Anthology of Fear

Review

Your brother, Nathan, disappeared without a trace months ago, and the hope of finding him alive is fading rather quickly. The investigation by the authorities has led nowhere, but out of the blue, you receive a call from a woman claiming that something disturbing happened at a mental health clinic that had closed down at about the same time as your brother's disappearance. As your brother had been seeking help from a facility like this one, this lead could be worth investigating. Then again, it could be just a coincidence. Your gut feelings tell you it’s worth taking the risk to check out the clinic yourself. Are you ready to jump into Anthology of Fear?

Anthology of Fear is a first-person horror walking simulator game with puzzle elements developed by OhDeer Studio and published by 100 Games on the 18^th of March, 2023, on the Steam platform. The game is also available on PS4/PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S.

Anthology of Fear is a fairly short, linear game that can be completed in two to three hours. As you start the game, you play Nathan’s brother. But as the story evolves, you’ll be taking on other characters who are linked to Nathan's death, including Nathan himself.   There is a bit of cleverness here; something to do with a patient running away with a key towards the elevators; you’ll probably be lost when you find this information, but it will make sense in the end.

When you look at the level layouts, they are slightly different when you play each character, but there is not much to do. You go from one room to another, but nothing much is happening. Here’s a hint: you can move to the next stage by returning to and activating the small elevator. However, the elevator will only move you forward if you have completed all the tasks on that level.  If it doesn’t move, you missed something in the level.

The entire game has only a few puzzles; they are not hard, but I enjoyed them. They involve reading some information on walls and correctly placing objects onto specific spots. Something strange will happen when you complete these puzzles.

Is Anthology of Fear scary? Well, I did jump a couple of times, not because it was scary but because it was unexpected. Having ceiling lights turning off or dropping to the floor will make you look behind to see what’s going on, but nothing else. Furniture that moves from one place to another is strange but not scary, and it does add intensity to the well-portrayed atmosphere of the game, that’s for sure, and it is well done.  When you reach a certain point within the game, you’ll have a zombie-looking doctor who moves toward you rapidly, and you have to shoot him with an unusual gun, but even that is nothing special. The only time I felt some intensity was towards the conclusion of the game, but then it all finished abruptly.

The game has great graphics and runs very well. It is a short game and doesn’t offer additional replayability, which is unfortunate. But I enjoyed the story, and the fact that you play different characters and find out where they fit into Nathan's unfortunate outcome is very good. The game has been translated into 15 languages and has full controller support.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com

Anthology of Fear Steam Store Page