Decarnation, the tried and true of an adventure between Lynch and Satoshi Kon
Decarnation
Mix elements of survival horror with others of horror adventure, creating a story that mixes Perfect Blue by Satoshi Kon with Mulholland Drive by David Lynch. With this in mind, what could possibly go wrong? Nothing or everything. This is why we approached with great curiosity and, after trying the demo of Decarnation, published on the occasion of the Steam Next Fest, we are increasingly convinced that it can be a great gaming experience.Contents
Decarnation is a suggestive title The Decarnation demo is actually not very long: it lasts less than half an hour and stops at the end of what appears to be the prologue of the adventure, in which the basics are given of the story, but there is no direct contact with the nightmare world in which the protagonist, Gloria, is imprisoned, except in rare moments. There aren't even any puzzles to solve, actually, which should be part of the gameplay of the final version. Let's say that the developers have designed it to let the players taste the atmosphere of the game through almost completely narrative sequences, which is also good, but it does not allow to express evaluations of any kind, not even based on simple impressions, especially those that on the card will be among the key elements of the adventure. That said, the contents of the demo are still very interesting and set the stage for a horror experience that could be brilliant.Narrative Demo
Don't be fooled, the pixel art graphics seem to be beautifully animated Decarnation starts in a sculptor's studio. Gloria is naked she is modeling the artist, who wants to create a statue with the exact features of her. The woman, almost thirty years old, is a dancer who makes shows for adults, the daughter of a classical dancer. Months after the modeling job, we find her at home waiting for her partner, a brilliant university student. After a few pleasantries, the two go to the city museum where the statue of the dancer is exhibited. After wandering around for a while, looking at the paintings and talking to those present, Gloria detaches herself and goes alone into the statue room, where she witnesses a scene that deeply disturbs her: a man is touching the sculpture, clutching it from behind her back as if she were real and eager to harass her. Ours runs away upset and asks her partner not to go and look at the statue.After showing us a performance by Gloria on the stage of the theater she works for, we are presented with a further element of mystery: someone left a bouquet of flowers on the door of the woman's apartment. After picking it up and bringing it into the house, Gloria receives a strange phone call, made by the secretary of a very rich man, who declares that he is a fan of her and wants to help her with her career, organizing a world tour for her.
lei The offer certainly flatters her, but she has too many things that keep her from saying yes, and in fact she initially won't. Unfortunately for her, a very close turn of her is left by her partner and loses her job. Meanwhile, strange nightmares have begun to haunt her. One of her in particular, set in the museum, shocks her, full as it was of monsters of flesh that tried to defeat her and that she had to fight screaming. As if the situation weren't already complicated enough, a meeting with her mother, an event that is described as increasingly rare, destroys her even more, since she can't tell her the truth so as not to feed the sense of deep disappointment she feeds. for his daughter.
Without any surprise, Gloria finally decides to accept the offer of her rich fan in search of redemption and goes to the appointment given to her by the tycoon's secretary, to try to get the promised support. But here she gets stunned, putting an end to the demo (actually there is a final sequence where you run away from a demon on a bridge, but it doesn't last long).
Final notes
The final version of Decarnation will transport us to suggestive places It will be for the splendid animations, all hand-drawn, given the splendid pixel art graphics. It will be for the story, which has really managed to intrigue us, despite having just been sketched. The fact is that we want to continue Gloria's adventure with the final version of Decarnation, due out in 2023. It is a pity that we could not try puzzles or situations that would put us to the test, even if only with a view to evaluating their presence. Too bad also for the very few interactions with the other characters and the game world (basically almost the entire demo is just talked about). We will make up for it with the final version.Decarnation seems to be an essentially narrative game, with great care in animations and in all those elements that make up the story. During the demo we do not see particularly gory scenes (just the only nightmare present can reserve some surprises), but the final version should go much deeper from this point of view. We'll see.
