The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation

About The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation

The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation is a first-person horror game from the Taiwanese studio Softstar Entertainment. It came out on Steam in August 2022, and Eastasiasoft brought it to PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S and Nintendo Switch on 30 August 2023. It adapts a horror film built on one of Taiwan's well-known college ghost stories: a female ghost said to have lingered on a bridge at Tunghu University for decades. The legend says that if you climb the bridge's 13 steps at midnight and find a 14th, the ghost will curse or kill you.

Six students set out to film the legend at night, with props and a livestream, and stumble into the curse. You switch between them as the night goes on and learn the backstory piece by piece. The story is told in a cinematic style, and the console versions add English voiceovers alongside the Chinese voice track.

The game is about stealth. The ghost trails you through classrooms, offices and campus paths, and you cannot fight her. You can crouch and walk slowly, watch your surroundings, pick a route and hide in spots such as toilet cubicles, lockers and portable toilets until she moves on. Items and information you collect go into puzzles, such as decoding a document to match books or finding a padlock code on a periodic table, and into the ritual that works toward breaking the curse.

The ghost herself is the main fear: a long-haired woman in a ragged dress, with blackened hands and long clawed fingers that reach for you out of the dark. Expect jump scares. Steam lists frequent violence or gore, and the ESRB rating lists blood and gore, intense violence, partial nudity, crude humour and strong language. The makers pitch it as fear, anxiety and laughter, so there are lighter moments between the scares.

Reviewers liked the puzzles and the tense chase near the end, but found some item fetching tedious, some chases a matter of trial and error, and the acting and English dub uneven. It is rated Very Positive on Steam.

The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication is a later, separate story set at another university with four new characters, more puzzles and several ghosts. This first game is the one built on the bridge legend itself, and it suits players who like Asian ghost stories and hiding from a single relentless hunter.

How to play The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation

1. Follow each student as the story hands control from one to the next.
2. Explore the campus and collect key items and information about the curse; your phone holds what you carry.
3. When the ghost appears, crouch, move slowly and get out of her sight, or use a hiding spot until she moves on.
4. Plan your route through each area before you set off, so you are not caught in the open.
5. Use what you have found to solve the puzzles and complete the ritual that works toward breaking the curse.

Tips

• Learn where the hiding places are early in each area: toilet cubicles, lockers and portable toilets all work.
• Read every note and document you pick up; some puzzles, such as padlock codes, take their answers from them.
• Do not rush; a careful route is safer than a fast one when the ghost is near.
• If a chase keeps catching you, try a different route next time; some sequences take a few attempts.

Questions