Agony and Succubus may be treated differently, but they proved that the developers from Madmin Studio talented. And also anxious, crazy and possibly dangerous – a kind of collective Marilyn Manson from the gaming industry. That’s why I was waiting for their new horror. But I didn’t expect it to be of such quality..

Hello sister!

I’ll say right away that in Paranoid the Poles from Madmin Studio again they managed to do what they do best – create the most uncomfortable, unpleasant, even painful, but at the same time strangely fascinating atmosphere that arises, for example, when watching the video for Sweet Dreams by the same Manson.

And the plot itself Paranoid perfect for this. We play as 31-year-old paranoid Patrick Kalman, who lives in his own personal hell. After the mysterious and cruel death of his parents, his only close person was his sister Rachel, but she also suddenly disappeared for unknown reasons.

Since then, he talks mainly to voices in his head, and apparently leaves the house only for food and drink. cigarettes and medicines. I also talked with private detective Ortega and asked her to find Rachel, but nothing really worked out. And suddenly, 10 years after the disappearance, the sister calls Patrick and announces her return. He doesn’t believe it, but still decides to pull himself together and get to the pharmacy to get some medicine so that Rachel doesn’t find him in such a disorganized state.

Here she comes, like paranoia

It’s not easy to do this. The state of paranoid schizophrenic delusion in the game is conveyed convincingly. All the way we are accompanied by visual, sound and sometimes even semantic hallucinations. The sound ones are especially impressive – these insistent voices that constantly whisper something like “We control you, it’s useless to resist, you need to run, don’t listen to anyone but us.”. And Patrick periodically argues with them.

The protagonist also sees a strange man with the face of a creepy insect – he promises to help, tell the truth and asks in return to cut out someone’s heart. And shadows suddenly come to life and begin to attack or simply dissolve into thin air. People turn into monsters before our eyes, and vice versa. And suddenly tentacles jump out of the washer and pull Patrick inside. Entering a pharmacy, he can find himself in a strange dimension, exit in a completely different building, fall into the sewer and emerge in… his own bathroom.

Add to this strange TV programs https://sisalcasino.co.uk/login/ (very well filmed, by the way), which you can even watch the entire game in Patrick’s apartment; notes; his own thoughts on conspiracy theories and how people are spied on by… cockroaches. And you will get such a convincing atmosphere that you will again, as in Agony And Succubus, you believe in this world and feel like you’re in hell – only this time it’s in the hero’s head. Case in point: while playing with headphones at night, I kept turning around as the voices in Patrick’s head whispered: "Turn Around". And he turned around not only in the game, but also in his own room..

Naturally, erotic series are also shown on TV – how could it be otherwise for the authors of Agony and Succubus??

What was that?

Perhaps this is all connected with the pandemic of a strange virus and isolation, which is directly hinted at in the game? It’s not for nothing that people in chemical protection walk along the streets here and spray something, and there are masks lying around. Patrick’s brain was devoured by Covid or he just stayed indoors for too long? No answer. And this is one of the main problems of the plot and the entire game: it is short (about an hour and a half to two) and is interrupted mid-sentence, leaving us bewildered.

At first it seems that this is a psychological thriller, actively mixing mysticism with socialism – talented Polish developers from Harvester Games, by Downfall and The Cat Lady . Moreover, in Paranoid there are hints of problems in the family, and of children’s complexes, and of a difficult relationship with his father… But in the end, everything is outweighed by banalities about yet another experiments with genes and “holy blood”. Okay, even so, but give at least some clear explanation of what is happening, what kind of experiments, for whom, for what..

Of course, you can guess for yourself. You can also find notes (from the same Ortega, for example), which shed at least some light on what is happening. And even open the second ending in hopes of finding answers. True, it does not bring much clarity. Moreover, when I first tried to beat the game for this very second ending, I ended up frozen – the character found himself between textures in a city where houses were hanging in the air, and he was endlessly falling somewhere. Or is this another visual glitch by Patrick?? Or in my own? In general, complete paranoia – and a very symbolic situation for the entire game.

Small, primitive and crooked

Much the same can be said about the gameplay. There is an atmosphere and potential, but there is no feeling of completion and the feeling that everything has been brought to mind. Basically most of all Paranoid similar to Condemned: Criminal Origins, a cult horror game from Monolith, – we fight a lot and often in close combat, using everything that is bad, including boards, hammers, bats, and so on. The weapon breaks down. There are blocks, dodges and brutal finishing moves, sometimes reminiscent of Manhunt .

Often you have to act secretly in order to sneak past strong enemies (like guys in chemical protection) or quickly knock out the enemy from behind. But the stealth is simple and implemented crookedly – often enemies do not notice how the player literally knocks out someone right under their noses. And next time they can react quite quickly.

There are puzzles, but they are also simple and familiar – spin the mannequins so that they look and point in one direction; stand so that the yellow visual lines form one picture and show a secret passage; find the code to the safe. Sometimes the clues are not just under your nose, but written in huge numbers on the wall – apparently, the authors considered Patrick (and with him the player) not only paranoid, but also a fool..

All this is served in small doses and is periodically accompanied by technical problems. It’s unclear why the sanity indicator was introduced and doesn’t really work. And the theme of tits, branded for games Madmind, not revealed – they are there, but they do not provide aesthetic pleasure.

In general, Paranoid is not about gameplay – this is what I’m into in games Madmind used to it. As well as the fact that they are poorly optimized and are accompanied by bugs of varying severity. This is again a game about story and atmosphere. But this time, not everything is fine. The story is so short and indistinct that not only audio and visual hallucinations arise, but also semantic hallucinations: this is generally the full version or a demo? One gets the feeling that the authors simply released an unfinished game, the potential of which is actually many times greater.

Pros: a convincingly conveyed atmosphere of paranoia; good job with sound and music.

Cons: the game is too short and the story stops mid-sentence; poor optimization and bugs; unfinished gameplay and simple puzzles.