Shadows Peak Demo

Creating a proper environment is very important when it comes to horror or mystery games, because it’s difficult to make the players experience the story as you imagine it if they are not in the right mood. This is where games like Stalker or Bioshock excel, because everything about the music, level design and the characters that are part of the said worlds work so well together.

Shadows Peak is a first-person mystery game in which you play the role of a writer looking for inspiration for his next book. The whole thing looks and feels a lot like Alan Wake, but it’s definitely not the same thing, given the fact that the two games approach different subjects, more or less. Hence, Shadows Peak is more about exploration and the mystery itself, rather than dealing with monsters or following neatly scripted events.

The main character’s name is Tom Blair, and the whole story starts with him deciding to visit a place called Shadows Peak in order to gain inspiration for his next book. The reason for his interest in this particular location has to do with the fact that a few people have gone missing under mysterious circumstances, so it’s only natural that a couple of good story ideas are going to come out of the experience.

Another thing that makes the game feel special is the fact that you are left to your own devices from the very beginning, which means that you are free to explore and investigate as you see fit. This makes it easier to get in the proper mood, given the fact that you are not told what to do or what to feel on a regular basis. It can also be a tad disorienting if you are used to long tutorials that explain everything in detail, but it’s definitely worth the patience.

Since the map is fairly big and open entirely to exploration, do not expect too much detail in regards to level design, especially since this is an indie production with limited manpower and a very small budget. However, the graphics are not bad at all, since darkness is used in a clever way to mask the imperfections. The sound effects are nice as well, although they could use a touch-up here and there.

In the end, Shadows Peak is a pleasant surprise in the genre, in spite of the fact that it doesn’t feature a lot of content. It’s also open-ended, so more episodes are bound to be released sometime in the future.