REVEIL Review (Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5 & PC)

Aside from the occasional romp through a vacant Victorian manor or two, carnivals are, without doubt, some of the creepiest locations to sift through. It’s also a natural fear to have, too—the ominous feeling of being the victim in a sociopathic clown’s grizzly fantasy. It’s a shame, then, that several fearmongers make it a goal to integrate such phobias into games; specifically, REVEIL—a horrifying walking sim that essentially breaks bread with a web of clowns, mannequins, and an entire collection of opaque landscapes of an otherworldly nature. This is, in short, Pixelsplit’s latest incarnation, in a nutshell — and it certainly doesn’t hold back on the gloomy theatrics.

If you’ve a wealth of experience in this particular field of gaming, then there’s a good chance that you’ll know exactly what REVEIL is going for. To put it simply, there’s a protagonist who’s suffering from an intense case of amnesia, a seemingly abandoned fairground that’s without its usual charm and cozy subtleties, and a single question that yearns for an answer: what happened the night before? It’s a simple setup, and one that we’ve caught wind of in many, many other chapters of its kind — The Park, being the closest thing that we can pull out of the bag. The question is, what does it do to differentiate itself from the others? Well, therein lies a question that we’ll need to unpack over several snippets and technical tidbits. Care to join us as we unravel the ominous world that is Pixelsplit’s newest carnival ride? Then let’s dive right in.

We’ve Certainly Been Here Before

REVEIL invites you to slump into the boots of Walter Thompson, a wayward soul who, in the aftermath of a series of cryptic happenings, wakes up to the presence of a seemingly derelict carnival—a grubby location that’s home to several interconnected biomes and an array of disturbingly complex phenomena. As Walter, you must brave the depths of the former bastion of entertainment, and figure out what happened to your wife and daughter, as well as their connection with the park itself. Again, like The Park, only a little more macabre and dense, and not to mention gut-loaded with a whole bunch of environmental puzzles and intricate mechanisms, switches, and boxes.

For the record, REVEIL is not a traditional cat-and-mouse chase-type horror game, but rather, a psychological thriller that revolves around vivid incarnations of unexpected events, as well as one person’s journey through the bottomless abyss of a particular fragile frame of mind. In ways, it’s a lot like Layers of Fear; the landscapes are forever shifting to align with your deepest, darkest thoughts, and the puzzles share a spiritual meaning that, for reasons unknown, can only be explained once the final cog has been allocated to the mechanisms on the wheel.

Working through the bulk of REVEIL is pretty self-explanatory, as you’re either made to follow a linear path that connects to a new location, or tasked with figuring out how to solve a particular logical riddle. The good news here is that, while some of these segments can require a steady hand and a hardwired brain, none of them are overly perplexing. That is, of course, providing that you’re able to gloss over all the finer details and leave no stone unturned, of course.

A Walk Through Time

As I mentioned earlier, REVEIL isn’t a fresh-out-of-the-box horror game, though it does take full advantage of its unsettling locale to produce some pretty intense moments, few of which require you to either outrun an entity, or tiptoe around it in a typical stealth-like fashion. Aside from that, though, it’s really all about unraveling lore and chomping through a wide selection of puzzles as you figure out how to connect the dots and answer that all-important question: what happened to your family, and why do you keep finding yourself back at the root of the carnival?

It goes without saying at this point, but if you have slogged through the likes of P.T, Layers of Fear, or—if we’re going for good measure—CarnEvil, then you’ll no doubt understand the gist of what’s going on here: there’s a fragile frame of mind to crack away at with a chisel and pick, sadistic clown-like entities, and a network of corridors and vacant allotments with one too many layers to unravel. Granted, a lot of it doesn’t make the slightest bit of sense when merged into one product, but given the fact that this is precisely what the devs were aiming for — it’s easy to let it slide, too. Sure enough, things don’t always necessarily roll out in a believable way — especially when it comes to rooms constantly changing and environments bleeding into alternate realities, but for argument’s sake, I can also understand the reasoning for its “messiness.”

Aside from the level design being a little out there, the game itself is surprisingly beautiful; its attention to detail is arguably one of the better aspects, for sure. On that note, I had no issue with romping through the pages, as I always had something to gloss over with a fine-tooth comb.

Life’s a Circus

Of course, it’s easy to see where REVEIL sourced its inspiration, as it’s more or less painted between the lines of the would-be Silent Hills blueprint. Aside from the carnival setting—a location that you spend a great deal of time in—certain sections of the game take place in a seemingly abandoned home, one of which comes loaded with its own lore and trinkets to shovel through and collect. It’s within this world, that a lot of the narrative tends to stitch itself together, and it’s thanks to the in-game documents and other memorabilia that the verses are never left unwritten. There are also collectibles to locate, too—items that, while not entirely necessary for completing the journey, can provide a little more context to the prelude of the campaign.

At just five hours in length, REVEIL is easily one of “those” types of games that can be swept under the rug in a single sitting. Does it offer enough material to warrant a second, third, or even fourth session? In ways, yes, as the game does provide a web of alternate endings to unlock, and not to mention additional room layouts and other forms of documentation to unravel, too. Having said that, at no point did I ever feel the need to return to the beginning, as I was essentially provided with a definitive answer by the time I rolled up to the credits. Sure, I could’ve gone back and revisited a lot of the same locations, but it didn’t feel entirely necessary.

Verdict

REVEIL isn’t likely to leave you jolting across the living room floor and searching for a clean pair of underwear, but it is, on the other hand, likely to instill some form of terror, if not from its oddly disturbing locations, then from its ever-shifting effects and psychological mishaps. It isn’t the longest game in the world, nor is its five-hour runtime in possession of anything particularly revolutionary, either, but where it lacks in innovative ideas, it makes up for in several other ways — its sheer attention to detail in the game’s primary settings, being the standout feature.

What’s good about REVEIL, really, is that it doesn’t overstay its welcome by implementing a ludicrous amount of filler or overextended theatrics. On the contrary, it works with the small amount of content that it has in its toolbox, and it conjures a journey that’s not only memorable for all the right reasons, but one that’s also mechanically sound and without any major technical drawbacks. With little to no hurdles to jolt over, the game itself is, in short, a delight to play, albeit one that has no major standout moments besides the ones that revolve around the carnival—a setting that, quite frankly, doesn’t get enough recognition.

If you’re one for spending a drawn-out period of time molding over a few intricate puzzles and wading through the translucent layers of a horror-instilled storybook about a circus, then you’re sure to find the likes of REVEIL to your liking. If, however, you’ve a mind to embark on a terrifying endeavor that coughs up more scares than thought-provoking and, above all, inconclusive answers, then it’s likely that you’ll struggle to find something to grasp onto with this one. For as little as $20, though, you can’t really go wrong, regardless of your preference.