Choice-based horror games are a sub-genre we don’t get to see too often, simply because most people prefer the classic survival, and psychological horrors we constantly see when browsing through the store.
That’s not to say they aren’t loved or have produced any brilliant games we still remember to this day, because that would just be a plain lie. Most horror fans have undoubtedly heard of Until Dawn, which is without question the biggest game of the sub-genre. Supermassive games have made a few more after its release, though none have quite reached its level.
So we do get to see some of these titles albeit not often, but what we rarely get to see are FMV choice-based horror titles. Funnily enough, The Run was the first I ever played of its kind. I wasn’t expecting much, and at first glance assumed it would be an attempt at what would be a poorly executed FMV, whether that would be down to the bad acting, or painfully unrealistic scenes. However, I was pleasantly surprised and ended up really enjoying it, which is definitely not what I thought I would be saying after finishing it, but here we are.
Zanna Hendricks is a world-famous fitness influencer. To celebrate her recent milestone, she travels to Northern Italy, where she stays in a small and cosy village home to a remote running trail in the beautiful mountains. What was meant to just be a normal run, soon turns into a game of cat and mouse as she is relentlessly chased by a group of masked killers with no clear motives apart from killing her. All you have to do is make the correct choices and keep Zanna alive.
Simple, right?
The great acting really made it feel like a well-made short horror film
I went into The Run expecting the acting to ultimately let it down, but by the end of it I thought everyone did a fantastic job and delivered their lines really well. The two main leads, Roxanne Mckee, and George Blagden (who voiced Henri Clement in Amnesia: The Bunker), have both had pretty successful careers, so they naturally delivered great performances and were the standouts for me. They made the game a lot more enjoyable and immersive.
People often overlook the impact acting, particularly voice acting, has on games in general. I’ve come across many games where I was starting to get into it, only for the voice acting to completely ruin the immersion, and the experience. It’s a pretty important aspect of a game and does contribute massively to the overall quality of any titles. Luckily though, The Run had some great acting, which was mainly due to the fact that most of the people involved had some acting experience, in one way or another.
The voice acting wasn’t the only real and impressive part of the game, I was also surprised at the realistic death scenes too, which to be quite frank I was expecting some pretty unrealistic and downright awful scenes but they actually turned out very well, so much so that I found myself cringing at how gruesome some of the deaths actually were.
In short, I was expecting a game which tried to be good ending up being bad enough for me requesting a refund from Steam, but it ended up being well made and developed, which I was quite happy to see.
To live or to die, the choice is always yours
One thing almost everyone loves about choice-based games is having the power to save and kill specific characters, either purposely or accidentally. It’s knowing that their fate lies in your hands which can be both good and bad depending on the character you’re controlling. The old age debate people have of whether they could survive being in a horror game/film, is answered to a degree when playing any choice-based titles, which is why many people enjoy them.
Whilst this was quite different to most choice-based games, in the sense that you only really have to make decisions just for the survival of one person as opposed to a group of people, it was still engaging and tense, albeit a little less. The main character (Zanna) , was unlikable for the most parts of the game, especially towards the beginning where she came across as quite selfish and narcissistic, even when choosing the morally correct choices. This made me not particularly care if she lived or died, naturally to actually finish the game I made sure to keep her alive until then since if she died it would be game over, but if she was part of a group of characters we were controlling, I wouldn’t think even think twice about killing her off.
Naturally, it was a short game only taking around two hours to complete so there weren’t too many choices to be made, but the choices aren’t to be taken lightly, a decision which may seem unimportant could mean life or death for Zanna. Like most choice-based games, each choice led you down a different route, unlocking new locations, choices, and death scenes. There was also the option of picking between timed choices and paused ones, both of which allowing for different kinds of playthroughs, whether you want a tense and fast-paced experience, or a more relaxed one particularly if playing with friends.
It does have quite a bit of replayability which is always good for a game, I played through it twice and I absolutely would again just to see more of the scenery the beautiful Lake Garda, and Northern Italy has to offer.
