In Alterity Experience we will have to protect our house from an invasion of aliens and discover what relationship this has with our family
The alien theme is a very recurring theme in movies, books or video games. The human being’s fear of what is in space, or if a life from another planet could invade ours, has given rise to cinematographic works such as Alien the Eighth Passenger, or video games ranging from Space Invaders to Destroy All Humans. . Alterity Experience by ONITRON Studio and Dolores Entertainment is a new exponent of this type of game, and is highly reminiscent of other works such as Shyamalan’s Signs. We will see if this game is worth it or, on the contrary, not, stay to know everything.
Home alone, and with aliens
The title story begins with our protagonist, Anton Cornwell, in his office, with many newspaper clippings talking about UFO sightings, as well as a completely purple corn marsh from his crop for some strange reason. His entire family leaves the house as they go to the movies, but he stays to investigate what the hell is going on with his cultivation and UFO sightings. While we are in our office, we hear a car noise and we think it is our wife and children who have forgotten something, but no, it is a strange being trying to enter the house. Here our adventure will begin where we will have to find out what is happening, and making sure that no stranger enters the house. The story is not bad and is followed with expectation, but its ending is very abrupt, and the character development is very flat.
Keys and home automation
Our adventure will be based exclusively on going around the house reading documents and solving puzzles, which are mostly finding a key that opens a locked area of the house, therefore we are closer to a Walking Simulator than an action game or adventure. Although there is also room for more hectic moments. On some occasions the aliens will try to enter the house so we must avoid it. This gives rise to a very interesting but little-exploited mechanism, and that is the use of home automation in our home. And it is that through our mobile we can control the doors and windows of our home, therefore preventing our enemies from entering our house.
This mechanism is very simple, on our mobile we are shown the window or door through which they are trying to enter, and we must select it to close it. The use of home automation is interesting since it could give very funny situations in the game, but it is not the case, since it is limited to closing and opening windows or doors. It could have been used in riddles, with the use of light, television, volume, to give a few examples. What’s more, this mechanic is totally dispensable, since you can play the game without any complications without using it, and closing the windows and doors manually. The game even rewards you with an achievement if you complete the game without using this mechanic, which is very simple.
Shadows and many lights
Alterity Experience does not look bad graphically. The game uses Unreal Engine 4 and on Xbos Series X, as you can see in the images that accompany this analysis, the title looks good. The scenes are well recreated and the models of the objects are well made, but there is a point that tarnishes the rest, the use of lights. The lights make the game look really blurry, since the brightness of the title is too high, and it does not allow to see some elements of the stage. There is an option to lower the brightness, but this problem is not fixed even by lowering this brightness to the minimum. Due to this problem, I could not complete the ending of the title, since some symbols necessary to complete the game could not be seen. In order to complete the title I had to lower the brightness of my television almost to a minimum.
The sound aspect is correct without more, the sound performances are a bit mediocre (these are interpreted in English, although audio and documents are translated into Spanish) and the ambient sound is well done, causing some tension in the player. Although a negative point is that Alterity Experience does not have background music. It is true that sometimes it makes the title more tense, as everything is silent, but when you have been playing for 40 minutes and it hasn’t passed and everything is silent, the tension turns into monotony and boredom.
Alterity Experience conclusions
Alterity Experience is a Walking Simulator that stays at half throttle. It has very interesting but not exploited ideas and a very abrupt ending that tarnishes an interesting story.. Lovers of the genre may like it, or players who love short titles (lasts between an hour and a half or two). If some interesting mechanics such as home automation had been further developed or the story had been worked on more, we would be talking about a good game. The bugs and graphical glitches don’t help this ONITRON Studio and Dolores Entertainment game to be a recommendable title either.
Alterity Experience
9.99€
Pros
- good setting
- Translated to Spanish
- The story is interesting…
Cons
- …. although it ends very abruptly
- Mechanics such as home automation are totally wasted
- Bugs and graphical glitches everywhere