I played through The Coma today. It's maybe about 5-6 hours in total, which I tend to feel is the optimum length for the type of game it is. It didn't feel like it outstayed its welcome at all, and I enjoyed the experience as a whole. Its sequel Vicious Sisters is a considerably more polished game in many ways, but it's super-interesting to see where it all started. While Vicious Sisters doesn't require knowledge of The Coma to appreciate — I played it first — it is a direct follow-up. I'll be interested to revisit it now I have the context of the first one.
I like horror games. I'm not particularly big on blood, gore, violence and that sort of thing, but I do very much appreciate that horror games these days tend to be the natural evolution of the adventure game genre for one reason or another. I guess the core "solving a mystery" aspect fits well with the horror theme — and if you get into supernatural horror, said mystery can be super weird and cool!
I especially like horror games that aren't about fighting. The Coma and its sequel are good examples, as is Corpse Party. For me, horror becomes immediately less scary if you can fight back. There are exceptions, of course — the violence is pretty core to the Silent Hill games, for example, particularly the second — but I tend to find "spooky scary things" and "I'm a badass with a rocket launcher" don't gel super-well together. Or, rather, that's not quite true; I've enjoyed many a Resident Evil in my day. But they don't feel like "horror" in the same way as something like The Coma or Corpse Party. Perhaps it's the distinction between "monster movie" and "horror" or something. I don't know. I haven't studied it in detail, but I like to think about such things.
Anyway, The Coma was a good time, and now I have something suitably spooky to write about for Halloween week. As I say, I might try and bang out a replay of Vicious Sisters this week too — particularly as I got the "bad" ending back when I reviewed it — but that'll all depend on time, motivation and… well, just those two things, really.
Hope you've all had a good weekend! Back to the grindstone tomorrow. Booooo!
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