After at least two Reboot InfoGamers of anticipation, we got the chance to play the new Croatian horror game Go Home Annie. As a big fan of horror games and SCP, I had high expectations for the game, with the fact that I actively avoided all demos and previews outside of the first trailer for the game when it was released on Steam, and the game did not disappoint at all.
The latest game from Croatian developers Misfit Village, Go Home Annie, is a moderately short light-horror game that consistently subverts expectations. The focus of the game is the story, along with which we explore the available world and solve simple, but also very innovative puzzles. We play the game in the role of Annie, who explores her past and the situation in which she finds herself. Explaining more details about the story could seriously spoil the surprises with the focus being on exploration and uncovering information, but personally I'm more than happy with the story and the overall experience.
Horror elements are omnipresent, but even when some moments are unexpected, the game surprisingly pleasantly avoids intense jumpscares. Throughout the game, the horror is in the atmosphere, visuals and story, not in the loud moments after which we consider adjusting the volume of the headphones. I was also surprised by a good rollercoaster of stressful and more casual moments (certainly just to lower your guard and be more surprised by the upcoming surprises).
The game has an excellent story with elements inspired by the SCP Foundation. The SCP Foundation (Secure, Contain, Protect) is an online community that creates stories about various fictional supernatural anomalies and the eponymous organization that studies them and protects humanity from them. As someone who has been a fan of the SCP Foundation for over 10 years I am completely satisfied with the selection of anomalies presented in the game and the way they are presented.
Although the gameplay is mostly linear, there is enough content and information on the side that are optional and only add to the game. Navigating the space is easy, there are places where you can get lost for a while and the game does not suffer from the "yellow paint" problem. The replayability is enough for at least one more return to the game and of course to collect all the achievements and reveal all the secrets. It's also always fun to go back to horror games with existing knowledge and relive everything with a new perspective on the world. The experience that the game provides is carefully composed and it can be seen that it is the product of a careful joining of elements into a quality and fun whole.
Overall, I have almost exclusively positive things to say about the game, I am completely satisfied with the game as a whole and the only area where I personally think it could be better are the zones outside the "playable part" that we can see on some segments of the map where sometimes they seem a little empty. Despite this, a lot of attention was paid to all the key visual details, and it does not change my enthusiasm for the game at all.
Go Home Annie could definitely be recommended to fans of the horror genre and SCP, but also to anyone who likes a well-presented story with a unique atmosphere (and has a tolerance for horror elements). The game does not require any existing experience of knowing SCP, and among other games that share that subtheme, it stands out with its excellent performance and story.
A copy of the game was provided by publisher Nordcurrent Labs for review purposes
