I can say I have played my fair share of scary games in the past; I am a fan of the Resident Evil series, I have gone through the Condemned series and played Project Fear, Slenderman and Amnesia (among other things), but I have never played a horror game as unique as Au Sable.
A sequel to a lesser known downloadable game called All Our Friends Are Dead we don’t have much of a story to go on, or rather we don’t have a story that’s easy to understand. Developed by AMON26 Au Sable is unusual for several features, not only because of the fragmented and erratic story but also because it’s an 8-bit game with great, eerie visuals and an unforgettable audio track. That’s right, a 2-D game is trying to give you the chilly-willies!
In the game we have what appears to be a girl running around a wasteland followed by two red diamonds that are actually her eyes. Yeah, you heard that right! Playing through is easy as it works with basic commands… jumping, running, using your eyes to solve puzzles and later shooting. BUT, if you turn off the lights and pump out the volume a combination of sinister visuals and haunting audio will make your bladder tighten up.
The music and sound effects make this experience work even better by giving the game a dread atmosphere to the game and by going along with the craziness in ways that make everything – even the smaller moments – scarier. The enemies are creative as well with backgrounds that shift and rattle when least expected. It’s an experience that I highly recommend it to anyone who likes games like Lone Survivor or those mentioned above. It just goes to show that good gaming scares can come from even the least expected places. So go download it for free now!
AU SABLE – PLAYTHROUGH
