A Hell of Solitude
In some religions, the concept of hell isn’t a place with demons giving you endless torment, burning fires, or a river of blood with swimming corpses. Instead, it’s the concept that hell is of being completely alone, in a place without any loved ones, strangers, or connection with a god.
In the horror genre, walking through a space that is completely empty, but in normal life should be teeming with people, is a very scary prospect. That is the main focal point and design for the Brazilian psychological horror game, Prison Alone.
This is a game that promises the horror you experience will be in your head, rather than on your screen.
Echoes in Empty Halls
There’s a story here in Prison Alone, told minimally through actions and visuals rather than via any long cutscenes or exposition. Basically, a prison has recently been emptied after a series of mysterious disappearances, and you play as a prisoner who bribed a guard to be left behind after the evacuation. The reasoning is that you can now calmly escape from the prison, but things don’t go as smoothly as you’d like, and the ever-creeping horror of the situation becomes a dreadful experience.
I liked the original setup of the game, and the narrative snippets delivered through the gameplay moments are a nice touch. They prompt many questions about what might have happened, which you piece together through both written and visual clues. There are some nice easter eggs to uncover too, in terms of achievements as well, such as finding a cell with a Shawshank Redemption reference, complete with a Rita Hayworth poster on the wall.
First-Person Frustration
The gameplay is all about first-person exploration. There are no weapons to collect or any combat at all in Prison Alone; it is all about your wits and some puzzle-solving. Exploration through the prison is deliberately confusing and dark at times, so you will inevitably get lost. You might double back through a route only to find a bin suddenly blocking the way. It’s quite disturbing and very disorienting at times.
What you can be sure of is that you will spend a lot of time searching for keys to everything, from different cells and cell blocks to specific items. You need to move around and explore every nook and cranny to find these items, and the game makes it tough for you, mostly as it’s very dimly lit and everything looks much the same. There is some puzzling to be done, but it doesn’t feature complicated challenges in the vein of games like Resident Evil; however, what is there does a solid job.
No Jump Scares, All Tension
One of the selling points of Prison Alone is that it has no jump scares, which differentiates it from many similar games in the genre. But don’t think for one minute that will mean it doesn’t have a tense atmosphere. Even with this knowledge, you will constantly feel as if something is going to happen around every corner or that something is out to get you.
The only thing that may take you out of those vibes is that the pacing can get a bit samey at times, and you might feel that the environments become too familiar. However, Prison Alone is a short game that can be completed in under an hour – at least if you have good directional skills.
This is a game where the lighting is intentionally dark, a choice by the developers to keep you guessing where you are and what direction to go in. The secrets you find dotted around the game are great, and I like the design choices for the prison layout.
The sound design is excellent too, creating an amazing sense of dread and foreboding throughout the journey. You can hear things that sound like they are right behind you, but when you turn, there is nothing there. During my playthrough of Prison Alone, it made me feel very uneasy, and that’s always a good thing in a horror game.
A Tense Dive into Psychological Horror
Prison Alone won’t take you long to complete, but you will have a good time doing it, aided by the added advantage of being an inexpensive experience.
If you like your horror games fast-paced with jump scares and fighting monsters with a crowbar, then you will be a bit disappointed by Prison Alone. But if you prefer your scares to be more slow-burning, tense affairs, with a narrative slowly unravelling before your eyes, then Prison Alone will be able to deliver.
Important Links
Short and Scary: Prison Alone Launches on Xbox, PlayStation and Switch! – https://www.thexboxhub.com/short-and-scary-prison-alone-launches-on-xbox-playstation-and-switch/
Buy Prison Alone on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/prison-alone/9nv7fv2x677r
