#small dev talk

By Neil Rampone Phantasmal: City of Darkness is a survival horror game with a haunting atmosphere, and different twists around every corner (literally). With an environment that is randomized around every turn and a menagerie of creepy sounds and monsters lurking in the darkness, anyone who decides to play is in for quite a ride. Small Dev Talk got an advance press copy so we could write an article about it, so here goes! Playing as Private Investigator John Hope, when your Aunt Jackie disappears from her medical clinic in city located near Hong Kong, you decide to take it upon yourself to find out what’s gone wrong. Getting help from your Aunt’s assistant, something goes wrong and you fall through the floor into another apartment block, which is where your journey through the maze-like apartment complex begins. Note: The first thing that I noticed when I spawned in was the awesome looking HUD. An original-looking and easy to understand concept, it definitely worked well to enhance gameplay. Kudos.

Armed with a pistol and a plank of wood, there is a vendor right around the corner from your spawn point offering various upgrades and items, if you’ve got the coin. My first round going through the complex wasn’t a speedy process; I’m a huge chicken when it comes to any kind of horror game, so I was taking my time flicking my flashlight on and off, crouching most of the time to avoid attention from anything spooky and getting generally freaked out by the sound track (more on that later). My first enounter with some baddies went alright, I suppose. Zombie-like in nature, and very grumpy, I didn’t perish, and my character probably built a bit of muscle smashing them in with my plank of wood (my girlfriend got a good kick out of it while sat at my side, I was screaming a fair amount of obscenities). After going deeper into the apartment complex, I eventually succumbed to the fact that my character went crazy. I restarted and got put back in the apartment for round 2, but had gathered a fair amount of coin so I figured I could buy myself a nice upgrade. Note: One thing that I wasn’t totally hot over with was the rapid inflation of pricing for the upgrade system. Each run through the complex I gathered between $25-45 of the in-game currency, and obviously that amount will go up the better you get at the game… However, the base line for any upgrade to level 2 is $50, and one of the upgrades peaks at $1000 for level 5 (the max level for any upgrade). The appeal to max out all upgrades is definitely evident (because that means you can clear the baddies with ease), but I feel like the range between upgrade levels may be a bit steep (not enough reward for the time played).

My second run through was a slightly speedier process. I got attacked by a haunted garbage can while trying to loot a hidden crate (I’m hoping this was a glitch, but it was hilarious either way) and at one point I stumbled across probably the creepiest room in the game, which I dubbed the “Teddy Bear Room”. Filled with dis-membered stuffed bears, complete with a nasty-looking knife sticking out of the counter-top (which I could not pick up, sadface), it gave me a very… escaped asylum patient vibe. Just plain weird.

One thing that was refreshing about Phantasmal is the fact that the environment is about 95% interactive. It adds an interesting element to the game, because a lot of objects laying around make fairly loud noises and it makes it difficult to sneak around in certain situations (ie. Breaking empty bottles of alcohol by stepping on them is definitely loud enough to grab an enemies attention – But is that necessarily a bad thing?). One downside of the interactive environment is that I’ve found in tight spaces, you have a chance of getting stuck on certain objects, the main offender being empty cardboard boxes. However, that aside, being able to interact thoroughly with your environment and use it to your (possible) advantage is an interesting alley to explore, and certainly opens up lots of possibilities. The sound track, and sound effects (for the most part) are killer. They help add to the mood of the game and you can definitely feel the atmosphere the developers looked to set out for, and achieved. Creature sound effects are scary, expect to hear sound effects at times that will be jarring (anything from snivelling to screaming), and prepare to be thoroughly creeped out. One warning to all players: watch the body of the first enemy you kill for about 10-15 seconds after you perish him.. You’ll thank me later. One final tip for anyone looking to embark on their own Phantasmal experience: aiming down the sight on the pistol is a little bit lacking. However the ADS has been programmed, the bullet (logically) will shoot wherever your aim reticle is pointed while not zoomed in; however, when you look down the sight, instead of aiming down the sight your character looks seemingly straight through the pistol, along the chamber where the bullet is being held. I’d recommend aiming a little bit higher than you normally would. All-in-all, Phantasmal is an enjoyable game. The key appeal(s) for myself is that there’s always a different situation lurking, the soundtrack and effects are refreshing, effective and definitely add to the mood, and there’s a chance at progression if you’re driven enough to do it. Put all that into a mixing pot and then throw in the intriguing mystery story that progresses as you get deeper into the apartment complex? That’s a recipe for an effective horror game, folks. Huge shout out to Eyemobi Ltd. For letting us write an article on Phantasmal: City of Darkness. What do you guys think of the game? Leave your opinions in our comments section, or reach us on Facebook or Twitter. Looking forward to hearing from you!

Post Dated: 2016-04-13 20:30. Last Modified: 2016-04-13 22:13. Written by Neil Rampone

Hello everyone. Welcome to Small Dev Talk where we talk with the developers of tomorrow about their upcoming projects. From indie game developers to starting up bands to indie movies, we will have everything. This is Small Dev Talk and we hope you enjoy a look into the future of the developers of tomorrow! Enjoy ^,^

Post Dated: 2013-03-17. Last Modified: 2013-06-30 at 12:23. Written by Alexander Sullivan