No Son Of Mine is a first-person horror game developed by Pleasantly Friendly Games. It has you solve a murder mystery as you explore various levels while consistently being chased by a monster. While the game is good at raising tension, its monster mechanic drastically interrupts the gameplay and turns the experience from scary to annoying.
Unfortunate Son
As a detective, you are investigating a murder, as shown in the opening cutscene. Soon, a giant baby appears that will chase you throughout the game. You pick up clues to flesh out the narrative as you explore the game. Unfortunately, these clues don’t leave you wanting more. The clues give just enough to get an idea of what is going on. While the game’s story is lackluster, what No Son of Mine does best is leave you tense as you explore the game. The game’s atmosphere and creepy music left me in anticipation that something bad would happen to me at any moment. In particular, some moments were incredibly chilling, and I had to put the game down to process what I had just seen.
Then there is the monster that you constantly have to fight. You can hide in closets spread throughout the levels or fight back with a stun gun to deal with it. Hiding in the closet can trigger a mini-game where you need to get a line in the center of a smiley face, or you will take damage. If the monster deals damage to you twice, you will die. There is an infrared scope that helps you see the monster, and various upgrades to collect that improve recharge time on the stun gun and the duration of your infrared sight. You can pick up various items such as instant recharge for the stun gun, health, and the ability to slow down time, which comes in handy against the monster.
Short And Not So Sweet
Unfortunately, while the atmosphere is on point, No Son Of Mine’s gameplay squanders it. The biggest issue is the balance between monster encounters and exploring the levels in search of clues. You can be close to finding something before dropping what you’re doing to hide or fight the monster. I felt the balance between exploring and fighting was off, and what started as a fun novelty became a huge annoyance after just a few encounters after having to backtrack to closets.
Fighting with the monster leads to inconsistent combat. I have been in situations where I thought I shot the monster, but then I die anyway. Hiding can lead to dead periods where it’s hard to tell when it’s safe to resume exploring. Hallways start to blend together, which can be confusing when navigating parts of the level, especially when the game turns off all the lights. Combining repetitive areas with encounters that aren’t super fun led to me not having a fun experience with the game.
No Son of Mine is a short experience that can be beaten in a few hours. The developers have presented some fun ideas that could have been fleshed out further with more time. For example, you get access to infrared sight early on. I could only use it to find the monster during combat. I wish the developers had applied this mechanic to solve more puzzles. Instead of constantly worrying about the monster, I wish encounters could occur during set-piece moments to create further tension. Instead, I have to fight with inconsistent combat or flee to safety away from the area I am exploring.
Worth It?
No Son Of Mine is a short horror game that sets the tone extremely well but does not follow through on its gameplay. The mechanics are either inconsistent or not fully explored, and the monster is more annoying than scary. The narrative plays second fiddle and is not interesting at all. It is disappointing because there are some good and horrifying moments in the game, but the gameplay holds this back from being a truly great experience.
