, throws him 30 feet down a cliff and then kindly waves at you. It’s at that point when you realize that things are seriously messed up here. Right after that, the creepiness of the island takes over. You constantly feel watched and that builds up a lot of tension and suspense, the key elements to quality horror.

On a closing note, Estranged: Act I seems to have all the perks of a top shelf game: good story, great graphics, good atmosphere, wonderful soundtrack.

It’s actually a really good game but when you play it, try to not compare it with Half-Life 2 too much.Sure, core mechanics are the same, puzzles are solved in a similar manner but it’s an entirely different game with an original plot and world.