I’m not overly great with horror games, and the Clea prototype all but confirmed that as the moment those ever-approaching creepy sounds got too close, I would… hide in the nearby closet until they stopped. Why couldn’t the two kids have done as told and stayed put? Then again, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so… let’s send Clea and Ed off to their doom. Or have them both die trying. Or something.
That said, I did enjoy my time playing this early taste of Clea, even if the majority of it was spent… well, hiding. Fully aware that I was actually supposed to look for items to solve puzzles and somehow find my way back outside (or as far as this build would take me). My objective was perfectly clear. But knowing and doing – two very separate things. Even more so when Chaos Servants roam the barely lit halls, and come into contact with one forces a complete restart. Nasty stuff.
Certain ‘abilities’ were at my disposal at least, even if none actually enabled fighting back: peek left and right (ie. scroll the screen a bit, to keep an eye out for potential trouble) and check under doors before going through them. Useful, and yet I never got far before someone caught me and, well, that was that – back to the beginning.
Can’t even blame the game, and I’m not going to either. It was perfectly clear what I had to do, which is more than can be said about most prototypes: acquire items, solve puzzles, get the heck out of town. Or the the Whitlock Mansion. Whichever is fastest and/or makes the most sense. Oh, speaking of Whitlock: while I can neither confirm nor deny the presence of memory orbs in this prototype, the full version of Clea will include such, unlocking bonus chapters to uncover family secrets, as it were.
Looking forward to finding out just what is going on and/or happened, for sure. If I ever sum up the courage to get past those pesky Chaos Servants. Maybe the full version of Clea will give the player some superweapon to annihilate them with? Yeah. Highly unlikely. I’ll just have to do better when the time comes; strength through curiosity, perhaps?
Note: Submitting feedback for the prototype – during the month of December – might earn you a mention under ‘special thanks’ in the credits (source).
Clea will be on Steam come June 8, 2019. Until then, why not take the prototype for a spin?