STROBOPHAGIA Review: Rave Party With Confusion, Tasks, And Death

PC Review Code Provided by Green Tile Digital

Mixing up the usual aesthetic’s used in a genre isn’t something you see often, but when done right it is definitely eye catching. Easy to say that Green Tile Digital definitely caught many horror fans attention with Strobophagia by making it all take place during a rave. We may all be used to being in the dark with a flashlight, but this time we have to rely on the neon lights that have been set up for the rave. Visually, this game was intriguing to say the least, but that wasn’t all it had to offer either.

Story

Looking to indulge within a world of freedom and expression, you find yourself at the Headless Rave Festival. What seems to be a standard, EDM-filled party under the neon lights turns into a frightful event as the organizers announce that the price of admission is the lives of all attendees. Now you must find a way to escape or follow the given instructions to learn more and find understanding.

Gameplay

Starting out at the front booth, you are given a phone that directly works with the Headless Rave Festival and are shown how to connect it to your first wi-fi spot. From there you will see signs and receive messages telling you to follow the connection and what task to do next. This will begin the series of events that take you through the entirety of the game.

There are connection spots laid out and a variety of tasks to complete, each one taking you a little deeper into the forest and the paranormal reality that soon engulfs the rave-goers. Eventually, you will be shown that you can drink beer that is handed out, throw the bottles at people, and even throw punches, although they aren’t very effective other than pushing someone back. This tends to make them aggressive, but the fights aren’t really meant to be won.

Once you reach the heart of the rave’s ritual tasks, the forest will have dangers in it that you will have to avoid while making your way through the darkness in search of more lights. The tasks will have you looking for specific colored lights in the woods, which was confusing at first but becomes pretty straight forward when you start to understand the way they are guiding you with these lights. Basically, you don’t want to just head in that direction but head in the direction the lights are facing.

Solving the puzzles that were in this game was definitely interesting, especially since they weren’t all spelled out for you. Be ready to use context clues and put some thought into how things connect to each other because if it seems too obvious, you are probably wrong and the game will punish you for it.

In the end, you are going through a maze-like hallway that has a beast in it for you to avoid. This was probably the most disappointing moment of the game as the beast was incredibly easy to avoid and I just simply wasn’t impressed with its design at all.

Visuals

I really enjoyed how the game contrasts between the darkness of a forest at night and the bright lights you would typically see at a rave. Sure, the graphics weren’t top-of-the-line, but the color choices and overall design were very well done and fitting for a game meant to be trippy and scary simultaneously.

Sounds

While all of the sound effects were pretty well matched to everything going on, I liked the EDM used throughout. Hearing it fade out as you run into the forest to complete the ritual tasks was also pretty daunting considering that those are the moments that the game gets dangerous and the story a bit messed up.

Replayability

The game is pretty straight-forward when it comes to the tasks needed to be completed and how to solve the puzzles. Other than wanting to really divulge on some of the details surrounding the Headless Rave Festival, I don’t see any reason to play the game once beaten.

What Could Be Better

I was so disappointed in the entire beast section of this game. Before I saw it and actually starting moving around it, I was pretty nervous, but once I saw its animations, general design, and inability to see all the way down a hallway, I was immediately disappointed. This game had so many trippy moments and this seemed like an ultimate moment for the game to be trippy with some crazy looking, highly colorful beast, but that is not what we got. I would have liked to have seen a beast that was crazy looking like the final boss in the game Siren (reference).

With how bright the rave should have been considering the neon lights everywhere and the spotlights, it was a bit too hard to find once you get yourself lost in the woods. There should have been brightness flooding the woods surrounding the main area.

Conclusion

Storobophagia is a solid horror game that brings a new aesthetic to the genre. I enjoyed playing the game as it is but found myself disappointed with the climax enemy in the game. The experience provided is solid and the puzzles were fun to solve. Overall, the uniqueness of the game was there, but it could use more factors to bring out the fear aspects.