We’ve seen so many pixelated horror games in recent years with the likes of Lone Survivor, The Slaughter and Final Station gracing our screens. The art style has become massively popular in years with indie developers who are able to create compelling concepts and interesting gameplay without a big budget. But with the market overloaded with pixelated horror games I ask if Uncanny Valley can make an impact in the market?

Players will take control of Tom, a quiet man who’s taken a job as a night watchman at a scientific research centre. Upon his arrival Tom meets his colleague Buck, a miserable and fowl mouthed guy who’s always trying to bring Tom down at the beginning of his shift. There’s also Eva e, the cleaner of the apartment building where Tom is living. Everything seems normal, but it’s clear that Tom is hiding something. With an unnerving introduction taking form of a blood curdling nightmare, it’s clear that Tom is haunted by some pretty serious demons.

But Tom’s new job keeps his mind at ease as he wondering the lonesome corridors of the research facility making sure nothing happens. But something strange is lurking underneath the surface of this quiet place and Tom is determined to find out what. Players will experience a world where impact of choice is expansive allowing for changes in narrative and the progression to happen at any given moment. Tom can perform his daily tasks such as the nightshift where he’ll roam the facility and gather clues on what is happening. Otherwise it’s up to the player to do as they please. They can go out and investigate the world around them, sleep on the job and encounter more horrific nightmares and even kill supporting characters.

Each action has a reaction and the player must deal with the consequence once it arises. But going to sleep and venturing into Tom’s nightmares reveal more on his past and opens up a gripping mystery. Tom is able to befriend supporting characters which reveal more on the story and could lead to varied outcomes both good or bad.

Uncanny Valley proposes a captivating concept along with an engaging story. For the most part, it’s captivating and the first few hours are brilliantly put together. The aim of Uncanny Valley is to get players to unravel the mystery by playing the game multiple times. Each playthrough is set up to push the player to go further, learn from their mistakes and grasp the many choices at hand. Even by failing, the player can find an outcome and some are downright disturbing as a conclusion, enough to make you come back for more.
But soon enough it becomes clear that the game’s aspect of choices lacks depth or substance. Some of the choices you’d thing would have meaning often feel cosmetic. Everything plays out to a degree that moulds into the same sounding conclusion and at the end there are only two types of endings. The bad endings just resolve in a similar manner to each other but have the most impact. While the better endings just end on a flat, uninspiring note with plenty of unanswered questions at foot.

Sadly Uncanny Valley’s writing just doesn’t offer that sense of reward or payoff after such a good build-up of mystery.

What doesn’t help Uncanny Valley further is the execution of certain gameplay elements. The idea of exploring this isolated and harrowing complex at night is gripping at first but soon becomes repetitive and tedious when you’ve read all the emails. Nothing really happens, apart from one night when a black out occurs and there’s only one long winded puzzle to solve involving reading dozens of emails for a safe combination. I understand there’s the factor of choice and this is what saves Uncanny Valley from being a snooze fest. The nightmares, aspect of choice early in the game and finally making your way to the lower levels of the complex are the best things about the journey.

But gameplay mechanics such as stealth is a little crude and inconsistent to make it enjoyable. Enemies seem to have poor vision when your right in front of them yet performing a slight jog a mile away draws their attention. Their patrolling patterns also make no sense as they can pop up in random locations at any given time. NPCs can be rather infuriating as well when they block your path with no way for you to progress without suffering some dire consequences. I did however like the fact that your enemies are truly relentless, braking through doors and chasing you even when they’re burning to death. Plus their voices are creepy as hell.

There are other aspects of Uncanny Valley I did like such as the fantastic sound design harbouring a beautifully and eerily John Carpenter inspired soundtrack while the little voice work in the game is effective to unnerve you. The art style again is fantastic in most places with only a handful of times I found it underdeveloped. Most of the world looks highly detailed, rich in colour and shows cases some gruesome and brutal depictions of violence I’ve seen in a pixel style game.

As said the first few hours are the most interesting and the developers have done a great job are building a mystery with a highly captivating nature. It’s shame then that the game has little to reward you with and produces a series of bland climaxes and unanswered questions. Beside the crude stealth mechanics, the game also has some annoying graphical bugs and glitches. Yet overall, it’s definitely worth checking for its best qualities out and hopefully won’t be forgotten about like so many other pixel horror games.

++ Captivating mystery
+ Interesting idea on choice and impact
+ Nice art style and sound design

- Choices lack impact later in the game
-- Stealth mechanics are crude and dull

An Xbox One review copy of Uncanny Valley was provided by the publisher for the purpose of this review

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