Children have always been a staple of the horror genre. Whether it’s a possessed child or twins at the bottom of a hallway, the innocence of youth is always an unsettling theme. This time, though, the child is the protagonist. Sophie is a young girl being held against her will, with only her teddy bear as her comfort. Out of Sight is an upcoming horror from The Gang. It’s focus is on the psychological, offering an interesting mechanic that blends first and second-person perspectives as you try to understand why you’re trapped in a creepy house.
While I only got to play a few hours of Out of Sight, I was impressed with what I saw. It reminds me of Little Nightmares and Limbo. Creepy, unsettling, and anxiety-inducing. Sophie can’t see. Her eyes are covered by a blindfold, and for some reason she doesn’t take it off. Her only way of seeing anything is through the eyes of her teddy. Each area of the mansion is littered with things to walk into or tread on that makes noise, alerting the two weird guardians of the girl.
With the bear in your arms, Sophie holds it in front of her and everything is seen from a first-person perspective. Those items hanging from string and mouse traps can be seen. Not only that, there are environmental puzzles in every room which require you to sit down your bear on a specific purple blanket. Once placed, the camera cuts to another perspective that allows you to see Sophie move around the environment and try to find a certain power switch to pull or moveable box to push.
Some interesting environmental puzzles
These puzzles in Out of Sight start off pretty basic. One had me place the bear on a blanket then push a lever to move it up a stairlift-type contraption. By doing this, the viewpoint changed allowing me to see more things for Sophie to interact with. It’s a mechanic that works really well, and puts a lot of faith in her bear. This plays into the deeper themes about being a child and finding friends in toys or cuddly bears. We all had that comfort when we were younger. They felt real, and they were someone to confide in without any argument or fight back.
Just when you think you know what’s happening, Out of Sight adds new scenarios or moments that play out differently that what you’re used to. In one particular section, I was being chased by the chubby man who lives in the house. He grabbed the bear as I ran off in front of him, being guided by his viewpoint. It was clever, and it made me ask myself what other possibilities there are. Later in the preview I was able to unlock a new ability that allowed the bear to use some kind of supernatural power to break metal locks off of doors and containers.
These supernatural forces play a bigger role in the story. Although I don’t know much at this point, there were other children in this mansion that may very well have accepted the fate I was trying to run away from. Are they the ghosts of those that weren’t so lucky or something more? Whatever the hell is going on, I can’t wait to find out more. I say this all the time, but when games try something new, whether through its story or refreshing mechanics, it makes them stand out both within the video game medium and inside my head.
Out of Sight is unsettling. The narrative made me feel uncomfortable, and learning about the sad history of the house only made me want Sophie to get away even more. The environmental puzzles are clever, and while not particularly challenging, they do enough to keep you wanting to play more. Pressure plates and loss of power are familiar tropes within the horror genre, but it is the need to unravel the mysteries that kept me hooked. It’s visually unsettling as it is beautiful, and it’s one game I can’t wait to play more of when the time comes.
Out of Sight is coming to PC via Steam on May 22nd.
