59) In Sound Mind (2021)

Released in 2021, In Sound Mind is the first game built from the ground up by the team at We Create Stuff, whose previous work included browser and flash based projects, as well as the Nightmare House games which were elaborate, horror themed Half-Life 2 mods. Working with mental health advisors and with a soundtrack crafted by the band "The Living Tombstone"In Sound Mind bills itself as a psychological horror game. Putting players in the role of therapist, Desmond Wales, the goal is to dive into the various issues of his recent patients in order to escape a flooded building crawling with shadowy figures. In doing so, we must work alongside our talking cat while the mysterious Agent Rainbow impedes and mocks us along the way.

We start the game with a view of a flooded cityscape as we awake in the basement of a building. We're introduced to the basics of movement and puzzle solving, as well as a crafting mechanic that will play no further role in the game. Once we make it to our office, we find what will become the gameplay loop, as we learn a little about a patient, see inside their home where we find a cassette tape that will then send us to the level in which we explore their trauma. In each of these, we're presented with various enemies and puzzles, as well as a fairly literal representation of our patient's trauma. Using items and mechanics that we find in their respective worlds, we must ultimately confront the embodiment of trauma in order to help the patient move on.

Off the bat, the first thing to know about In Sound Mind is that it is more psychological than it is horror. At no point did I, an admitted coward, actually experience any sort of fear outside of jump scares and early game inventory management. We're constantly being taunted by Agent Rainbow, and though there are a few times where you can catch him watching only to disappear, he comes off more as humorous dick than an actual threat. Indeed, one of the biggest criticisms I have with the game is the overall lack of horror, oftentimes leaning into satire and comedy. In fairness, I find it to be effective satire, but if you're coming in looking for spook'ems, the game will leave you sorely lacking.

That's not to say the game is bad by any means. On the contrary, I found myself enjoying the game quite a bit, but it plays far closer to a first person shooter with puzzles thrown in than it does to a true horror game. This is compounded by the plethora of hidden upgrades both in the levels and in the building which serves as our hub. In addition to a small arsenal of weapons and items, there are plenty of upgrades for our health, stamina, sprinting speed, and even our stealth, though I rarely felt the need to use the sneaking mechanic. In addition, the developers also included what became my favorite mechanic in the form of telephones scattered throughout the game. At various points, when you walk by a phone, it will ring. Answering it will, of course, have Agent Rainbow taunting us, often times giving us pretty explicit hints for various puzzles. However, you can choose to hang up at any point, cutting him off in what I found to be a funny fashion. You can do this with every phone call, so I did. As funny as it was, I kept hoping it would either bite me in the ass or elicit a reaction from him, which sadly never happens.

The levels themselves are pretty imaginative, with elements of each patients specific issues sprinkled throughout and utilized effectively. Each one culminates in a boss fight that makes use of the tools and mechanics found in the level as well as the environment in fun and creative ways. There's an overarching narrative that's told mostly in the background that, while I had high hopes for how it might resolve, ultimately serves only as window dressing. The game has a bit of fun from time to time taking advantage of predicting how players will react, with some elements changing only if you look away then turn back, but these are unfortunately used infrequently, though they work well where utilized. The puzzles themselves, while often creative, rarely lend themselves to alternate solutions.

The true stand out feature of the game is the soundtrack. After each level, you gain access to a special track that's sung from the perspective of the patient we just explored. Written and performed by The Living Tombstone, these are all phenomenal songs that became the highlight of each level. Not only are the songs good, but the lyrics are thoughtful, tying into the psychological issues in ways that are respectful. If nothing else, I'd recommend this game for the soundtrack alone, and it's clear that a lot of love and care went into it.

While the story is fairly straightforward and the comedy far outweighs the horror, I found myself having a great time while playing. It's not overly long, which is probably for the best as I felt overpowered fairly early on, which served to eliminate any remaining vestige of the survival horror experience. What it lacks in horror it more than makes up for in presentation and general charm. Agent Rainbow rarely comes off as menacing, seeming content to play the role of the disruptive menace more than as true force of horror. As long as you go in with the knowledge that no, this game is not going to actually scare you any more than a standard episode of Scooby-Doo, then I believe you'll have a good time.