Kageroh: Shadow Corridor (from us simply Shadow Corridor) arrives now also on Nintendo Switch, curiously almost simultaneously with the remastered of a chapter of the series from which he himself takes clear inspiration: Project Zero / Fatal Frame.
Both games have a very strong oriental connotation and have their roots in the darkest glow of the land of the Rising Sun. Both have one or more protagonists who have little to do with superpowers or military training. Finally, both require the player to move with caution so as not to excessively disturb the presences floating around, presences that if taken the wrong way can mean the end.
Shadow Corridor, however, differs from its occasional rival especially for the level design, which while resting on very specific bases is capable of changing, changing the morphology of the levels at each run. However, the nightmare always begins in the same way: you are an ordinary person who is taking a walk through the streets of a suburb of a traditional Japanese town.
Suddenly an alley shrouded in darkness catches your attention and transports you into a nightmare maze. Since this is a game in which escape is a fundamental resource, if not the only one, to survive you will understand that the random component plays a very important role.
The labyrinths that make up much of the game hide useful objects and clues about the story that from the very beginning is a giant question mark. You can turn it as far and wide as you want but any extra moment you spend inside them could also be your last.
The exploration takes place with a soft and slow pace, although it is possible at any time to accelerate the pace … especially when one of the disturbing presences will be on your trail. Ghosts are sensitive to various stimuli, from light to the sound of footsteps, which is why running is almost never a smart option.
You will sense their presence from simple signals: a candle going out, a flickering in the air or a distant lament. At that point you will have only two possibilities: reach the exit or hide yourself hoping that the spirit / demon will pass beyond. The first option is not always available as to reach safety you will have to find the right path by opening the previously blocked passages. In some rooms you will find baskets of your size or other hiding places where you will have to temporarily seek refuge, holding your breath if possible so as not to betray your presence.
But be careful because not all ghosts will be so easily deceived, some of them have special abilities that will make the attempt to mislead even more difficult. In these cases, the game will provide you with tools with which you can temporarily mislead your pursuer.
Do not expect flash grenades or who knows which gun: you will have to take advantage of the few objects you will find around such as a lighter or a torch to illuminate the (many) dark rooms, a row of sticks that once lit can be useful for various purposes, a torch, marbles and so on. Some presences will react aggressively to the use of these objects while others will flee or disappear, it will be only by experimenting that you will discover the best “weapon” to use depending on the moment.
The main game mode, which includes various difficulty levels, can be completed in a generous handful of hours net of the (many) times in which you will have to start from the checkpoints for having been just touched by one of the presences that haunt the game.
To the delight of speedrunners, each stage is timed, but if you don’t want to go too fast (which, as we said earlier, is not recommended) you can dedicate yourself to finding secret rooms and special objects that are all too well hidden. These elements combined with the random component greatly increase the replayability, while the general longevity is raised by an extra mode that, without wanting to spoil the situation … reverses the situation.
The atmospheres are discreetly disturbing and we must admit that the jumps on the chair are not lacking, or rather … they would not be missing if you could play on a larger screen without losing some diopter. On the small screen of the Nintendo Switch, the scares are reduced to pocket format.
So why didn’t you play it docked? Excellent question that deserves an answer: we tested it with the console housed in its shell but unfortunately Shadow Corridor shot on a screen that exceeds 30 inches (ours was a 55-inch LED) greatly amplifies its aesthetic flaws and gives a connotation totally different to the “fear factor”.
Technically Shadow Corridor is a game that betrays its low budget and one-person development. Obviously, you could not expect who knows what virtuosity, especially on the Switch, but on the Nintendo console the low complexity of the polygonal constructions, a lighting system reduced to the bone and textures often smeared and / or poorly defined, stands out. The control system also deserved a fix. The use of objects is nothing short of archaic as it is relegated to the horizontal cyclic selection of the same, which is simple in quiet phases of the game … much less when hunted by a ghost.
These elements, combined with the very close release of the much more famous Project Zero: Maiden of Black Water, do not seem to give hope of success to the game of one-man-studio Kazuki Shiroma.
However, it remains a survival horror belonging to a category not too abused (the “Clock Tower” one to understand) with some interesting ideas and an atmosphere, net of the poor technical level, well done. To be recovered in the near future, perhaps when the price becomes even more greedy.
6
/ 10
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