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Death is the only way to beat the game - Anglerfish Review

2K View2022-11-18

Anglerfish is a horrifying yet mildly hilarious survival horror game. It’s one of the few games I’ve encountered with a mechanic that required me to die to progress, which definitely felt a little weird to get used to. But weirdness and unexpected scenarios provided a unique touch that made the game incredibly enjoyable.

The story of Anglerfish starts with a group celebrating a friend’s upcoming wedding by holding a bachelor party at a local bar, the titular Anglerfish. On their way to the party, the group makes a friendly bet to see who will be the best man at the wedding by drinking and socializing with others. However, by the end of the night, this entire group of friends will be dead. See, Anglerfish might seem like a typical bar, but it’s secretly an ancient den of vampires thirsty for blood.

This secret is revealed in a brutal fashion. I got to choose one of these friends to control and interact with characters in the bar. When the clock struck midnight and the denizens of Anglerfish turned into vampires, though, it caught me completely off guard and scared the absolute hell out of me. It should be noted that aside from the beginning of the game and small bits of interaction with characters throughout, the narrative here isn’t presented in a very straightforward manner. It took a lot of piecing together to make sense of all the chaos that happened along this scary journey.

Perhaps in part due to the story being a puzzle, playing through Anglerfish was never boring. The game constantly surprised me and regularly shocked me with terrifying jump scares and challenging gameplay. It also features oddly hilarious moments that cut through the tension.

Though Anglerfish can be scary, I wasn’t defenseless. My character came equipped with a shotgun with infinite bullets to use for eliminating vampires. This weaponry was necessary for survival while diving deeper into the bar and uncovering the horrifying truth about this place. The game placed me in scenarios where I needed to either solve a puzzle or simply slay a bunch of vampires to progress.

However, the main objective was to defeat the leader of these vampires and find the key that would allow me to escape. Although that might sound pretty straightforward, I struggled immensely to beat the game and died more times than I can count. Not that I’d admit to that shameful number anyways.

Dying changes elements within the game, making progressing through either easier or more difficult depending on how often I died. If I died too frequently, the game would give me upgrades that’d affect my weapon or character and instantly kill vampires. Sometimes when I died too much, the game would automatically solve puzzles for me—and if I was doing too well, which didn’t happen often, Anglerfish would spawn in mobs of vampires or make some areas increasingly harder to explore.

This roguelite approach provides a lot of unexpected twists that added to the game’s entertaining and surprisingly lighthearted atmosphere. For example, I was able to consume drinks in the bar that would apply game-changing effects for the entire run. One of these beverages made all the skeletons in the vampire dungeon smile, which got me grinning right back. Little touches like this made every run feel special.

I can be a bit hesitant to embrace survival horror games due to the creepiness factor, but playing Anglerfish was actually a pleasant experience. It certainly has scary moments, but not so many that the fear of nightmares alone got in the way of me completing the game. I may have had to die tons to make my way through this bloody scenario, but it was still the ideal mix of amusement, thrills, and action.

SCORE: 4 STARS OUT OF 5

PLAY IF YOU LIKE:

• Vampires. If you genuinely enjoy vampire games or kicking these blood-sucking creatures' butts, then you’ll likely love Anglerfish.

• Until Dawn. If you enjoy horror games with multiple scenario outcomes, like Until Dawn, you might enjoy Anglerfish for the same thing.

💬 If you only had one weapon to kill a vampire, what would it be and why?

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