izigame.me

KOTAKE CREATE's newest title platform 8 is... pretty disappointing, especially after its thematically- and mechanically- electric predecessor exit 8. it's rlllllllllly disappointing to me, honestly. p8 doesn't just fail to live up to the mechanically-incisive heights of e8, but it also neglects to treat its core conceit with the focus and breadth necessary for such a mechanically- and architecturally- simple game to transcend its small scope. p8, eschewing e8's spot-the-difference mechanic, opts instead for a walking simulator approach, one with a-whole-lot-of-nothing to say about the themes or media-language of the first game, beyond a cheap reference or two.
it sucks to say, but given p8's complete lack of distinctive narrative or visual elements (just look at how underutilized and cookie-cutter the posters were in this title vs. the last), and no immediate evidence of (interesting) guiding intentions on the developers' part, the game seems to be obscured by a whole blizzard of carelessness. i mean, there's almost zero thematic substance to read into! i felt this gap between titles especially strongly in how p8 fails to examine the public's place in horror at ALL. which is shocking, considering how important the setting is to the basic level geometry, or the language of every single one of the puzzles or scares (regardless of whether they use it to its fullest potential or not). what's more, p8 is way less interested than e8 in following through on its core mechanic's affective potential with any sort of conviction; p8's gameplay, against all odds, feels meaningless the entire time! mostly, p8 isn't supplied with nearly enough challenging or intriguing problems for the player to solve, leaving most of the short runtime feeling mechanically- and narratively-weightless. only a handful of the possible levels actually test the player's reaction speed or reasoning ability in the slightest, which did, at least, pump my heart a little faster. however, KOTAKE CREATE clear such a low bar that it doesn't rly deserve high praise, especially coming right after a breakout title like e8, which so efficiently used its spot-the-difference conceit to impress a real sense of paranoia and suspicion upon the player, no matter who they were.
in the interest of fairness, i should say that p8 does bust out a few visually striking setpieces here and there (the ones that teleport you to the dark world, turn on the red sex LEDs, and blast you with stark white light, in particular), as well as a couple of effective jumpscares (the ones with the dude running at you from the back door, the sudden red flood, and the ghost girl in the window especially). but, ultimately, i'm still left wanting a lot more from this world. the spectacle is only one part of a video game, for me, and this one just seems wholly uninterested in its relationship with the world beyond a cheap scare. i hope their next game is more interesting.