The hearth-and-brimstone portrayals of Hell have by no means actually finished it for me. There’s one thing foolish in regards to the exaggeration; everlasting torture and fixed agony are tough to think about as a result of they’re so excessive. Against this, ready in line eternally solely to be instructed you have crammed within the unsuitable type while you arrive on the desk is a nightmare I can get behind. That is the premise behind Pink Tape, a brand new forms sim-style narrative journey from Pollaris Studios and horror mainstays DreadXP.
On paper (and there is a variety of paper in Hell), Pink Tape is an attractive prospect. I used to be very able to get bounced round Hell’s varied departments, always being instructed I had the unsuitable shade pen for the shape I used to be carrying and having to get types signed in triplicate for all eternity. Sadly, although, Pink Tape would not have the braveness of its convictions. This can be a boring and irritating game, however not for the best causes. The setup is vastly promising, however Pink Tape fails to observe up on it in virtually each manner.
Pink Tape Would not Commit To Its Promising Setting
The thought is a neat one. Pink Tape is successfully an office-bound model of Dante’s The Divine Comedy, or somewhat Inferno, the primary a part of that well-known work. You’re a fallen angel who involves Hell after what they imagine is an administrative error, and it’s essential to journey by every of Hell’s 9 circles, right here reimagined as miserable departments of a very bleak workplace surroundings. Acquainted characters from The Divine Comedy, like Aristotle and Virgil, seem, however they’re reimagined as bored receptionists, desk-bound drones, or formidable managers.
There is a ton of potential in that setup, however Pink Tape cannot discover the braveness to decide to it. In apply, it performs out as a secure strolling sim-style game that takes completely no dangers. For a game that is all about hellish forms (the clue’s within the title), Pink Tape appears allergic to creating its gamers really feel the form of knuckle-gnawing frustration that this setting ought to evoke. As an alternative, each goal could be accomplished just about effortlessly; stroll over right here, speak to this particular person, speak to the particular person they instructed you to speak to, and mission full. There is no sense of friction or problem to any of it, which is dispiriting.
It is a disgrace, as a result of the visuals and aesthetics are nice. The characters are rendered in a papercraft type that brings to thoughts Paradise Killer, and the workplaces of “Hell Inc” are low-poly drudgery at its best. Among the reinterpretations of traditional mythological creatures are enjoyable, too. Zoroastrianism’s Daeva and Aeshma are right here represented as two bickering managers who cannot agree on something, whereas the Minotaur of Greek fantasy is a mild-mannered creature who would somewhat be doing something apart from guarding the labyrinth.
Pink Tape Undermines Itself With Amateurish Writing
The problem is not one in every of idea, however of execution. It feels somewhat like the method began with an concept: “would not it’s cool if Hell was a bureaucratic nightmare”. From there, no thought seems to have gone into what that may truly imply or how it could change the idea of Hell. As an alternative, Pink Tape appears content material to current every ground of Hell totally conventionally, by no means doing something attention-grabbing with its reinterpretations of characters or places. The shortage of ambition in terms of making a holistic world is disappointing.
This is not helped by the truth that Pink Tape‘s writing is flat and uninspired. There are a couple of chuckle-worthy strains, however a typical drawback rears its ugly head right here. Characters really feel interchangeable, with no thought given to particular person voices. Some characters will verbally clarify their personalities; Narcissus, as an illustration, is useless, however that is communicated by him basically simply saying “I am useless” at each alternative. Elsewhere, I struggled to get a way of many characters’ personalities or motivations as a result of their dialogue was so stilted and boring. The dialogue may even sometimes use emoticons, which makes Pink Tape really feel like a lazy meme mission somewhat than a critical game.
The story itself can be fairly poor, sadly. Once more, a promising concept – a fallen angel slowly acclimatizes to a brand new actuality whereas discovering that each one in Hell is probably not nicely – falls by the wayside. The fallen angel protagonist appears to go from being determined to flee Hell to being absolutely invested in its issues inside the house of some minutes, and it isn’t a sense I shared. I by no means felt any explicit want to see Hell’s issues resolved or to assist any of the characters. Pink Tape is, sadly sufficient, simply too poorly-written and temporary to make you care about any of its narrative beats.
Gameplay In Pink Tape Positive Is There, Type Of
There’s not a lot to put in writing house about in Pink Tape‘s gameplay division, both. For essentially the most half, it is a regular strolling sim-style journey with the occasional stock puzzle or platforming part to interrupt issues up. The stock puzzles are often extraordinarily simple; you need to distract Narcissus, as an illustration, so that you want a mirror. A personality is holding a mirror. You speak to them. They provide the mirror. The puzzles are hardly ever intelligent or attention-grabbing and often simply boil all the way down to “use merchandise on particular person”.
In that spirit, the first-person platforming sections really feel unusually misplaced, and so they do not feel like they add any form of problem to Pink Tape both. One part has you leaping throughout summary platforms to reply ringing telephones, which, within the spirit of the remainder of the game, is a pleasant visible concept with none substance. One other platforming part felt so jarring and misplaced that I can solely think about it was meant as a subversive joke, nevertheless it simply comes throughout as a wringing of the arms and a dearth of concepts as an alternative.
Pink Tape just isn’t an extended game, however there’s nonetheless a way that one thing, whether or not it is time, cash, or curiosity, ran out on the finish. After the aforementioned bizarrely out-of-place phase, all the plot of the game resolves itself in a slideshow-style cutscene that does not gel with the visible type of what is come earlier than. I might really feel shortchanged if Pink Tape had managed to seize me or immerse me in any manner previous to this second. Sadly, this ended up being the second that summed up my emotions greatest; like this ending, I simply could not muster up the keenness to care.
Pink Tape | Closing Ideas
Pink Tape appears like a Malicious program of a game. It guarantees a forms sim wherein you expertise true hellish frustration and irritation with a system that sees you as nothing however an expendable cog. The entire themes and concepts that would have been explored in that setting are nowhere to be discovered right here. As an alternative, what you’ve gotten is a by-the-numbers strolling sim that struggles to interact or excite at each flip. The thought of a hellish mire of bureaucratic banality might have been unbelievable, however as an alternative, Pink Tape appears content material to inform an totally typical story in an totally uninteresting manner.
TechRaptor reviewed Pink Tape on PC through Steam with a duplicate offered by the publishers.
The post Pink Tape Assessment | TechRaptor first appeared on 64bitgamer.
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