Telling a story through a series of strange events and environments is a task that any creator of a psychological horror takes on. Keeping it rather simplistic and putting the horror in the situation and events rather than the environment and jump scares is the route that Black Chili Goat Studio took when they developed their latest title, TAPE: Unveil the Memories. A title that was sponsored by Sony Interactive Entertainment España that is now available on Steam and PlayStation. Before you dive into the adventure yourself, let’s go over what to expect with this one.

Story

After waking up to find yourself alone in your home, a short look around your house leads you to find a tape labeled “Para Iria” on it. Curious as to who left a tape for you, you put it in the VHS player and see your dad come on the screen. Just after he calls you his ‘little star,’ you quickly find yourself in a strange place with no idea what’s going on.

It isn’t long before you find a second tape where your father appears again, this time asking for your help getting him out of there! There’s nowhere else to go and no way back to your house, so even if you’re scared now, you only have one way to move and that is forward. At least now you have a goal to drive you as well.

Gameplay

With the puzzles in this game all needing the old school Super8 video camera as the main tool to complete them, it isn’t long into the game that you find the camera. From here, you will be able to start moving things forward and backward in time. What items you will be able to use the camera on will only show when the camera is out, but at least it is very easy to spot them as they have a bright gleam and slight stack to them.

The first few puzzles are rather simple and mainly just show you how to utilize your main tool. As you progress through the game, the puzzles will become more complicated. You can expect to have overlapping items that have to be moved through time in a specific pattern as they can not cross through each other and block each others paths, along with doorways that have to be made by either putting a door back together or simply placing the door from one location to an empty or blocked doorway.

Of course, there is an escalated segment of the object movement puzzles with the time controlling and that is when you have to adjust your pathway. You can’t move an object you are standing on or touching, so when these come up, they are definitely the most difficult, and most entertaining, to solve.

Other than finding your pathways and solving puzzles, you will have an enemy to avoid. If this thing catches you, it’s instant death, and you are put back in a safe area near where you were when you got caught. You simply have to stay out of the creature’s line of sight which is shown with a big red beam. However, if you need to get by really fast and know exactly where to go, or maybe you got caught and want to make sure you get away, you can hit the creature with the camera with the same buttons used to move time with the camera. This will give you a short moment of safety as the enemy is stunned.

Audio and Visual

Musically, the game is pretty well set up. The way the music is triggered though was a little annoying as there was different music for certain rooms and then the game would make you run through the room for puzzles and pathways, or you might do it yourself if you get lost. Having the music change more than one time when taking a single, rather short pathway is annoying, but this is a setup that is constant in the game. It would have been better to have music for areas and moments rather than rooms. I did like the nice touch that the one big enemy you face off against sounds like an active cinema player though.

The aesthetic of this game wasn’t very fitting to the adventure provided. I am not one to look for realism or anything, but it was pretty much a straight-up cartoon game. This art style is just not fitting for a game like this and I wish they went with a more hardened 3D style.

Replayability

While the full game isn’t replayable, they do have a Director’s Cut option that arrives on the menu after you beat the game. This lets you play the last chapter over again so you can change up the key decisions you make so that you can unlock the different endings.

What It Could Have Done Better

The grabbing animation needs to be changed! It was the first thing I noticed to be annoying in this game as the character does this with every single item. Whether it is normal items in the house, pictures, or key items, grabbing something in this game gives an animation where they reach out, hesitantly pause, and then finish grabbing the item. I can understand this animation for some specific items, but every single time?

Pretty much everything I mentioned in the Audio and Visual section of this review. While I liked the music choices, there is a lot of things that could have been better in that department.

This game does have some moments that happen that serve no real purpose to the story or the gameplay. They simply happen ‘because it’s creepy’ and I just don’t feel that it helped the experience in the end. If I had to pick a moment, without providing a spoiler, I would go with the morgue of the hospital.

Verdict

TAPE: Unveil the Memories serves as a new perspective on horror puzzle games! I really liked the concept of the game and the way the puzzles were presented. it had multiple moments that felt like solving puzzles I haven’t been presented with before. Pushing an innovative focus is always a grand step to take for the game industry. However, the downsides of the game can’t be ignored, but luckily, they can be overlooked to allow the game to be enjoyable. So, to that point, I would say I recommend this game to those looking for a bit of a unique experience with new puzzles to solve.

TAPE: Unveil the Memories is now available on PC via Steam and PlayStation 4.