![]() ![]() The game starts with Sally hanging up missing posters for Emily in the "real" world, but she is soon chased by some bullies into a twisted, Silent Hill-style version of her hometown, complete with giant eyeballs and deadly monsters. Players explore Gylt's visually-striking world as a young girl named Sally who is looking for her missing cousin Emily. All things considered, Gylt is quite easily the best-looking and most-polished title from Tequila Works to date. Gylt looks and runs great, with a smooth frame rate that's only ever undermined by the Stadia service itself if players decide to play on wi-fi instead of a wired connection. ![]() Gylt's art style, graphics, and lighting all come together to showcase one of Stadia's most visually impressive games. Gylt's art style also lends itself well to the "horror for kids" atmosphere it cultivates, using cartoonish visuals instead of realistic graphics. It still has a few good jump scares, but otherwise it's fairly tame for the genre. Gylt gives off a real Stranger Things vibe in that it is certainly a horror game, but it's not so overly scary that it would turn away kids or those who typically can't handle horror games. But as history has shown us, a video game platform needs strong exclusive games to reel in an audience. 21 out of the 22 Stadia launch games have been available on other platforms for months if not years, though there is one exclusive game available for Stadia Founder's Edition purchasers, and that is the stealth-horror game Gylt from Tequila Works. It’s a good message for kids and adults, but there are less scares for the latter.Google Stadia represents Google's attempt to break into the triple-A video game industry, giving players the option to stream blockbuster hits like Red Dead Redemption 2, Destiny 2, and Mortal Kombat 11 to basically any device that can get an Internet connection. Those games are actually scary though, and it feels less like Gylt is trying to spook you than to scare you straight, implicating even nice kids in the harm done if they don’t stick up for their friends who are being bullied. Taking in each new environment is a lot of fun, as objects like arcade cabinets and school lockers are rendered in a stylish way that’s akin to popular titles like Little Nightmares and Inside. Their world is dangerous, but in a kid-friendly way - at least, older kid-friendly - that feels more Halloween night than all-out horror. Sally and Emily wouldn’t look out of place in a stop-motion animated film like James and the Giant Peach (though they most remind me of the kids from the Puffs Tissues commercials). It helps that the art style is just right for this kind of double-A game. I’ve always found it immensely satisfying to get introduced to a space and then explore until it makes sense, finding keys, unlocking doors, and grabbing useful items, and Gylt is that kind of game. Each area is spatially coherent, with a map that starts black and fills in each room with color as you explore it. ![]() I get it intellectually, but I much prefer Gylt’s approach. Its geography is ever changing, using the player’s inability to get a grip on where they even are as another vector for horror. That series, though occasionally good, represents a lot of my frustrations with modern horror games. After reviewing Layers of Fear last month, I found Gylt incredibly refreshing. And the exploration is a breath of fresh air. ![]()
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