Uncanny Valley (2015)

I have never been too into survival horror games, but have played and really enjoyed some over the years. I was hoping that Uncanny Valley would be one of the good ones. For me, it failed to do so–it wasn't terrible but the lack of a linear storyline made it more confusing than enjoyable for me. Fans of horror survival games may enjoy it more; however, casual players of the genre may want to wait for a price slash.

Overall, Uncanny Valley is a bit of a gamble, banking on drawing you in with the initial weirdness and sense of unease, and that being enough to then sustain your interest as you continue to attack the game from different angles in search of a better outcome. I have no doubt some people will enjoy the mystery and the investigation of it all, exploring choices in the hopes of better seeing the big picture. For everyone else, though, either interest will wane before the first runthrough is completed or when it becomes clear that a fair amount of repetition will be in order to understand what exactly is going on.

Uncanny Valley's desire to hark back to the simpler days of survival horror is commendable, especially in those early moments where you're flitting between abstract nightmares and a security job that feels increasingly isolated. However, the sheer openness of its non-linear plot means it's all too easy to jump large sections of the story as you stumble on one of the game's secrets too early on. Still, with a strict consequence-based system that rewards and punishes you in equal measure, Uncanny Valley has a lot of potential. It's just a shame it doesn't fully live up to it.

A bloody terrifying horror game hiding within the shell of an admittedly broken experience.

While it delivers on its promise to get back to the roots of survival horror, Uncanny Valley also adds a bit of the tedium from that bygone era. If players are willing to dig and look past some repetition, they'll find a game that makes them think and occasionally scares them well.