Sylvio Demo

Indie games have a tradition of focusing a great deal of their efforts into the story, concept and experience rather than on the looks and the ‘wow’ visual effects. So is the case with Sylvio, an indie horror game that features Juliette, an EVP specialist who finds herself trapped in an abandoned family park.

Right from the start, Sylvio excels in all matters audio. The sound is crisp, clear, immersive, and Juliette’s voice sounds good enough for you to fall in love with her. There will be plenty of moments when she speaks her mind, and that plays out in the form of a hint or it adds a new piece of information to the story.

However, most of the latter comes from using the microphone to record the voices of those who have long ago passed on. As an electronic voice phenomenon specialist, or simply put a ghost recorder, you can bet that the protagonist will have plenty of unreal encounters.

With the use of her mic, she will be able to pick up on seriously strange sounds, some of them guiding you to where you need to go, or to where you shouldn’t be. It’s safe to say that as far as the storyline goes, from what the demo has to offer, it should be pretty good.

As far as the gameplay is concerned, there are a few things to iron out. Some of the interaction is strange and a bit buggy at times. On another occasion, you might find that stepping out of a car leaves you waist down into the dirt, with no way of jumping back on the ground.

Apart from that, Sylvio plays pretty smooth, and you’ll enjoy the unsettling and mysterious atmosphere of it all. If you’re a fan of the horror genre, it’s hard not to like it, despite some design flaws.

To end, I can’t stop thinking about the soundtrack, it’s excellent. Sylvio is mostly a game you play for the story and the audio experience, at times, it feels like a soundscape. In the looks and gameplay departments, things could be better but maybe there are still some plans to polish things up a bit more.