Seen Before Review (PC)

I’m reluctantly shaking hands with the devil himself, wondering how on earth I will ever surmount a total of three supernatural trials in order to have a wish come true. With a soul on the line, and with a chance to restore vigor into the husk of a beloved spouse, the journey begins. There’s a stairwell, a selection of rooms, and a simple objective: to find the anomalies, and to decide whether or not to progress deeper into a perpetual hellhole, or to return to the safety of a warm place, the latter of which would naturally banish all hopes of ever having a dying wish come to fruition. Down here, in Seen Before, there are only two options, neither of which are graceful or accommodating. But it seems that I have little choice but to sign the dotted line and cast the dice. I can’t go back.

It’s like an elevator, only, you don’t know which floor that you need to get off at. Stuck in the central room with no formal instructions on how to ascend or descend, there are no ulterior circumstances. It’s you, a seemingly endless stream of layers, and a small but somewhat meaningful array of subtle details. If there is something unusual in the wind, or in the way that the world unveils its composition, then you must travel forward, up another flight—another door—or, if you fail to make the correct decision, flee as if your life depends on it. One wrong decision here means defeat—a step back in the wrong direction, and to the foot of the first doorway. With that, the objective is clear: spot the anomalies, and, with the power of intuition, choose the doors that lead to a positive outcome. It’s all or nothing.

Shaking Hands With the Devil

Seen Before is a classically designed anomaly-finding thriller in which your purpose lies within a rather dull cycle: to traipse the corridors of an ominous building in an attempt to beat the devil at its own game. With that, you’ve a choice to make—a decision encased deep within a loop, if you will—and a series of doors to waltz through. At first, you have the ground floor, as well as the first choice. The goal here is to essentially memorize the layout, and progress into the next floor. From there, it’s merely the case of examining your surroundings with a fine-tooth comb, and figuring out whether or not there’s a malicious presence or a subtle change in the atmosphere. If you can spot the anomaly, then you can progress. Fail, however, and it’s back to the beginning.

Fans of Exit 8 and a significant portion of alternate anomaly-centric hidden object games ought to feel right at home with Seen Before. Similar in style, it more or less paints the same trimmings as its ilk, with the only major difference being its chosen locale—a dark and somewhat depressing building that houses a total of ninety anomalies and three individual maps. Aside from that, the game plays out in an identical fashion, with the player having to either choose to enter a door or revert back to an alternate option—an outcome that more or less ends with a clean slate. In other words, if you are familiar with Exit 8 and how it works, then you won’t need to onboard any more details to understand how Seen Before plays its hand.

Perpetual Nightmares

Seen Before isn’t the longest game on the block. As it turns out, it can be swept under the rug in a single sitting. But that doesn’t sully the story; if anything, its concealed journey fosters a lot more of an impact, with the breadth of its content being apart of a tighter, more refined experience that actively chooses to take a bow long before it becomes stale and repetitive. And to be honest, I don’t think that it needs anything more of an edge to prove itself. It isn’t an original concept, but at least it’s presentable and not to mention intentionally designed to feel short and immersive.

As for whether or not Seen Before is a naturally scary game, eh — it has its moments, most of them being atmospherically apt and oftentimes disturbingly good. The visuals, however, aren’t quite as captivating. Like a lot of its counterparts, Seen Before mostly falls short in its graphical fidelity and intricate features—an issue that sadly befalls its world design and barebones room interior. But that’s just the one thing. Fortunately, the anomalies, as well as the placement of said anomalies, have been well orchestrated—to the point where you don’t quite know where to glance next, or if a subtle change in the environment carries a much greater risk. I can’t fault any of that.

Gameplay-wise, Seen Before doesn’t suffer from any major teething issues. For a first-person psychological horror that prioritizes small details and a constant flow of atmospherical transitions, it does manage to pull a lot out of the bag in order to provide a seamless and, above all, enjoyable experience. And again, that in itself counts for a lot.

Verdict

Seen Before plays into a familiar hand that we, as avid fans of the anomaly sphere, have witnessed unfold numerous times over the past several years. And yet, despite it being a somewhat watered down version of its prestigious counterparts, Seen Before still manages to infuse fresh ideas into the revolving world, with a sizable roster of anomalies and peculiar happenings, and a hearty platform that fosters a good amount of intriguing rooms and chilling moments for fledgling hunters to bathe in.

The fact that there’s also something of a storyline to chew through in addition to the wealth of anomalies makes Seen Before that tiny bit more interesting than its adversaries. The rest of the game is, well, it’s a textbook case of relighting the flames beneath a universally popular concept. But that isn’t a major issue, given that it does in fact get most things right.

Suffice it to say, if it’s a quick slip into a supernatural realm that you’re hungry for, then you needn’t look any further than the decrepit boroughs of Satan’s inner sanctum. And to echo, if you think you’ve seen this before — you have. Still, if it’s another iteration that you’re after, then you should definitely consider checking out this love letter to the prolific genre.