It may be a tad reductive to compare every horror game that features a small town filled with creepy fog and odd characters to 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Silent Hill, but Mundaun definitely has the vibe of Konami's long-dormant series. Rather than outright jump scares - although it has its share of those - it instead aims to fill the player with dread and confusion as they wander around the countryside trying to solve puzzles and avoid odd-moving creatures made out of hay. While I wish it was a tad less obtuse with its directions and gameplay, Mundaun is probably the closest thing we're going to get to a Silent Hill game directed by Ingmar Bergman.
The game begins with a young man named Curdin receiving a letter about his grandfather dying in a tragic barn fire. The letter implores him not to come home to see his grandfather's grave, which naturally does nothing but make him want to come home even more. He takes a rickety bus up the mountain to the village where he grew up only to find a place filled with weird fog and even weirder people. There's a small girl who never speaks, shows up in random spots, and is flanked by goats. A mad painter is always lurking around and his paintings seem to affect the physical world. Most troubling of all is a sinister Old Man who not only seems to be responsible for the fire that claimed Curdin's grandfather's life but also may be an immortal figure who has appeared throughout the darkest periods in human history. Oh, and he also burns Curdin's hand, which seems to curse or mark him. With nowhere else to go, Curdin must investigate his grandfather's death while making sure not to be driven mad or murdered by the ominous beings that come out at night.
Mundaun is just soaked in atmosphere. It feels mysterious and ancient, which is helped by its unique, pencil-drawn art style. Everything looks like it was scribbled and shaded on paper. This makes the game feel like an old black and white horror movie. It's actually an ingenious way to cover up the fact that most of the game's visuals are pretty low-poly. Without this pencil-shaded filter, Mundaun would look like a game developed in the Source engine from the early 2000s. But by utilizing this art style, it combines the feelings of playing an old horror game along with watching an old horror movie. It invokes nostalgia and enhances the eerieness of the town of Mundaun.
The storytelling style reminded me of David Lynch or Lars Von Trier in the way that it holds back answers while creating even more questions. It also seems to be heavily inspired by the works of Ingmar Bergman as this almost feels like a video game adaption of The Seventh Seal. Characters will give obtuse responses to even the most basic queries. You'll talk to goat heads or see men wielding beehives as weapons. One time I entered a shed and was knocked unconscious. When my character awoke he was being suffocated by a noose hanging from the ceiling only to barely survive when the rope broke. Then he just got up, left the house, and didn't even comment on it. It didn't make a lot of sense, but there are so many inexplicable things happening all at once that an attempted murder doesn't even warrant a moment's thought.
The voice-acting is done entirely in Swiss German, which could be a barrier for some. I thought the performers sounded enough like real people living out on the Swiss Alps that it felt authentic. This combined with the excellent sound design only adds to the foreboding atmosphere. The rustling wind, the buzzing of bees, and of course, the game's harrowing soundtrack. There's a lot of frantic violin plucking when monsters are nearby along with various radio stations chockful of chilling singing choirs and radio chatter.
I mentioned earlier that Mundaun looks like something that could have come from the early 2000s and that's reflected in the gameplay as well. This feels like a classic horror game where you wander around searching for items and solving out-of-place puzzles. This is because Mundaun doesn't hold your hand when it comes to exploration. There are no markers or indications of where to go and you only have a journal that lists off your objectives along with a crudely drawn map and any other clues you come across. This was probably done to make sure that you're as bewildered as Curdin is while trying to learn more about his grandpa's fate.
I don't mind not having my handheld, but this can make advancing the plot frustrating as you're forced to wander around looking for something or someone to help you. The levels themselves aren't huge so you're not going to be lost for too long, but figuring out your next step can sometimes be a chore. Most of the surrounding countryside looks pretty similar. It's not always clear what is a traversable path and what isn't. The black and white art style can also be a hindrance sometimes as it makes identifying objects and houses a bit more difficult.
Much like Silent Hill, there is combat but it's not all that useful. Some enemies can be burned with matches or warded off with weapons that break fairly easily. Some can't be beaten at all, which can make it hard to progress. The section where I had to find honey for some bunker-bound ex-soldier featured an area where floating beekeepers continually unleashed a swarm of bees at me when I was spotted. This forced me to keep running back to a house for shelter and sneak around them, which definitely ratcheted up the tension but was also sort of tedious. Then again, running away from hideous monsters does feel pretty on point for a game like this, so it's hard for me to knock it too hard for that. It's just that the constant fleeing combined with the lack of instructions made Mundaun feel longer than it needed to be.
There are some occasional bugs or glitches that occur from time to time. Enemies will be able to phase through closed gates or will glitch out when moving up or down a path. Sometimes items or scenery will pop in out of nowhere. There was one thing that happened that I'm not actually sure was a bug. I had to wear a beekeeping suit to enter a house, but the suit was weak and could be destroyed. However, after it was wrecked, another one couldn't be found. I had to go back to a previous save file to do that section all over again. So either that item bugged out or you only get one chance with the bee suit and have to start over if you fail. Neither of those options is all that great.
Mundaun has some shortcomings in its design, but it's still worth recommending based on its bizarre world and story alone. Interacting with the meek, terrified priest, running into the blood-curdling Old Man, or any of the other perplexing interactions made for a truly unnerving time. I do wish it was a bit easier to navigate and find your objectives, but this is a story of a man returning to a childhood home that he doesn't recognize, so getting lost works on a thematic level. Unfortunately, it also hurts the pacing, especially if you get stuck in an area that kills you over and over (damn you bees!)
Frustration aside, if you're a fan of old-school horror in both film and games, Mundaun may be a place that's worth visiting. Just watch out for headless goats.
Score: 3.5/5
A PC copy of Mundaun w﷽as provid💫ed to TheGamer for this review. Mundaun is available on PC.
Mundaun is a horror game with an incredible hand-pencilled art style, ꦡset in the Alps. Played in first-person perspective, you must uncover the mystery of what happened to your grandfather, while traversing a mountain.