Incubo

Review

A young boy trapped inside his own mind. A craftily-built story about his life and the emotional scars that can linger on one's soul. Feeling such as joy & sorrow, tragedy, and betrayal, this is a journey of a young boy trapped inside his nightmares. Having washed ashore from the ocean, a woman comes upon him lying on the edge of the beach and attempts to find out what happened to him; he claims he has no recollection of who he is or how he got there. Exhausted, he passes out, falling into a deep sleep that slips into a nightmare world whose meanings are confusing to him. As he enters this realm he is in front of a house and proceeds to go inside, where a spectral girl tells him that he must search his memory if he is to escape. He will need to piece together his past through this seemingly endless nightmare. Discovering all the fragments of his memories until they assemble a meaningful memory of what has taken place. Are you prepared to face what lies ahead? Your journey through the Incubo awaits you!

Released on Jan 31, 2019, by the developers inngamezstudio, Hehe Gamez, and published by inngamezstudio, this is the first release on Steam by both. It is a Single Player, Indie, 2D, Horror, Adventure game with a taste of macabre. I would rate it as a blending of casual to challenging. Some areas are very intuitive, while others will have you wondering if your brain is still plugged in due to some of its insidious designs. It features a stunning visual art style and an eerie soundtrack that adds to the menacing flow of the game. A brilliant & well-designed set of ever-changing mechanics and intricate puzzles whose design will challenge your ability to think outside the box. Menacing spirits designed after ethereal beings from around the world, along with devious traps and tons of parkour that will test your platforming skills. The best-designed jump scares I have ever had the pleasure to enjoy! Frantic boss battles that will have your heart racing.  An elaborate story that some will find shocking and will leave you in awe at its conclusion. Full controller support (I do recommend its use). Captions are available as well.

What a fascinating platformer, it is a simply adorable horror game. Using these two descriptors together is an oddity I know, but I assure you it is quite a fitting description. I honestly was astonished by the title; the mechanic's design and flow were exceptionally planned out. Without elaborating on them too much, so as not to spoil you discovering them on your own terms, I will say that they will often change drastically from one extreme to another, so that you never know what to expect next. Your abilities are running and jumping (short and long), along with covering your eyes or your mouth to avoid some spirits. You will also have the ability to interact with and/or move some objects in the levels, which will be critical to advancing. As you progress you will receive a camera that uses the flash for light as well. The puzzles were just "WOW"; I adore puzzle games and take pride in my ability to solve them. These often left me perplexed at their solutions; when finally figuring them out I was often surprised at how they could be both complex and simplistic at the same time. And yeah, I could have kicked myself in the butt a few times for not seeing the solutions right away. I currently have about an hour of gameplay left. I left off at a boss who was having too much fun tormenting me; I am so close to getting past him. I will say that timing is very critical in this title; in some areas just a misplaced jump can mean failure. The game will often set you up for failure to become your reality, mistakes will be made (no regrets). As I close, I must say that I consider this one to be an instant "Gem" and great value for one's library.

I really had no majors issues, but I do want to point out a couple of things that bothered me. The limited settings are functional, I averaged a solid 60 FPS on high settings. I would have liked to have had the ability to edit the key-bindings. I would also have liked to be able to turn down the film grain (this is a personal preference due to vision issues and really played no important part in the flow of the game). The title does require working with colors; as I am extremely color-blind these settings are normally vital for me in games that require the ability to differentiate between them. It’s a fact that is often overlooked by developers, but color-blindness affects approximately 1 in 12 men (8%) and 1 in 200 women in the world. Luckily the color design for the title was adequate for me to tell them apart by shade. Those with photo-sensitivity should note I did experience some nausea and a slight headache with prolonged playtime in the dark areas where you use the camera flash for a light source. I experienced zero bugs or errors during my gameplay.

The title Incubo originates from the late Latin word, incubus, meaning "nightmare".

Achievement Hunters will be glad to hear that the title is completable to 100% with a single playthrough. 

For Settings.

These are limited to a language selector (9 available), Quality (Low or High), Credits, and Exit.

Review written by DamageInc.for Zeepond.com!