Wales Interactive Takes Flight
Yeah, I did that title because it amuses me because I finished the game. Also, I'm doing my damnedest not to spoil the story.
Wales Interactive made a game loosely based on the ballad and later novel 'Maid of Sker'. In the novel a greedy cretin finds a kid he thinks may bring him money and, in the much older ballad, a father locks his daughter away because he doesn't like her boyfriend and she dies of a broken heart. Oh yeah, spoiler warning.
The game has elements of both of these iterations - greed, destruction and control are the motivators and themes for the story but the reason they are there, the effect they have, is very different. This is a horror game after all. An Adventure-Horror game to be exact, though I've seen some right plonkers try to call it an "Atmospheric Scary Walking Simulator but with Action". Jesus Freewheeling Christ. There's more to horror than just Survival Horror and Psychological Horror, got it? You're wandering around a scary place with limited resources? Survival Horror. You're wondering around a place that messes with your mind? Psychological. You doing the ol' item-finding-shuffle? Adventure Horror, and yes, there can be a lot of bleed through between these sub-genres so you go with the one a game most falls into.
'Maid of Sker' has jump-scares. Unlike certain other games (*ahem* Pineview Drive*ahem*) it feels as if it has earned them. It does the right thing. Builds up tension and shows an understanding of the truly horrific dread that is the scaffolding of a good jump-scare. It picks away the edges of your safety and your expectation before absolutely destroying them in a solitary heart-beat. And it does all of this as part of the story. Every creepy vibe, each aspect of the music and every scare is intertwined with the plot and THAT is hugely important.
So many games are focused on the set-piece of a scare that it doesn't feel or play right alongside the rest of the story. It might make you jump, may even creep you out, but if it isn't referenced to in the story, the story doesn't require it or the set-piece is something that crams too much of the story into it, the scare won't stick with you. So, what helps make 'Maid of Sker' good and interesting?
One element is that the enemies are blind. In a really messed up and unavoidable sequence you find out why. They cannot see you, only hear you, but their hearing is very much stronger due to the torment they've endured. They can even hear you breathe, so staying back, staying quiet and holding your breath are the best ways to avoid them. By interacting with the environment you can even move them, albeit temporarily, out of your way.
An utterly disturbing, stand-out part involves walking along a tree-lined path. The sound design is excellent, adding to this feeling of claustrophobia that the path imparts on the player as it gets narrower and narrower. You start to hear a mumbling, a struggle, and come across some branches you can look through. What follows is a disturbing scene followed by a jump-scare. Sounds par-for-the-course, right? Whilst awful, confusing and potentially deeply upsetting, it is 100% driven by the story. It feels like it should be there, even though it is optional. The reward to the player for seeing it is the main story swallowing this event, giving it context and sense of a sort, and adding an even deeper feeling of panic in a section later in the game.
There's a couple of boss 'fights' but you need to use the environmental puzzles and items to win. Both are interesting and good at raising tension -this is not a game for screaming Youtubers or screaming Twitch streamers, this is a game where you use your brain for something other than opening your mouth.
Sound is truly spot-on and the composer, Gareth Lumb, does a great job of making something eerie, beautiful and very well suited to this Welsh fairytale. And it is very Welsh, reflecting upon mythology and bringing a piece of it to the sprawling Sker Hotel, based on the very real and horribly haunted Sker House, with a few stunning Welsh-language vocal tracks sung by Tia Kalmaru. They're real songs and have a rich history of their own.
Also, when you're sneaking about and can hear something breathing near you, it can make you panic a little. Sound design and environmental design is wonderful. Graphically it's quite charming - nothing overly realistic but very expressive characters bolstered by excellent voice-acting and decent writing that feel like they exist in this decadent but dilapidated series of buildings. I think the lack of extremely realistic characters helps the game. It has a story with horrid things occurring in front of the players eyes and there's been so much of it with extremely high-level graphics that it's lost it's bite. The visuals also help with how surreal the game can be.
Soooo, if I like the story enough to not want to ruin it for you, enjoyed the music so much I bought the ost and enjoyed the general feel and controls of the game, it's perfect, right?
- Nothing is.
- I'm British, do you have any idea how nit-picking and repressed-angry I can be?
I think my biggest complaint about 'Maid of Sker' is I found it a tad easy. Most of it is logical progression, you just need to pay attention to your surroundings and the puzzles are very Resident Evil-ish. I've seen some people complain of it being too hard because the game uses save points and there are few of them. Intentionally so, I presume, as these points also give additional story and this is meant to have the feel of an old-school horror game with modern elements to fit its old story and theme. An option in the menu might help these people, but most gamers familiar with horror games should enjoy the tiny bit of challenge this adds.
The AI is usually fine, with you really only dying if you panic, paint yourself into a corner or breathe lovingly in an enemies ear. At which point they will happily pull your tongue out through your urethra. It can be a bit wonky at times when an enemy is moving back into his normal walking pattern as weirdly as possible but that's pretty rare.
Honestly though? That's about it. This year so far I have played this, 'The Medium', 'Visage', 'Pineview Drive'(ugh), 'Kakushi Kamen' and 'Stitched'. Horror-wise it's been a pretty good few months with one notable piece of trash exception.
Don't think this is for you? There are plenty of other horror games out there. I, however, love horror games with good pacing, grand music and a feeling of slowly building wrongness. So 'Maid of Sker' is something I have very much enjoyed.
Buy 'The Maid of Sker' on Steam here: Maid of Sker
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