Skinfreak Review (PC)

I won’t divulge too many details, but the truth is, I had a rather morbid job once upon a time—a job that often required me to jolt out of bed at the eleventh hour to engage in some rather bizarre excursions. I suppose, in ways, I used to feel a lot like Belle in Skinfreak—a character who, like me, also had to snap to attention at the buzz of a pager during twilight. In my case, I would’ve had to deal with the disoriented feeling of being awake during the witching hours, whereas Belle, on the other hand, had another, more burdensome problem to deal with: a serial killer who openly chose to prowl the same streets, and of course, at the same time, and in the same building.

To put you in the picture, Skinfreak is a psychological B-movie horror game in which you, Belle—a software engineer by trade—plug into a nocturnal world where a prolific serial killer runs rampant and corporate executives rely heavily on twilight workers to execute their dreams. With a huge helping of dainty PSX-inspired visuals, the game brings you aboard for a short yet familiarly enthralling journey through a series of block-boiled corridors and office buildings, grotesque encounters with peculiar folk and strange happenings of a somewhat disturbing nature.

It goes like this: Belle has been asked to visit the office building after hours to install new software on the computers—a task that is, to some extent, a bit of a lull. Upon arriving at said office, however, Belle finds that the building isn’t quite as vacant, and that a local flesh-deprived serial killer has knuckled in on its next target. The rest, as you can imagine, is pretty self-explanatory. Killer? Check. Unlikely hero? Check. Vacant stomping ground? Check.

The Belle of the Ball

Skinfreak takes place over a single night—a night in which you, the returning engineer with a job to do, are invited to get behind the wheel and complete a series of administrative and general tasks, such as checking emails, conversing with strangers, and slacking off on various gimmicky desktop games to pass the time. Oh, and avoiding the vengeful wrath of a serial killer who has, for some reason that’s beyond your imagination, decided to slot you onto its pedestal as its next victim.

At its core, Skinfreak is a short story-driven horror that features subtle hints of traditional puzzle-solving—a component that more or less emulates the familiar inventory-based stacking system—and exploration. Although somewhat condensed into a relatively short campaign that doesn’t overstay its welcome, it paves the way for various activities and chores, including desktop-based mini-games, conversational cutscenes, and above all, some genuinely nail-biting cat and mouse-like chase sequences.

To give credit where it’s due, Skinfreak captures the essence of its PSX-inspired aspects surprisingly well, with its dated yet iconic visual elements, crooked dialogue and rough edges capturing the beating heart of an iconic blueprint that, frankly, still stands the test of time even decades later. Granted, it isn’t perfect — but I think that’s sort of what it strives for; it knows it isn’t a pristine ode to gaming, yet it simply relishes in its simplicity and natural ambiance, warts and all.

Working Overtime

In the short time that you spend with Skinfreak and its cascading waterfall of peculiar happenings and eccentric characters, you aren’t often given the benefit of being able to freely explore the corridors without the added burden of having to deal with the other employee who lurks behind the curtain. A true horror at heart, the game thrives on anxious moments, and it does a pretty good job of keeping you on your toes, too. Of course, the scares don’t always hit their mark, though they do provide enough of an incentive to keep you checking over your shoulder every so often.

Although Skinfreak doesn’t make an effort to stick around all that long, it does manage to make a lasting impression in its relatively short run by implementing a solid amount of gameplay features. Granted, it isn’t always the scariest experience, and it still harbors more comical moments than nail-biting affairs. Yet, Skinfreak is a game that openly embraces its stupidity in the best way possible. Perhaps it isn’t a horror game at heart. For what it’s worth, though, it’s definitely a game that has a certain charm to it.

Verdict

Skinfreak takes me back to the heyday of PSX horrors—a portal that contained numerous shoddy worlds and questionable characters, hit-and-miss dialogue and lackluster storytelling. I’m not saying this in a bad way, mind you, nor am I attempting to paint it in a foul light, for that matter. In fact, I think that the game, in spite of all its minor flaws and intentional shortcomings, delivers quite the feast for the senses and an honorable ode to B-list indie horrors. And again, while it isn’t a perfect poster child for its genre, it certainly does exhume a lot of those familiar themes that ought to resonate with the elder folk who still enjoy romping around in dainty husks and touching gloves with eccentric cardboard cutout characters.

To echo, Skinfreak isn’t the Belle of the ball as far as picture-perfect independent horrors travel, though it is one that brings plenty of great ideas to the table. As for whether or not it’s worth the rather high asking price is another question, and one that will no doubt attract some form of debate. Truly, you could quite easily find your retro-like thrill fill from alternate worlds, like Boba Teashop or Stay Out of the House, for example. That said, if you have no quarrel with splurging your cash on a slightly overpriced homage to PSX, and have a soft spot for jagged corners and questionably poor design choices, then you might just find that the admission price to be reasonable, to say the least. If, however, you would much prefer a horror with more bite than bark, then I’d consider opting for the beaten path.