Greek Tragedy

While the makers of games like Resident Evil and Alone in the Dark have spent the last few years trying to make their classic games look as modern as possible, there has been a concerted effort by the indie community to take the survival horror genre back to the low-polygon look of the 32-bit era. Greek Tragedy is the latest example, giving fans of the old school traditional tank controls, obtuse puzzles and an evil villain that everybody hates – frat bros. Is that all you need to make a great survival horror game? That’s what we’re about to find out when I review Greek Tragedy by first-time developer Cute Spooks.

I’ll say this about Greek Tragedy: At least it doesn’t take place in a musty old mansion. Instead, this survival horror story takes place on the campus of Southern Michigan University, where Amy Chipley is hard at work on writing a story about a young girl being stalked by a wolfman. Little does she know that life is about to imitate art, as she gets an urgent call from her boyfriend Kurt, who seems to be getting kidnapped. To make matters worse, Amy is being hunted by a group of students who wear long black robes and carry a big knife. Equipped with little more than a taser, it’s up to Amy to escape certain death and save Kurt, all while solving the mystery of why she is being targeted.

Like I said at the top, this is an old school survival horror game in the style of the first few Resident Evil games. This includes fixed camera angles, limited saves and, of course, old school tank controls. It’s also the kind of throwback horror game where you have to solve complicated multi-part puzzles, all while a scary guy in a robe tracks you through the university.

What this game does well is create a tense atmosphere that is filled with dread. The game uses the dark lighting and low-poly graphics to set the mood, and there are some really fun and creative camera shots that ratchet up the suspense. This is especially true early on, when everything is still shrouded in mystery. You can tell that the developers had a lot of fun finding the most dramatic camera angle for any given shot, and that really worked for me in the first half of the game.

While the survival horror is certainly front and center, you’ll quickly discover that Greek Tragedy is really a series of spooky moments separated by a bunch of obtuse puzzles. You’ll need to pick up the key that will unlock the paper that you’ll use to generate a password that will open up a door where you’ll find a pen and ... you get the point. There’s always something to pick up and use to solve a puzzle to advance. Sometimes the puzzle is just a series of riddles, while other times the puzzle is nothing more than a series of fetch quests. It’s all very old school.

And that’s the thing about this game – it’s directly inspired by survival horror games from 30 years ago. No matter what criticism I have of this game, I have a hunch that there will be fans of the game (and maybe even the developer) who argues that it’s meant to be like that. This is, after all, a throwback to the days when developers were still testing the water when it came to not just constructing horror, but also having the character simply exist in a three-dimensional world. Don’t like the tank controls? Well, too bad, because it’s supposed to be like that. Frustrated by the unhelpful camera angles? That’s how things were in the 32-bit era. Wish you could save more frequently? That wouldn’t be in the spirit of those old games.

Maybe there’s some truth to that, but I think there’s still room to criticize. For example, the tank controls are a lot more squirrely in Greek Tragedy, and Resident Evil rarely forced the player to walk on narrow beams. I’m not somebody who necessarily complains about tank controls, but there’s just something off about the way this game plays. It’s especially bad when you’re trying to avoid the robed villains, who apparently have a sword so long that they can do major damage from across the room.

And it’s not just walking around that is a pain, but it’s also the combat. Early on, Amy is given a taser with five shots that can be replenished at the checkpoints around campus. For the most part, you’ll use this to temporarily stun the cult members, but there are a few times when you’ll have to take out a flying drone with a bunch of shots. And when I say a bunch, I mean it. These things are taser sponges. There’s an especially frustrating bit towards the end where you have to fight four of them at once, all in this small space with no health items. The whole interaction left me wanting to quit and play a better game.

I would also argue that the save system is a lot more restrictive in this game, especially when compared to those early survival horror games. Sure, you were restricted to a certain amount of saves in those first few Resident Evil games, but there was always more than enough ink scattered around the levels, allowing you to save before most big events. However, that’s not the case in Greek Tragedy. Each of the save points can only be used once, which means that you’ll often save right when you get to a new area and then have to solve a bunch of puzzles before being able to save again. There were a number of times where I lost twenty- or thirty-minutes’ worth of progress, simply because the robed slasher showed up without warning.

It's one thing to be left frustrated, but quite another to be annoyed with the game. There were multiple times where I almost stopped playing. Not because I found it too challenging, but rather because I was replaying too much of the game every time I died from a cheap attack I simply couldn’t avoid. It felt like a little piece of me died every time I had to reload, and there were multiple times when I wondered if the payoff was going to be worth it.

As somebody who stuck with it long enough to see the multiple endings, I can tell you that Greek Tragedy is not worth it. The setting and mood might be suspenseful, but the game is frustrating and nowhere near as much fun as the classic horror games it’s trying to emulate. I applaud the effort, but they weren’t kidding when they called this a tragedy.