Showing posts with label Knock Knock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Knock Knock. Show all posts

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

Knock Knock (PS4)

Ice-Pick Lodge's debut console thriller, "Knock Knock" will no doubt strike a chord with many creepypasta, and urban legend fanatics around the world. Not only is it's gameplay psychologically horrifying, but it's also the type of game that makes you second guess yourself. In fact the introduction to the game which is typed in a sort of hypothetical series of quotes clues the gamer into such a creative direction, or possibly even the lack thereof. It basically states that the developers obtained instructions on how to make the game from an anonymous person, and that the game is best looked upon as an urban legend as well as played alone, and in the dark. When it comes to making sense of the game it definitely all depends on which way you choose to look at things. I personally think the reality behind the game lies on a deeper more psychological level meant to test our own rationalization skills.

The suggested "interactive" experience that lies within the digital confines of "Knock Knock" is eerily child-like, and borders on being stealth in design while including the need for proper understanding without overthinking things as well as actual platforming element knowledge. All of which is tied to the theme of irrational fears. At heart the game incorporates the passage of time, and everything horrific that the haunted mind can dream up within the nighttime hours. The creaking of floorboards, the flickering of lights, and voices in the dark will all play on your most primal fears. Your objective as it were, is to merely make it to dawn so that everything regains a sense of normality for the game's odd protagonist. I'd say that despite it's obvious trip into the psyche of the rather disturbed individual (aka, worldologist) it plays heavily on the key fear behind trying to rationalize irrational circumstances. Of course I too could be overthinking it all, and it could simply be a game to test areas of my own human nature as a gamer, and a fellow human being.