Through The Woods PC Review

There aren’t that many horror games that make use of a Norwegian setting. In fact, I can’t quite name one to come out in the last couple of years so when I heard about Through The Woods, my interest was immediately peaked. Through The Woods sets off to a promising start, with Karen and Espen Dahl, mother and child, going to a cabin in the forest, in order to allow her to concentrate on her work. As you take your first steps, letting everything set in, the game comes forth as capable of creating a good atmosphere. Halfway through the first chapter, however, things begin to slowly fall apart.

The first glaring issue I was faced with was related to its performance. The game is pretty pretentious in terms of hardware. On release, performance was simply atrocious. The game sat in the 20-30 FPS region for a good while, even on the lowest of settings. This happened even for people with high-end machines. A day 2 update did solve that issue for some, while others, such as myself, weren’t as lucky. The fact that the game has no individual graphical options to mess around with doesn’t give you many choices either, as the four available presets only make the game uglier the lower you go, without actually helping the performance too much. Karen’s flashlight quickly grew to be the thing I dreaded the most, as turning it on prompted the frame rate to go even lower than it already was. To add to it all, during the last mission, Through The Woods ran at a wonderful 60 FPS on the highest of settings, even when I dared shine my flashlight towards the morning sun.

Unfortunately, the performance isn’t the only thing Through The Woods doesn’t get right. Marketed as a horror adventure game, Through The Woods has an identity issue, never quite being sure which one of those it wants to emphasize more. The majority of the game will be spent moving from one place to the other, reading notes left behind by denizens of the eponymous woods and taking in the sights. I felt that it was during these segments the game truly began to shine. Reading about the lives of those people, about the mythology the game attempts to bring to life, was an experience that was on the way of becoming gripping. Right before you get to encounter a monster, you read notes about it. This plants a seed of dread in your mind right away. That seed, however, never gets to sprout.

Out of all of them, one single monster sequence successfully brought horror with it. Running from a fast enemy, who I had to shine the light upon for a couple of seconds in order to not die horribly, was intense. The only way to know it was coming for me was by listening for its high pitched scream after which everything became a frantic attempt at running while also looking behind, flashlight at the ready. This was the lengthiest monster encounter, the other ones being either too easy to avoid completely (I only discovered the first monster upon starting a second playthrough, completely avoiding it the first time), or simply ineffective in inspiring any sense of terror because of their brevity. If you don’t give the player some time to spend with any threat, chances are it won’t leave a lasting impression. Even that monster sequence, was, however, marred by the awful performance which made it sometimes hard to shine the flashlight on the monster long enough to make it go away.

Through The Woods tries to knit atmospheric exploration together with horror, but ultimately fails to do so. The pacing of these sequences is simply too inconsistent for them to work. As I mentioned before, the exploration bits are actually enjoyable and manage to craft this sense of wonder that’s also unsettling as you read about the events that plagued the villages you go through. The graphics, which are good enough, also aid in this. However, these sequences either end too abruptly, with a loading screen popping up out of nowhere, shattering all immersion, or get mixed up with the ineffective horror bits. Keeping in mind that the game is about four hours short, with some people taking as little as two and a half to finish it, this makes for an overall experience that feels very disjointed.

Through The Woods is a very linear game. That’s not to say this is bad. On the contrary, I believe linearity helps in this case as it tries, at least, to establish a focus for the experience. The environments, however, do sometimes end up looking too similar to each other (you can’t really tell a group of trees from another group of trees) and may end up with you running in circles when the areas open up just enough to allow two different paths that lead to the same place. Invisible walls are also present, making sure you don’t go out of bounds, while certain collision bugs may get your character stuck in the terrain. The animations look a bit stiff, but do their job for the most part. There are, however, two cutscenes involving physical conflict where the animations look so bad that they manage to suck any dramatic effect out of said cutscenes.

The sound design is one of the best parts of the game. Doors screech ominously, ambient noises manage to unsettle you and the monster sounds are both distinct and well done. The choice of music is great. In regards to the voice acting, if you stick with English, it’s going to sound off at times. Switch to Norwegian voices with English subtitles, however, and you’re set for a pretty good auditory experience. The story of Through The Woods begins in a great fashion with a simple weekend at the cabin that goes wrong when Karen’s son disappears. As she retraces her steps in looking for him, you find out about the demons of both the villagers and the protagonist. The writing definitely has some of that specific Scandinavian chill, where, regardless of how well things are going, ominous forces are present and working. Sadly, due to the game’s brevity, the story that tries to stretch in three different directions, focusing on Karen, the village and the game’s antagonist and his motivations, never manages to leave a lasting impression. It all ends too quickly, marking one more missed opportunity for this game.

After reading all these complaints, you may think Through The Woods a candidate for the worst game of the year. That is not the case. There is a functional game here. There is good writing, a capacity to build atmosphere and a vision that, whether because of lacking experience or a different reason, didn’t end up being fulfilled in its entirety. Even that one monster encounter that succeeds in being terrifying remains in your memory after you pass it. However, everything that Through The Woods gets right is overshadowed by what it does wrong. It’s especially disappointing as Norwegian mythology is a rich, yet untapped source of potential horror game material. Part of me wishes Through The Woods stuck to being a “walking simulator” where you read about forsaken people, hopelesness and monsters while unraveling the troubled history of the main character in a beautiful-if-somewhat-samey setting with great atmosphere. Sadly, all that’s on offer is a debut title that fails to deliver on any of its promises.

Bogdan Robert, NoobFeed
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