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Silenced: The House | PC Review

Silenced: The House is a gruesome, modern-day visual novel by Graven Visual Novels. I was looking on Steam for a game to play one Saturday night and Silenced immediately caught my eye. It wasn’t the promise of horror, because I have fallen for empty promises before. It was the image of the raggedy doll with only one eye and the quote “Her button eyes pierced us through, as if staring at our souls” that drew me in, wanting to see more.

silencedAs with many typical horror stories, a group of teens head to an abandoned house to hang out. There are the stereotypical hormonally charged males, sassy females, and your character, Ashly, who is troubled, brooding, and mysterious. Ashly is a vigilante of sorts, sacrificing the sinners to the trapped, tortured souls in order to atone for her undisclosed sins. She is guided by a maniacal, unnamed spirit, only referenced to as “Her.”  With each turn of the page you start to learn the dark pasts of each teen, realizing none of them are who they seemed to be.

Horror Creeping Down Your Spinesilenced

Although there are multiple outcomes, I only experienced two, and the prompts to make decisions are minimal. The game should have had more opportunities to influence the narrative or perhaps given control over the order in which each teen is sacrificed. The soundtrack is haunting and I really enjoyed the harder “rock” feel in some segments of the game, but you’ll notice the songs looping quite a bit. Additionally, the transitions from one segment of the game to another is a little jarring.

None of these technical imperfections prevent me from recommending this game. The storyline is solid and genuinely creeped me out more than any horror film or game experience in quite some time. The sins and deaths of each character are described in horrific detail, and the reveal at the end of my gameplay was quite a shock to me. If you want to be creeped out and have the chance to bring justice to the world in a disturbing way, then you need to check this game out.

 

This review is based of of a PC review copy provided by Graven Visual Novels for coverage purposes.

Silenced: The House

$1.99
7

The Final Verdict

7.0/10

Pros

  • Great Art
  • Creepy Atmosphere

Cons

  • Limited Choices
  • Repetitive Soundtrack
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Kristina Flores

Kristina has been drawn to electronics from the age of four when she would tag along and watch her mother work at IBM. She seized any opportunity she had to play computer games at the babysitter’s or play NES or Sega over family holidays. Christmas of 1993 she was given her own NES, and that’s when she was truly drawn into the gaming universe. She spent countless hours playing “The Legend of Zelda” with her grandpa and mother. This offered a bonding experience that continues with her own children to their children. Kristina comes to The Gaming Outsider with technical skills to keep both the podcast and the website running smoothly. Without a second thought, she joined The GO Crew because of her passion to see the show continue providing a positive, fun, and interactive community. When Kristina isn’t editing sound files or managing the website, she works as an Agile Product Owner for a medical software company and is finishing her Bachelor’s of Computer Science degree with the focus on computer programming. She has six incredible children, loves reading, singing, binge-watching shows and movies, gaming and playing the piano.

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