True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

About True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1 is the first episode of a trilogy by Goblinz Enterprises, published by The Digital Lounge. It came out on Steam for Windows and Mac in October 2016, on PlayStation 4 in February 2018, on Switch in October 2018 and on Xbox in February 2022, and it is also sold on GOG, the App Store and Google Play.

You play Holly Stonehouse. A letter from your estranged sister Heather promises the truth about the two of you and your long-dead mother, and the trail leads to a fog-bound street and a house whose rusted door has not been opened in years, with candles burning in every window. From there you go on to your mother's manor and to Dark Falls Asylum, whose letters invite you to visit about a patient called Dahlia S.

It plays as a first-person point-and-click adventure. You move from scene to scene, examine each one for items, carry them to where they fit and solve more than twenty puzzles, among them a music box of toy knights and a gargoyle statue in a graveyard. A map lets you travel quickly between places, and a journal keeps the story and the clues. The hidden-object scenes are confined areas holding everything you need for one puzzle, and you can play the game with or without them. A doll with red eyes sits in the corner and gives hints. There are three difficulty levels; the hardest takes away hints and fast travel.

What sets it apart from most hidden-object adventures is how much it tries to frighten. Rooms are lit dimly in greens and browns, cut-scenes carry the story, and jump scares sit beside quieter tricks, such as making you turn on the light in a room you think you already know. Jayisgames called it genuinely frightening, while noting that the journal gives away solutions rather than clues. Expect bloodstained beds and photographs, and story themes that touch on child abuse and suicide.

A first run takes about four hours, a little more with the bonus chapter from the Collector's Edition that the Steam version includes, along with the strategy guide, wallpapers and extra cut-scenes. It suits players who want a slow, story-led horror puzzle game, and the story goes on in Parts 2 and 3. On phones it is free to start, with one purchase to unlock the rest.

How to play True Fear: Forsaken Souls Part 1

1. Get it on Steam, GOG, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch, or start free on the App Store or Google Play and buy the rest of the game inside it.
2. Set the brightness at the start and pick one of the three difficulty levels.
3. Explore each scene with the mouse, controller or touch, and pick up anything you can take.
4. Use and combine items where they fit, and solve the puzzles that bar your way.
5. Play the hidden-object scenes, or switch them off, and read the notes and journal to follow the story to the end of the episode.

Tips

• Take time over the brightness setting at the start: the game relies on dark rooms and shadows, and too bright a picture flattens them.
• The doll in the corner gives hints; on the hardest difficulty there are none and no fast travel, which makes moving between rooms slow.
• Read the letters, diaries and journal: they carry most of the story, and the journal even writes out puzzle solutions if you are stuck.
• Look for the collectible figurines as you go; they add backstory and count toward achievements.
• Play with the lights off and the sound up, as reviewers suggest, for the full effect of the jump scares.

Questions