Emotionless: The Last Ticket Review (PC)

Emotionless: The Last Ticket radiates an aura that, frankly, I’m not entirely comfortable with. But I think that’s the point. Or at least, I truly believe that it is. Without breaking a sweat, it disguises its warped tendencies behind a veil of oddly familiar imagery—innocent contraptions and carnival scenes, vague memories of a better time and a faint yet familiar undertone of adolescent pride. Yet, it chooses to bury something else beneath its smokescreens that, after so long of actively attempting to remove them, finally entices you to dig a little deeper and pull back the curtain for a closer peek.

As it turns out, Emotionless: The Last Ticket is one of those sorts of walking simulators—the sort that loves presenting you with questions, but rarely takes the opportunity to enlighten you on the details. I’m not saying that it lacks context; I’m saying that it enjoys laying down breadcrumbs and effectively allowing you to make assumptions on your own accord. It doesn’t tell you what’s what or, more importantly, who’s who, but it does sprinkle a few curiosities over a route and simply presents you with the tools to connect the dots. The world changes, as do most of the nooks and crannies that flesh out its carnival site. But, as with any thrill ride that likes to play tricks on your mind, the more you treat it like a carousel, the more you begin to notice the minor obscurities in its deepest, most troubled mechanisms.

One More Ride

Emotionless: The Last Ticket is like a good book, with its twists and turns and page-turning moments acting as stepping stones to keep you leafing through the pages in search of that next all-important climax. It doesn’t always make sense, I’ll admit, nor does it do a great deal to fill in its blanks or grease the hinges of its otherwise perplexing narrative. Yet, it does another thing to make up for its absence: it keeps you invested for the long haul, if not through the conduit of a secret passage to follow, then with a litter of small yet crucial pieces of information that lead you even deeper down its rabbit hole. And that’s what matters the most here: the fact that it keeps you on tenterhooks, even though you don’t always know what you’re doing, much less where you’re going. It’s a bit like Layers of Fear in that respect; it relies on hallucinatory world-building to usher you toward your next destination.

Speaking of vague narratives and patchy plot points, Emotionless: The Last Ticket tells a relatively simple tale, one that follows a protagonist who seemingly believes that returning to his missing father’s derelict carnival is a good idea. But, like all good horrors that feature a clincher, Emotionless ultimately decides to throw a curveball your way—an obstacle that requires you to divert the course and answer two important questions: What happened to the carnival, and why is it that the air is thicker than ever before?

Emotionless doesn’t feature any combat, nor does it demand anything particularly taxing. Instead, it asks that you simply explore the foggy portals of the old carnival site, and unearth documents, audio logs, and other useful fragments of memorabilia to help shed light on several underlying themes. To that end, yes, it is a textbook physiological walking simulator. But this world has rides that you can go on. A small victory, that.

There’s Something in the Wind

Emotionless loves to confuse you. Scratch that, it adores the thought of watching you itch your head as you aimlessly wander the world in search of the next story beat. But, weirdly, that’s a small part of the charm here: the way that it relies on your lack of knowledge of its world to establish new corridors for you to eventually rummage around. Again, like Layers of Fear, in that it develops its story around real-time world manipulation and smokescreen control. It’s infuriating at times—the act of mindlessly roaming the liminal quarters and retracing your steps like a lost puppy, that is—but it’s also surprisingly effective, and it certainly keeps you on your toes as you unravel the mystery, thread by thread.

While I wouldn’t say that Emotionless is blessed with classic thrills and well-orchestrated jump scares, I will say that it creates a truly palpable ambiance and an impeccable sense of uncertainty in its composition and audiovisual properties. Of course, the game as a whole is definitely a slow burner, and it doesn’t necessarily have the nail-biting butterfly effect that other big-budget horrors frequently have. That said, it does manage to encapsulate a surprisingly somber experience that features plenty of tender moments and lore-building breadcrumb trails. It doesn’t stick around for all that long, but it does make a lasting impression that keeps you wanting more. That counts for a great deal, truly.

Verdict

Emotionless: The Last Ticket might be a bit of a slow ride, but that isn’t to say that it’s short of adrenaline-soaked twists and turns, loops and dips. The truth is, while it isn’t the best psychological horror walking sim on the market, it is one that fosters plenty of great ideas and woefully tender moments. It’s a game that’ll both confuse you and leave you itching for another slice during the closing portions of its short but impactful track. That’s a bit of a double-edged sword, for sure, but at least it gives you something to write home about.

If you enjoy world-shifting horrors that favor trickery and manipulation to establish their boundaries, then chances are you’ll enjoy getting lost in Emotionless: The Last Ticket for a short while. It won’t make you sick to your stomach, nor will it make your list for best thrill rides of all time. But it will, on the other hand, give you a lot to think about as you gradually navigate its nooks and crannies in search of its deepest, darkest rabbit hole of carnival secrets. It’ll also make you want to revisit your childhood fairground, weirdly. There’s a few extra bonus points, right there.