WE ARE SO DEAD Review (PC)

Between a planchet and a relic, a seance board and an ungodly presence that looms in the shadows, a flock of moronic ramblers desperately scour the floor for the true identity of their demonic aggressor, blissfully and idiotically unaware of the evil that stalks them. In one moment, the planchet moves to spell out their mistake—that they shouldn’t have traipsed into “that” section of the room. But in another, a light flickers, and before long a door creaks open to illuminate a path forward. The ghost wants to convey a simple message, and it wants the victims to find their way back into the light. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they’re doing, and the only person who has any sense is the one who died long before the seance board left the storage box.

WE ARE SO DEAD boasts a brilliant concept that, when embraced with an open mind, is an absolute joy to blitz through. With a friend (or with seven of them, if you’re feeling up to the challenge) you are given the opportunity to participate in a seance. The problem is, one of you enters the game without a pulse, and the only way you can tackle your objective, frustratingly, is by communicating with the living, and guiding them through a demon-infested world that only you can truly understand. As a ghost, you cannot talk to your friends, only possess the planchet on a Ouija board, open and close various doors, and tamper with the lighting. And of course, to make things a tad more complicated, only the ghost can see what evil lurks in the shadows. The living players, on the other hand, have no formal instructions, no guiding light, and no hope in hell of banishing their demonic foe without their ghostly acquaintance to usher them in the right direction.

The idea sounds simple enough. On the one hand, you have a team of spiritually-uninspired players—a group that, due to their lack of competence and ability to read the room, has the task of deciphering the name of their demonic attacker. But on the other hand, you have a ghost—a player who, due to their clairvoyant nature and supernatural abilities, has the power to alter the environment, scan the world, and offer small pieces of information via a seance board. The victims, in a desperate pursuit of the appropriate namesake, are therefore given the task of locating relics around the world, decoding letters, and spelling out the name before sunrise. If the team make the correct call, then they proceed to the next floor, where a new foe awaits them, and another, slightly less viable timer hovers in the balance.

Regardless of the team that you decide to pledge your undying allegiance to, WE ARE SO DEAD more or less unfolds in a ludicrously fast-paced manner. As it isn’t a serious game by any stretch (a few jump scares here or there, but it’s far better not to dwell on them), you essentially have a pantomime that relies on wit, teamwork, and just a slither of blind luck. Given the fact that nobody has the slightest clue as to what it is that they’re doing, almost everything that you see in WE ARE SO DEAD is comically reinforced by a lot of reckless behavior, brash decisions, and avoidable deaths that often happen due to a lack of transparency in the spiritual aspect of the banishing process.

With nine floors to work through and a host of unique entities to evaporate, WE ARE SO DEAD offers a good deal of content for you and your friends to stumble through. In the beginning, for example, you have a little extra breathing room to accompany your search for the truth, with a steadier hourglass, a significantly less oppressive environment, and a collection of relics that harbor easier access routes. As you begin to make your descent through the nine floors, however, the challenges begin to emerge, with tougher obstacles, shorter time frames, and more complex monikers. If you banish the demon, then you move on. But, if you succumb to the evil that stalks you, you join the ranks of the dead. Again, it’s a simple team-based horror. But of course, I’d hate to emphasize the word team here, because as it turns out, “teammates” also have an awful habit of feeding you the wrong information and leading you down the wrong path. Call it envy.

While the process sounds simple enough, the game does offer a lot of jigsaw pieces for you to fumble around with, and not to mention a sizable roster of demons to wage supernatural wars with. As a ghost, it’s a great deal of fun, as is it as equally enthralling as it is stupidly satisfying to don. As a living soul, it’s all rather unsettling, especially when you’re under the thumb of a timer and within spitting distance of a deity that you cannot control or see. But, to be honest, that’s all part of the fun here. If, say, you’re not fooling around with the world and taking bold risks, then you’re creating unfathomable words with a planchet to send your friend into a blind panic. The point is, you have a good amount of content to sink your teeth into here.

As with most co-op horror games of its kind, the rule of thumb applies here more than ever: the more, the merrier. Needless to say, the larger the circle, and the tighter the bond is, the better WE ARE SO DEAD feels. Depending on how you choose to approach each seance, you can either transform the world into an unruly one, a frightening one, or into a place that’s severely dangerous and lacking in camaraderie. As there isn’t a “formal” structure to it, you essentially have the ball in your court to do with as you please. Does it always go according to plan? Absolutely not. Does it keep you engaged throughout? A thousand times, yes.

Verdict

WE ARE SO DEAD establishes a solid middle ground between the living and the dead with a supernaturally rich co-op experience that’s both stupendously chaotic and bizarrely terrifying. With thanks to its two-for-one asymmetrical blueprint, demonic incantations, and its host of foes, relics, and floors, REAL PLAYERS clearly has a strong foundation for a highly effective and sustainable model that can (and more than likely will) steal the spotlight for fledgling Midnight Ghost Hunt fanatics. Is it perfect? No. Is it a frightfully good idea that does enough to keep your fingers on the tip of the planchet? Absolutely.