THE ORIGIN: Blind Maid | PS4 Review

Taking a new angle on survival horror, and mixing it loosely with the Paraguayan folklore tale of La Llorona, the developer Warani Studios, tries through "The Origin: Blind Maid" to earn the respect of genre enthusiasts. Blending the likes of the latest first person Resident Evil titles with alchemist elements, gun play, and modern day sleuthing the pulse pounding action comes to life. Following the lead character, which is a trope in the La Llorona cinematic tales, we find a corrupt Governor of Spanish descent who is running from justice for an undisclosed crime. 

Taking off with a hired hand he hits the road only to find himself in a waking nightmare in the middle of nowhere. The only tools for survival are his smartphone which lights the darkened pathways, some stress pills, and whatever he can find along the way to aid in his escape. Hints on where to go comes initially from tailing the runaway hired hand, Locating a map, and picking up clues that are haphazardly strewn about in the form of paper items, triggered events, and even paranormal recordings called Psychophonies which can be listened to through your headset as if you were the partially deaf protagonist, and be played back to decipher audio clues from key points of interest. It's a mixed bag of survival horror, the supernatural, and endurance elements. Complete with a crafting system, and tacked on corruption level based upon good or bad deeds rendered.

Opening up we are shown a sort of world outside the world in which the protagonist resides. It is known as "The Origin". It is a place reserved for those who have suffered injustice. A place of sorts that is boasted as inescapable. From here we are introduced to the playable protagonist himself who seems to be the villain in this story. A supposedly corrupt politician being tried, and pursued for crimes not made clear. All we know is he is on the run with a paid accomplice, and is trying to secure a place of sanctuary as well as the monetary assets needed to stay in hiding. 

Along the way the two main characters stop for a roadside campfire. It is here that the Governor finds his partner in crime acting strangely. He pursues him only to be pursued in kind, but violently so. Phasing in and out of an alternate reality in the violent ordeal. Back on the road the governor finds his car locked. Leaving him to search branching pathways to get what he needs to get the heck out of Dodge. From here he secures a gun, gun magazine, and pills. The latter of which acts as the game's limited healing resource outside of alchemic recipes. 

All the while the governor uses his light up smartphone to access an app that showcases incoming calls of people associated with the trial. For player's sake the smartphone and it's apps double down as tools for figuring out crafting recipes, housing/managing inventory, tending to the three skills (Sanity, Running, Sanctis), and informational sections tied to encounters. Things like bestiary entries, locations, and alchemist notes. That, and art tied to the game's development. 

There are plenty of things to mind during your attempted escape, and the skills tied to endurance, and weapon damage are some of those things. Each skill, whether it be Sanity, Running, or Sanctis comes with objectives that must be completed in order to unlock their perks or added abilities. These can be upgraded using found tickets of two types via a time stamp machine. One type for skills, and one type for storage space. Once upgraded you will have to complete said objectives in order to unlock things like Hypersensitivity duration, stamina duration, and extra damage from holy weapons. Hypersensitivity being your ability to more easily locate, and find alchemic items needed for recipes, among other things. Speaking of recipes they can be used to recover health, and deal with corruption. 

As far as gameplay goes the game acts part like a Slenderman survival game with clue searching, and part like an action survival game in the vein of newer Resident Evil titles. The catch being that survival is dependent on your ability to outrun creatures, available healing items, and your limited stock of weapons. There's plenty of jump scares along the way, and most of those jump scares lead to a cat and mouse style chase where you are trying to get to the next key location without succumbing to the creatures' brutal, and unrelenting attacks. This of course is easier said than done, because they are so up in your face it's hard to target them, and without proper stamina/running upgrades it makes for a proper slog trying to escape. Leaving the pills, and alchemic remedies as your only source to recover long enough to make it from point A to point B. Between all that there are voiced, and dialogue driven cutscenes which add context to the story which kind of unfolds in reverse. Cluing you in to who it is you are playing as, and what crime they were accused of. That, and their victim/s. 

The Verdict ...

Whether you play on Easy, Normal or Hard difficulty "The Origin: Blind Maid" is created in such a way as to be off putting. The endurance mechanics in tandem with hard to target/escape enemies makes for a frustrating experience from start to finish. Even on Easy it is difficult in the worst ways. Perhaps even artificially difficult. It feels like they made the survival aspect more difficult with the added upgrade system. More difficult than it should have been. 

It's these extra layers of complication that I believe make the game as frustrating as it is. That, and the creature to player collision. Often times when being attacked it's hard to regain focus, and even more so on the target or targets that are attacking you. Mind you these aren't sluggish zombie tanks trudging forward with undying intent at Jason Vorhees or Michael Meyers pacing. They are mostly faster than your character, and trained to lock on, and pursue for long distances. This is a shame in that it made me quit before finishing. Having put it on Easy I was met with a frustrating experience without a proper sense of direction, and with near impossible to escape encounters with the mobs of the creatures giving chase after me. This should not have been an issue on a mode that is said to allow you to enjoy the story. I didn't even get to do that my deaths felt so cheap and unavoidable. Who knows how much more difficult Normal or Hard would have been?

I went in with high hopes on this one, but left disappointed. I realize it was a passion project by an indie studio, but on delivery it failed to impress. It could have been so much better. That being said I have no doubt the story would have been interesting. It was a unique spin on the given folklore. Something I feel cheated out of experiencing. I cannot recommend this game considering the implementation of overly complicated mechanics, and unfairly punishing enemy elements. It's survival horror at it's worst. Innovative, creative, but poorly executed.