Paratopic

- Reviewed on Switch -

Paratopic released on March 15th, 2018. 

Winner of the "Excellence in Audio" category in 2019, at the Independent Games Festival Awards, Paratopic is a short, first person, horror game that takes you on a wild ride if I must say so! 

This review WILL have Major Spoilers so keep that in mind before continuing...

Right off the bat you are told that this indie game has no save points, and you must complete the game in one sitting. 

I was not a fan of the no saving in the game, but I quickly realized that this game can definitely suck you in as soon as you press start. 

The one hour it took me to beat this game felt like two hours and one major factor of this is the slow pace of one scene throughout the game. 

These long periods of sitting in a car driving for example, provided a very eerie feeling about the scenario.  

I wouldn't say these long periods of time in one setting is a bad thing but to a new player, it wasn't a good first impression from an avid gamer's perspective. 

One factor I did however love about this indie game is the style of graphics it uses / used. 

Arbitrary Metric (Developers and Publishers of Paratopic) knew what they were doing when they made this game in the graphic style they chose. It again, with the long scenes, provided a sense of confusion and fear due to you not knowing what to expect from this indie title. 

The music was out of this world for an indie horror game, and to me, it put some triple a horror titles to shame! 

Along with the long scenes that I wasn't a fan of however, was the traveling (walking / driving). 

Even when you ran (or accelerated in the car scenes) it was still a little bit too slow and I found myself (SPOILER) wanting to quit when I had to go back to the beginning of the woods area and capture photos of the crows (or birds). 

Besides that, however, the settings themselves were gorgeous and mixed in with the retro tape graphic styles, it was a perfect blend of horror, factors that made Puppet Combo (another retro horror developer team) a success. 

Talking in this game was humorous but also gave in with that uncertainty and fear. 

Especially in the car scenes where you are driving (SPOILER) to the border, you can choose to listen to the radio (like I chose to do) and it sounds like English, and you can point out English words, but it was mixed in with gibberish as well. 

Dialogue with the NPCs had a dialogue wheel, so this showed me that there is a lot of dialogue options and replay ability with Paratopic. 

Along with the different dialogue options, there are also achievements so you can replay the game and try to unlock and do different scenarios. 

This indie title was a great get for Nintendo on their eshop and I wouldn't have played it if I never saw it on the eshop. 

Paratopic is short and cheap but gives you a lot of great scary memories!

Pros: 

    - Unique Graphic Style
    - Creepy, Uncertain Moments
    - Great Story
    - Great Controls
    - Outstanding Music and Sound Effects 
    - Replay Ability (Different Outcomes and Dialogue) 

Cons:

    - Long Scenes at a Time
    - Walking / Driving Speed

My Rating for Paratopic (on Switch):

4 / 5


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Disclaimer

All Reviews, Ratings, Pros, Cons, and Opinions Shared on this Blog (Press A Reviews) are my (Connor Butler) own Thoughts and Feelings.



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