The Park

Developer: Funcom | Released: 2015 | Genre: Adventure, Horror

I completed this short walking simulator facile adventure in less than two hours.

It was a first person horror game taking place in a dark and foreboding abandoned amusement park. As a mother, I was looking for her son Callum that ran away from the car and into this park. I could call to him with the right mouse button, but he never came back. He just wanted me to follow his lead.

Along the way I came across various dilapidated big amusements such as a slow swan boat, a ferris wheel, a roller coaster, etc. I could even ride most of these, typically while the mother told me about her strained relationship with her kid – or a story told in some other way.

This wasn’t exactly the most engrossing game of its kind. It was linear and also very low on interactivity. I could barely click to read letters along the way. That was pretty much it. It did have a few jump scares and a good ambient background sound, but if you follow my blog, you know it’s almost wasted on me. I didn’t get spooked even once. In fact, I sometimes wonder why I keep playing these types of games at all.

Oh wait, I know. It’s to clean out my backlog. A futile mission.

Spoiler: Observations

  • Annoying how the hotkey for running was turned off every time mother wanted to talk some more.
  • Was I the only one that had a hard time concentrating about reading all those letters?
  • I liked the alternative ending of the Hansel and Gretel story in the swan boat ride.
  • There was one roundabout ride I didn’t get on – maybe I wasn’t supposed to?
  • I was actually stuck at a set of stairs to the roller coaster for a minute or two.
  • Interesting if disturbing speech mother gave about how much she hated the concept of children.
  • The constantly looping cellar part was well done albeit also somewhat unoriginal.

Pros

  • Graphics and sound is fine, and the game is probably scary too – just not to me.
  • Also excellent voice acting – especially the mother is good.
  • There are actual mirror effects in real hall mirrors and in big puddles on the ground.

Cons

  • Lots of slow walking. You do get a hotkey for running, but the narrative frequently turns it off.
  • A tad too dark at times for my liking – maybe I should have turned up the brightness.
  • It can easily be completed in less than two hours.

6/10

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