Closer

Genre: Stealth

Players: 1

.

Review:

Closer, also known by its extended title CLOSER – Anagnorisis, is a Stealth game released in 2021 on PC and Nintendo Switch. This game is set in an abstract world where players control a feminine figure hatched from an egg who must avoid shadowy monsters. It’s not exactly clear what’s going on here, as the messages you receive in-game are delivered via some pretty broken English.

The odd premise and the abstract art style of this game are one of its biggest selling points, with the game taking place in a snowy monochrome world filled with bare trees, within a polygonal environment that seems to indicate this is all a computer simulation… or something. This is all depicted using simple 3D visuals from an isometric overhead point of view, and backed by a somewhat dreamy synthesized soundtrack that provides most of the game’s sound – there doesn’t seem to be any coming from the characters or world.

Beyond the presentation, the other contribution this game makes to the genre are its interesting enemies, some of which have odd quirks that can be exploited to your advantage, such as one enemy that explodes, taking out others nearby, or another you can sneak up on to dispatch, resulting in a pool of pink liquid that takes out others nearby.

Unfortunately, Closer fails at some of the cardinal rules of the Stealth genre. First, that players should be given a decent variety of choices to either sneak past or dispatch enemies – here you can mostly only walk or run, with occasional interactions with specific enemy types. The game’s levels are usually fairly linear too, limiting your ability to choose your approach.

The second major fundamental of the Stealth genre that this game ignores is that good Stealth games tend to find ways to keep things fun even after you’ve gotten caught. Here, unless you have a nearby safe zone you can run to, getting caught generally means you’re just going to die and have to start over.

As a result, while Closer has some creative elements, it is overall far too tedious, frustrating, and overly simple to be a truly enjoyable Stealth game. And while its visual style is fairly unique within the genre, that doesn’t make up for a game that’s just not fun to play.

tl;dr – Closer is a Stealth game set in an abstract world where players control a woman who must avoid shadowy monsters. Unfortunately, while there are some creative gameplay elements here, on the whole this is a miserable Stealth experience with tedious, frustrating gameplay. It’s just not worth the trouble.

Grade: D

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