The Beast Inside game review (PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, PC)

Two people, separated by a hundred years, but a cruel fate?

Thank you Xbox Canada who gave us a copy of the game through the program ID@Xbox for media coverage and testing. Therefore, the publisher/developer allows us to distribute and/or use excerpts from the game for our production needs and does not interfere in any way with the awarding of the final grade.

An ambitious project

Only three souls in charge, the studio Illusion Ray brings us the psychological horror game The Monster Withina title that will remind you of Layers Of Fear, In SoundMind and even Amnesia just to name a few. Challenged by the desire to give me a bit of a scare, I slip into the skin of our protagonists Nicolas and Adam to find out what lies in the belly of the beast. I must say I was a little surprised! i tell you…

Two destinies linked by evil

The first thing that jumps out at you when you launch the game is the superb quality of the visuals and the soundscape. It is more remarkable when we know that Illusion Ray is a small studio, although it is made up of talented people who have already worked with it Techland (Dying Light), The Farm 51 (Chernobylite) and Fuego Games. Although we are in Adam Stevenson’s position at the beginning of the game, we can appreciate the rich and well-crafted environments as he travels to their “new” home, with his pregnant wife Emma. The house is well detailed and the variety of furniture in the rooms is really great!

Moreover, what is unique about The Beast Inside is that many elements of the scenery can be touched, picked up, moved and so on. Yes, as with some titles of the same type, most of the items that can be obtained have no real use. However, many of these things are important to discover messages in the form of memories, which help to understand the story. Everything is done easily and the “important” items are highlighted, which differentiates them from those where it is not really necessary to check them.

Going back to the story, the new house that Emma and Adam will move into is not a new construction, but a bequest from Adam’s family. This one has retired deep into the forest, which is well suited to Adam’s rather secretive work, which is an encryption analyst during the Cold War. As Adam explores the house, he encounters strange things, things that lead him to be suspicious and think that the Russians already know where they are and Emma, ​​that the house and the surroundings are bugged , and there is a spy around.

At the same time, some things he finds will gradually make him understand that something terrible happened in the same place, a hundred years ago, and that evil spirits are haunting the house and its surroundings. It is in these moments that the action will be brought into the shoes of Nicolas Hyde, a man abused by his father and who lived in Adam’s house more than a hundred years ago, during the Civil War. But what do Adam and Nicolas have in common and why do the ghosts seem to want to help Adam discover the truth? I’ll leave it up to you to discover it for yourselves, because I really liked how it was told to us and its disturbing discoveries.

Moreover, The Beast Inside is a well-integrated narrative game and the voice acting the actors help a lot to bathe us. The only small downside for some, the dialogues are only offered in English, but you can have any French subtitles to help you.

For those used to this type of game, The Beast Inside does not reinvent the wheel by any means. On the other hand, this one offers a certain freedom in the environments although the path to take is generally well indicated and that wherever you go, you will always be somewhat rejected to interact with the next that point of interest to advance the ‘story. Honestly, I liked how things were offered, because we felt a little less like we were in a “corridor” where the path is narrow and there is no possibility of exploration.

As in all good games of the genre, Adam à Nicolas has to read different documents, find and use specific items and also escape from some dangers. Here, The Beast Inside is perhaps a bit different, in the sense that at times, we have to run away from our attackers, hide from them and even lure them to another place to create a safe passage for us or even steal from them. .items to unlock doors. I really liked these moments, although some of them are sequences on the tracks where we must not make mistakes to succeed. You’ll need to repeat some of these sequences multiple times to memorize them and avoid death. Because yes, you will die… Not often, but you will die anyway…!

Throughout the game, which was between 8 and 10 hours long, I died about ten times. If you don’t die from a machete in the forehead, you’ll be running down a cliff full of sharp spikes, or in some other gruesome way. On the other hand, the good thing is that these segments are neither too long nor too frustrating. It may take you a few tries before you’re successful, but you’ll never want to throw your controller at your TV! And believe me, as someone who hates too difficult games myself, The Beast Inside is calibrated just enough to have a certain pleasure to leave my skin there…!

One of the aspects I love most about this type of title is the presence of puzzles and riddles. Illusion Ray has incorporated several types into The Beast Inside and this variety ensures that solving these puzzles will never become too repetitive and monotonous. Sometimes, you’ll need to solve physical puzzles, like accessing different locations to find switches, giving access to others to find valuables there, or just the path to the next one.”purpose“. In other cases, you’ll need to work your gray matter harder, so finding secret codes and solving them will go to your decryption tool or through the Enigma machine. You’ll even have access to an electronic tool used to mine infrared frequencies in your environment to discover traces left by other people.

Basically, in addition to the sometimes frustrating controls during enemy chase sequences, The Beast Inside is a shocking horror thriller! It offers a great variety of gameplay and a great story, which will have an outcome that we don’t quite see coming. And for a title that offers almost ten hours for less than CAN$35, I think it’s a must for fans of this category of games. The studio is also working on a sequel, which is now on my radar so as not to miss it!

Judgment