The Shore is a decently well-made game that honors the eldritch horrors born from the wickedly genius mind of H. P. Lovecraft. The game may not appear great graphically in the shed but I grew to love the game more and more as I kept getting immersed in this Lovecraftian world.
NOTE: The game likes to put fast flashing eldritch symbols in your face sometimes, so if you have a thing against that then expect quite a few in The Shore.
STORY
You play as an old fisherman named Andrew who wakes up shipwrecked on an island in the middle of a vast ocean. You notice your daughter is missing as well as other wrecked ships, skeletal remains, and alien artifacts on this strange place. You set out to find your daughter by checking out the large lighthouse stationed nearby the beach. Who knows what could possibly be slumbering underneath the island? What dangers could be hiding? What will you unleash?
I won’t spoil much else for you but I will say that the plot is purely based on Lovecraftian horror, so if you know what goes on in the genre then you already have a basic understanding of The Shore’s plot. I will say that I kind of liked the abrupt twist at the end of the story that left quite the cliffhanger. Still it left me satisfied with the game and who knows if there’ll be a sequel?
GAMEPLAY
The game first begins as a walking simulator in which you walk around the island looking at possible collectibles and lore items. You could find some hidden events that show just how messed up the island can be to its inhabitants. The game does a great job of balancing what to show and tell you because you pretty much experience it firsthand. The only issue with exploration are the invisible walls that block areas that seem very walkable.
The next gameplay mechanic are the puzzles that require you to use your noggin. They are very, very simple which isn’t necessarily bad if you’re thirsting to see some old gods. You can get this puzzles over with quickly as most of them are pretty intuitive. There’s a couple of puzzles that I felt were too monotonous to add any real gameplay value.
The last one would be the interactions with the monsters that you’ll encounter. You’ll be either running away from the creatures in a chase or eventually kill them with your sweet laser artifact. Once again this one is very simple like the others. For the chase scene you pretty much hold sprint and ‘W’ then move through a obvious path. For killing monsters, you literally hold left mouse button to user your laser beam on them until they die.
GRAPHICS & SOUND
First off, the font and design for the main menu selections could have been a lot better. It just looks very amateurish but doesn’t devalue the game, I just wish the font didn’t hurt my eyes.
In all seriousness this time, the graphics aren’t that bad as the island looks pretty decent. I can’t say the same for the human models as even their animation is janky. The ELDRITCH models, on the other hand, are so ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ perfect. I absolutely adore the art direction the developers made with respect to Lovecraft’s work, they just look so otherworldly and awesome.
Voice acting is decent, I mean some people may not like the Eldritch voice but I found them to be satisfactory even though it’s just deepened voices. It still sounds cool and not cringey.
Music was great in keeping up the suspense of exploring unknown territory as well as encountering the dangerous abominations.
VERDICT
The Shore is incredible in showcasing a world of humanity being ruled over by fearsome Eldritch gods. The story does an amazing service in honoring the legendary genre created by H. P. Lovecraft. However you will disappointed if you’re seeking for a challenge in gameplay. So I recommend it to those who are fans of Lovecraftian horroresque stories but don’t really care about gameplay.
You can purchase The Shore on the Steam store page HERE
I just want to share my impressions of a video game so people can see if they want it or not.
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