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Scratches hands-on archived preview

It's an experience we've probably all known: lying awake at night, pondering life's difficulties (whether they be work, money or just exactly why it is that nobody plays adventure games nowadays), and listening. Even at night, the world is rarely a silent place; even when there's no one else around, there's always some noise or other.

Like... scratching.

Okay, maybe not scratching. But we all, from time to time, hear things in the dark, like the odd bump or knock or the sound of the clock ticking. After playing the first part of Nucleosys' debut horror title, however, I'm very, very glad that I don't hear scratching.

Scratches begins innocently enough. Arriving at his new house – left vacant under mysterious circumstances – author Michael Arthate is looking for peaceful surroundings in which to finish his new novel. As things begin to go wrong, Arthate finds himself stranded in the house alone and with no electricity. And then, as night falls, the scratching sounds begin...

Having seen a number of adventure game stories fall apart in recently-released titles, I approached Scratches with some trepidation. From what was on display in the preview code (which presents the first couple of days of the game), however, there seems to be little to worry about in this area. The history behind the terrible events that have occured, fleshed out in a variety of journals, newspaper cuttings and letters strewn around the mansion, present a supernatural theme without ever taking it so far as to be entirely unbelievable. The game also gains considerably from exploring a side of occult themes rarely seen in the genre, which it manages to do in a manner that is genuinely creepy. I found myself very quickly, as Arthate does, wanting to get away from the manor as events became increasingly unsettling.

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As the title of the game no doubt suggests – and as you'll already be aware if you've played the recent demo – Scratches makes important use of sound to rack up the tension as well as to advance the plot. Aside from the noises during the night, which form a focus for investigations, Nucleosys has made clever use of the noise all around to heighten the anxiety. Footsteps echo loudly, the clock in the hall ticks at an uncomfortably loud volume, and the sudden ringing of the telephone all work to leave the player with a sense of unease. The music, too, creates suspense and apprehension, with orchestral and more mechanical sounds blending perfectly with the kind of haunting piano motifs beloved of the horror genre.

The sound may be impressive, then, but it's certainly not the only way in which Nucleosys seeks to engage players in their superbly crafted world. Using their own SCream engine, the two-man development team from Argentina has created a finely detailed first-person world of 360-degree, mouse-navigated scenes. Although limited to a fixed 800x600 resolution, the locations look stunning, with muted colours, dusty objects littered about the mansion and some clever use of light and shadow. Certainly the graphics never suggest that Scratches is being developed by a small, independent start-up group, which is a testament to the artistic talent present. Animation, while mostly limited to cloud movement, rain, and door-opening, looks highly convincing, and there were a number of unsettling animations towards the end of the preview segment that made me feel particularly uncomfortable.

Fortunately, despite the huge investment in time that has obviously gone into the presentation, the actual gameplay hasn't been neglected. The puzzles in the preview code range in difficulty, and are almost exclusively inventory-based. For the most part these are well set up, with the player being prompted by regular phone contact with Michael's friend Jerry, and Barbara, his assistant. The voice acting is of a quality that far surpassed what I was expecting, and the writing, both here and elsewhere throughout the preview, is extremely polished and well translated.

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But while Scratches appears to be getting an awful lot right several months before release, there are a couple of aspects of the preview that niggled. For those who have difficulty navigating node-based environments, this won't be the game to convert you, as several of the movement nodes are awkwardly placed, requiring a fair degree of panning the camera for your next step. A couple of cluing and trigger issues also presented themselves, at times leaving me not realising that there was a puzzle to be solved, or not knowing what specific event was needed to advance the plot. Combined with a couple of items that are quite easy to dismiss as part of the background, the game is not without its moments of frustration. Fortunately, the high quality of all the surrounding moments easily overshadows the lesser areas of complaint.

The preview segment offered full access to the entire mansion (albeit with a few locked drawers that I was unable to open), including a gallery and the basement area under the kitchen that weren't present in the demo. Unfortunately, there was no option to explore any of the buildings outside, such as the greenhouse, chapel and crypt, which I was eager to see. Then again, given the increasingly unsettling nature of the new manor rooms, perhaps it was better on my nerves that I didn't.

Scratches is looking very promising, that much is certain. The game looks visually stunning, makes expert use of sound, features a number of challenging puzzles and manages to create a sense of tension that is rarely achieved in the genre. With a North American publishing deal lined up with Got Game, the full game is set to reach store shelves in early March. So get ready to turn off the lights and sit up late at night. Alone, in the dark, and listening... for the scratching.

 

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