Ah, the 2010s, they brought us a royal wedding, the bizarre ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, and even a Chicago Cubs World Series victory. Social media surged into widespread obsession, and Lady Gaga made headlines with her meat dress. GROSS. Why mention this? Because developer Puff Hook Studio has chosen this unpredictable decade for their latest release, Recall: Empty Wishes, a psychological thriller. But does it captivate like the iPad's launch or fall flat like Marvel's Inhumans? Well, let’s find out in our full review!
Recall: Empty Wishes, as highlighted at the start of this review, is developed by Puff Hook Studio, a team of five developers from Taiwan, and published by DANGEN Entertainment. This appears to be their debut game. While Puff Hook Studio is a newcomer, DANGEN Entertainment has a strong reputation for publishing great indie games, including Ara Fell, a captivating RPG with a compelling narrative and nostalgic 16-bit graphics, Iconoclasts, an action-platformer with engaging gameplay and a rich storyline, and the acclaimed indie RPG CrossCode, known for its dynamic combat. Recall: Empty Wishes differs from these titles quite drastically and doesn’t quite reach the same heights.
Recall: Empty Wishes is best described as a combination of a visual novel and a point-and-click adventure game. Its horror theme leans more towards psychological thrills than jump scares. During this 3-hour journey, you'll engage in extensive reading and some light exploration of 2D environments while solving the occasional puzzle, if you want to call them that. Although the game includes dark themes and imagery, if you're watching this review, it's likely nothing you haven’t seen or dealt with before. I didn’t find it particularly disturbing or scary myself, but your mileage may vary.
Set in Taiwan, Recall: Empty Wishes follows Yonny as she searches for her brother Tommy, who has mysteriously vanished. Yonny rediscovers a peculiar toy phone used during their childhood for make-believe, which seems to have a spiritual connection to Tommy's whereabouts. This guides her and her friend Phoebe into a supernatural realm where they can explore and interact with past memories linked to Tommy. By delving into the memories of the characters they meet, they hope to find his whereabouts. FREAKY!
Although suspension of disbelief is often required in video games, the narrative presented here quickly shifts from intriguing to incoherent, making it fairly challenging to follow at times. One moment you're at Tommy's birthday party, the next you're at a school, and suddenly, you're back in your childhood home with everything altered and the date changed. The choice to jump between realms and tell the story unconventionally is understandable, but it ultimately left me confused about the events and transitions. It’s an odd choice in a game that feels so linear to play.
Further disconnecting me from this experience, the game also lacks characters worth investing in, partly due to its brevity. The short run-time doesn't allow enough time to form a deeper connection with the cast, leaving only the main conflict to care about. This makes Recall: Empty Wishes a challenging recommendation, as its story is its primary focus and not as good as it could have been.
The writing, or at least the translation, feels underdeveloped. The dialogue is stilted and unengaging, there are no voice performances, and most of the "big reveals" are underwhelming. While the writers had intriguing concepts, they fell short of exploring them meaningfully. The lack of genuine scares, disjointed plot progression, and poor writing further complicate an already fragmented premise, rendering Recall: Empty Wishes narratively disappointing.
In terms of gameplay, Recall: Empty Wishes is primarily a visual novel for about 70 percent of the experience, with the remaining 30 percent playing as a lackluster point-and-click adventure. The gameplay involves navigating linear areas and interacting with points of interest to unlock dialogue or collect inventory items. Characters move slowly, but the compact game sections negate the need for a run feature or map, which the game has neither. This design leads to straightforward controls, requiring only a few buttons.
Further adding to its ever-growing list of issues, Recall: Empty Wishes lacks effective puzzle design and engaging exploration, as it is overly simplistic and fails to supply the challenge necessary to maintain player interest.
Key item locations are obvious, most puzzles rely on basic number memorization, and attempts to diversify, such as late-game stealth sections, are unsuccessful and almost comically flawed. The game's linearity might be forgivable if the narrative were compelling, but as mentioned, it is not. Consequently, players endure a 3-hour experience filled with monotonous dialogue, walking, and uninspiring puzzles. Now, in fairness, there are several decisions to make and multiple endings to discover, which could potentially enhance the replay value and playtime; however, in my personal experience, I didn’t feel inclined to revisit the game, even after unlocking a chapter select upon completion.
Alright, so the story and gameplay were a bit of a miss, but credit where it’s due, the visuals are commendable, with the game employing a 16-bit style pixel art. Although you will encounter the same environments frequently, they are well-detailed, and I appreciated the subtle changes made to them when transitioning between realms. The animations are satisfactory, and the text is easy to read. While the character portrait art is not my favorite, it is presented in high resolution, effectively displaying each character on the screen. The menus are simple yet clean, some of the larger full-screen artwork is appealing, and overall, Recall: Empty Wishes presents a solid visual experience.
The sound design is impressive too, especially the game's sound effects. When a cell phone vibrates or causes static interference, it eerily resembles real life, and there were even moments when I checked my own phone thinking it was buzzing. Now that’s pretty damn good work! These auditory touches are effective, complemented by a sparse piano-based soundtrack that suits the game's melancholy tone. Although it can sometimes feel a bit too quiet, I generally appreciated the soundscape created here. I didn’t run into any major performance issues while playing either, with the game running smoothly and without any bugs or crashes.
Recall: Empty Wishes presents some intriguing concepts; however, its unremarkable writing, straightforward puzzles, and lack of compelling characters render it unengaging. For those seeking games in a similar genre that are executed more effectively, I recommend exploring titles like Detention or the Coma series. Visual novel enthusiasts will find no shortage of horror-themed options, such as the outstanding Raging Loop. Recall: Empty Wishes is a brief and forgettable experience, though it offers promising ideas that may be further expanded upon in the developer's future projects.
MEDIOCRE
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