Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place review

• Reviews by Pascal Tekaia
• Published:

Octavi Navarro’s short story horror anthology chimes in with its best and darkest installment yet

Tracing the evolution of Octavi Navarro’s Midnight Scenes series – an anthology of short indie horror-themed vignettes – makes for an interesting exercise, perfect for a couple of atmospheric evenings in a dark room lit only by the glow of a PC monitor. The point-and-click-style games all share a similar spirit, resembling episodes of The Twilight Zone or Tales from the Crypt. But the series has changed over time, namely going from the inventory-puzzle-oriented early outings to more narrative-focused entries, particularly after Susanna Granell joined Octavi as co-writer a few installments ago. The fifth entry, A Safe Place, continues to swing the pendulum towards telling more and more sophisticated stories while further slimming down the puzzle-solving elements to next to nothing. However, since the experience is so brief, the brain teasers really aren’t missed and their absence is easily outweighed by the team’s psychologically darkest and grimmest offering yet, so those with sensitive dispositions be warned.

Players take on the role of Phil, a young man in his early twenties who’s spent the last month locked away from the outside world in his bedroom, unable to leave the safety of these four walls for any reason. His parents are at a loss – his mother continues to leave trays of food in the hallway, unreachable to him behind his barricaded door, which continue to go uneaten day after day, while his father, with a hair-trigger temper even on a good day, is quickly reaching the end of his patience with Phil’s sudden and inexplicable change in behavior. Phil’s younger sister Piper is slightly less patronizing, but she has her own troubles to deal with, and the two only interact via infrequent chats through the wall connecting their adjoining bedrooms. Phil does have one true friend in all this: Noelle, who works at their small town’s grocery store, becomes his only lifeline – literally – leaving the occasional delivery of foodstuffs under his bedroom window for him to pull up, lending a shoulder he can lean on, and even instigating shared movie streaming nights – conducted remotely via SMS text messages.

But why has Phil sequestered himself away in this manner? We are given no initial answers to this question, but we quickly deduce that there is something seriously wrong here. The dresser and other bric-a-brac creating a wall of safety in front of Phil’s door and the newspaper pages covering his window suggest that he isn’t keeping himself in but rather keeping something out. Phil’s panicked shaking and inability to speak when his parents address him through his blocked door are proof that he is suffering some deep and unspoken mental anguish. And Phil’s frequent nightmares indicate that there’s a dark truth slowly clawing at him, as the menacing shadow creatures haunting Phil’s dreams clearly represent a trauma we have yet to uncover. A Safe Place isn’t a challenge-filled adventure about survival in isolation, nor is it a campy scare fest; it’s a psychological thriller about a haunted man finding a way to deal with the thing that goes bump in his personal hell.

As the Midnight Scenes games have gradually grown longer – starting with the original’s runtime of around twenty minutes and expanding to around ninety minutes here – puzzles have increasingly taken a backseat to interactive storytelling. This trend is on full display in A Safe Place, as there’s really only one inventory puzzle worth mentioning at all, and it occurs early on as we are tasked with finding ways to meet Phil’s basic human needs – sustenance, relieving bodily functions, human interaction – using the limited tools at our disposal in his bedroom. There is a brief sequence later on that I suppose could be construed as a puzzle of sorts, where we assemble shattered pieces of a picture back together. But that’s really it. And even though we’re usually in control of Phil, clicking to make him move or interact with objects, even the term “gameplay” is probably a little charitable here. The environment is so constricted, the number of options given to us so limited, that there’s never really a chance to make a wrong turn, get lost in a plethora of options, or be unsure of how to proceed. It's quite linear and straightforward, even when we gain control of a second character at certain points in the story.

Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place

Genre:	Horror, Thriller
Presentation:	2D or 2.5D, Side-scroller
Theme:	Psychological
Perspective:	Third-Person
Graphic Style:	Pixel art
Gameplay:	Quest
Control:	Point-and-click
Game Length:	Short (1-5 hours)
Difficulty:	Low

But what a story it is! For such a short game, it’s a true testament to the writers’ skill in establishing their characters that Phil and Noelle are immediately relatable and sympathetic, and their relationship with each other shines like a beacon of hope in the grim narrative tapestry being woven. I found myself rooting for the hapless Phil – who clearly has a bit of a crush on his friend – and felt deflated on his behalf when she strikes up a flirtation with Brian, her next-door neighbor (whom Phil irritably resorts to spying on with his telescope). I felt genuine concern for Phil as his world slowly continues to crumble away, and even his threadbare support systems begin to implode all around him. The few times we’re introduced to other ancillary characters or given some establishing background on the supporting cast are also handled adeptly, with natural and believable dialogue and interactions. And as the in-game days pass, we get a real sense of time becoming a blur for Phil, each day like the last, agonizing and indistinguishable, as his grasp on sanity becomes more and more tenuous.

Considering the rather claustrophobic nature of the main environment in which much of the game takes place, it’s commendable how much its presentation really plays to the developers’ strengths. The pixel art graphics do a good job establishing our few locations – particularly Phil’s house – and they work a treat in emphasizing the grotesquely horrifying visual design of the malign shadow creatures haranguing poor Phil’s mind. The many animated flourishes found in the character sprites are of particular note here, playing a big part in selling Phil’s emotional reactions. Far more detailed close-up art is often used, like during Phil and Noelle’s text message exchanges, letting us read along while watching their detailed facial expressions. Observing the pair trade friendly barbs with each other (while stills from their movie night are displayed on-screen) is incredibly charming, while seeing Phil spiral out of control right in front of our eyes when he feels his last safety net being pulled out from under him near the game’s climax is extremely heartbreaking.

The music, too, has been implemented with care and thought. There are only a couple of compositions, each designed to underscore a particular mood (a general sense of uneasy foreboding, for example, or those moments when Phil’s anxieties rise to a fever pitch) or accompany a specific character. Noelle’s theme is a great example of introducing some lovely lightheartedness into the otherwise dark atmosphere, which instantly endears her to us and helps sell the fact that Phil is a bit smitten with her. But there are also moments of deliberate silence, scenes with only, say, the nervous ticking of a clock to mark the glacial passing of time in Phil’s bedroom. While the dialogue isn’t spoken, the team has recorded a few vocalizations so we can actually hear Phil grumbling to himself when he’s forced to watch Brian make a move on Noelle or, more gut-wrenchingly, his exclamations of physical and mental agony at various other times. It’s perfectly low-key but effective and fits the overall retro vibe the project is aiming for.

Final Verdict

Whether you’re a series veteran or a newcomer (and the anthology nature of the series allows for jumping directly in here), A Safe Place feels like a new high for Midnight Scenes in terms of serious storytelling. Octavi Navarro and his team have brought to life their grimmest tale yet, stepping further away from the cheesy goodness of some of the earlier entries, sacrificing inventory-based puzzling at the altar of intriguing narrative and characters who are easy to invest in. Fans of mature storytelling, particularly in the horror realm, will find plenty to love here with hopefully more to come in future installments.

Pascal played Midnight Scenes: A Safe Place on PC using a review code provided by the game's publisher.

• Advertisement
• Help support AGH by advertising with us