Shadows 2: Perfidia

Genre: Horror Game

Players: 1

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Review:

Shadows 2: Perfidia is a Horror game that puts you in the role of one of two security guards wandering the darkened corridors of an office building after an office party, only to discover dark monsters stalking the hallways.

I freely admit that I am a big baby when it comes to horror games. If a game does horror right, it is actually difficult for me to make myself play it, so the first hurdle any game like this has to pass is, “does this game make me scared to the point that I want to not play it?”, and the answer for Shadows 2: Perfidia is… sorta’?

There are two things that this game does very well. Firstly, the use of sound here is pretty good, with a minimal approach to sound that doesn’t really bother with music or anything like that, making the isolated nature of the environment really stand out, and making the frightening noises of the game even more heightened. The other thing that this game does a great job with is its use of the Nintendo Switch’s HD rumble, really making the player feel their character’s heartbeat through the controller. These two factors do a great job of pulling the player into the game.

… which is good, because everything else about Shadows 2 just pushes players out. The graphics here are terrible, with environments that are simple to a fault, and a terrible in-game flashlight that ensures that anything not in your circle of light is completely impossible to see.

Worse than this, the game’s level designs are completely nonsensical, a random maze of hallways that all look the same. While the game’s sound and HD rumble kept making my heart race in time with the game, the level design kept making me want to stop due to tedium and boredom. This frustration with the game was only heightened by the inclusion of the tired mechanic of having your flashlight constantly running out of batteries you need to find. And beyond hiding from monsters and trying to navigate repetitive mazelike corridors, the only gameplay here seems to come in the form of looking for keys or other objects to interact with.

In the end, Shadows 2 is mostly a mediocre or even just plain bad Horror game that happens to have a few really good elements worked into it, namely the sound and HD rumble. If you’re a fan of the genre looking for scares, you may find this game worth a look, but otherwise there are definitely better horror games to be found on the Switch.

tl;dr – Shadows 2 is a Horror game that has players in the role of a security guard walking through a dark office building full of shadowy monsters. The game’s use of sound and HD rumble is fantastic, but everything else about the game is mediocre at best, with terrible graphics and tedious gameplay. Horror fans might get a kick out of this, but everyone else is better off avoiding it.

Grade: C

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