Silver Chains – Review dell’ennesimo survival horror

First-person survival horror is a genre that has begun to take hold thanks to the success of the famous Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

Since that now distant 2010, the year the title was released, there have been games on games that attempted to ride the growing wave of horror.

Few actually showed up worthy heirs, since for the most part it was mediocre games who merely emulated the original Amnesia with poor results.

In fact, we found ourselves in a market where survival horror lives on extreme between magnificent titles (such as the famous Alien: Isolation) and absolute mediocrity.

We can anticipate that too Silver chains attempted to follow one road already beaten, but will he have managed at the same time to propose something new and disturbing at the right point?

The adventure begins

The title opens with Peter, our protagonist, who has just destroyed his car by crashing into a tree. But as in any self-respecting horror, it is present a huge villa in the wood. Peter catches a glimpse of her and decides to go there for help.

Things, as you can well imagine, they do not go as expected and shortly thereafter we will have to face one scary adventure inside this villa. On the surface it may seem abandoned, but we will soon discover that we are not the only squatters at the moment.

This is how the story of Silver Chains begins, in the most classic of ways and in complete respect for clichés of gender.

An introduction of this type does not imply that the rest of the game is just as obvious, but unfortunately in this case we are faced with a plot that is not unpleasant, but is simply flat and lacking in originality.

What will be behind this door?

The central and fundamental mechanics of Silver Chains is exploration. To continue in the game we will have to carefully inspect the various areas of the villa in order to solve puzzles and small puzzles.

If on the one hand the exploration is pleasant, thanks to the disturbing and macabre atmosphere of the villa, on the other it results all too simple solve the puzzles.

We have rarely had to search for the solution to a puzzle for more than a few minutes and the challenge is practically nil.

As in many titles of this genre, we will not have with us no weapon to defend ourselves and the only way to avoid being killed is to hide.

The problem with this kind of mechanics is the feeling of outdated and outdated that transmits. Not that it is badly managed, but it inevitably turns out limited in 2019.

The spooky and terrifying mansion however, there remains a point in favor of this title, where there is no shortage of rooms and situations from goosebumps.

In addition, some jumpscare which we appreciated. They are never too invasive and have been inserted at the right times.

Unreal Engine 4 and interior design

The game engine is the Unreal Engine 4, which is very powerful in the hands of experienced developers. Unfortunately this is not the case where the potential of the EU4 is unleashed.

The texture layer and of the environments it definitely is enough, but they are absolutely not in step with the times. The lights on the other hand, they were certainly managed in a better way than the rest of the technical sector, given that also the framerate is dancer.

In addition, there are several bugs that have blocked the progression in the game, forcing us to use saves that were later in the story.

The machine the game was tested on was equipped with a RTX2060 but even by virtue of this, the title did not fail to have big framerate drops.

Nothing that made the title unplayable is ever clear, but with specifications of this type, you are not expected to have to go below 30 FPS.

Conclusions

Silver Chains is an insufficient title with major technical deficiencies. On its side it has a great atmosphere, moments that stand out for the level of restlessness and a pretty good soundtrack.

But all this is not enough to make up for the other (serious) shortcomings that this game suffers from. Recommended only if you are extremely fan of this genre of games, as Silver Chains can also be completed in a few hours.

Are you interested in survival horror? Why not check out our reviews of Resident Evil 2 Remake e Resident Evil 7?