The Beast Inside

When it comes to most horror movies, I don't find them especially scary. I often joke around and say that it's because reality is a lot scarier than fiction, but the truth is that it's probably because I've seen all of the tropes a thousand times and they have lost all of their effect. That's not the case when it comes to scary video games, as they tend to have a whole new batch of tricks up their sleeves that sink their hooks in and never let go. That's definitely the case with The Beast Inside, an effective new horror game set at the height of the Cold War. After the first few chapters, I knew I was in for a terrifying ride. And, for the most part, I was right.

This is the story of Adam, a CIA code cracker who is shacking up with his pregnant wife, Emma, in an old house they recently inherited. The year is 1979 and Adam hopes that moving to the middle of nowhere will allow him to concentrate on his work and keep the country from suffering a nuclear strike from the Soviet Union. But as they begin to dig into the history of the property, the married couple starts to worry that there's more to the estate than meets the eye.

What both Adam and the player quickly realizes is that the house used to belong to a man named Nicolas in the mid-1800s. The Beast Inside jumps between the two time periods in order to tell the parallel stories, which works to fill in the history and context of what appears to be a haunted house. But Adam isn't worried about ghosts, because he fears the Russians have sent spies to keep tabs on his work and snuff him out when the time is right.

The first thing you'll notice is that the two characters offer completely different types of experiences. Adam will mostly investigate during the day and work to crack codes, while his 1867 counterpart sneaks through the mansion lighting candles and carrying a lantern. When we're not running from ghosts and solving puzzles, we'll spend a lot of time picking up matches and kerosene in a losing battle to see. Nicolas' adventure feeds into what happens to Adam, both in subtle and obvious ways, and seeing the same environments in two different time periods is an intriguing conceit.

The Beast Inside isn't one of those horror games that plays the same note over and over, because it's a little bit of everything. Sometimes it's about ghost hunting, while other times it's about stealth missions, code cracking, first-person shooting and investigating the estate. We spend a lot of time navigating through caves, searching the burned-down inn and getting to the bottom of these towers right next to the house. Something is clearly going on, and you'll spend a lot of the time figuratively and literally in the dark, waiting to find out what happens next.

Beyond the compelling story structure and variety, I was impressed by the intuitive interface. This may seem like an odd thing to highlight, but I love that I don't have to equip items or worry about inventory management. When you need to use the machete to cut down brush, the game pulls it out and starts whacking away. The same is true for the flashlight and hook, which is ready to go when the time is right. I was impressed that the developers didn't fall into the same horror traps that haunt most scary games, and it's one of the reasons why this game is so much fun to play.

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That said, The Beast Inside does run into a number of horror cliches that left me cold. This is a perfect example of a game being scarier before the big reveal. There are a number of different endings to watch here, but none of them are as effective as the initial setup. The scares that got under my skin usually happened when they were still a mystery, which is why I liked the first half better than the end. It also doesn't help that the game relies a little too much on cheap jump scares, especially early on. There are certainly a few times when it works, but that's ultimately not what's scary in this story.

My biggest complaint involves the questionable performance. There are a lot of times when the textures will refuse to pop in, leading to a number of ugly moments throughout the good-sized quest. This is one of those things that I learned to accept over time, but there are moments in the game where it actually hinders the puzzle solving. There's one padlock in particular where the letters wouldn't show up until I played with the resolution. And then later on, there's a slideshow in the cabin that is so low-res, that there's no way to glean the important information. This is also true of most of the newspaper clippings and documents you pick up along the way. There were a number of times when I had to turn to a walkthrough for help. Not because I couldn't figure out a specific puzzle, but rather because I couldn't even see the important information.

Maybe it's because I'm so used to low-budget horror movies, but I was able to look past a lot of the technical imperfections. The star here is the storytelling, especially when it comes to jumping between Adam and Nicolas. Both quests are different and gripping in their own unique ways, and there are moments throughout the game that will continue to haunt my nightmares for years to come. The Beast Inside is a well-made game with a lot of genuinely effective scares, as well as a few cheap ones.