Review for Devil’s Hideout

Devil’s Hideout features skillfully-sculpted components – disconcertingly vivid pixel art, creepy sounds, chilling background music, and tension-filled voice-acting – all of which are meant to infuse a story of sisterly affection and kinship with abject terror. The developers at Cosmic Void have brilliantly succeeded at creating an atmosphere of dread, yet they toned it down just enough so that players who aren’t appreciative of constant, over-the-top horror can play without triggering nightmares. Although the game would benefit from a task list and there was one particularly difficult mini-game, the facile interface makes it easy to become absorbed in the narrative when playing Devil’s Hideout. 

The protagonist, Lauren, discovers that her ten-year-old sister Beth is in strange, oddly threatening circumstances involving a devilish cult. The chronicle begins at a hospital where Beth had been a patient, which is now eerily silent and seemingly deserted. This frightening premise sparks a tale that builds slowly and relentlessly.

The pixel-art graphics make the environment seem benign at first, but soon fear stealthily invades the experience with a sneak attack. The dark, gloomy hospital garage is a prime spot for startling jump scares. My favorite location, the nearby field, reveals verdant, bright greens with mountains in the distance, backed by reddish clouds below glimmering stars. The unexpected inhabitant of this otherworldly realm shocks all who meet him. Devil’s Hideout uses its minimal animation well. At one point, I stifled a scream as I watched a crucified man writhing on his cross. 

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The musical background works in tandem with the graphics and animation to enhance players' trepidation. The relentless beat of the title track stokes anxiety, and an uncanny electronic soundscape provides frequent accompaniment. The actors do a very commendable job of communicating the emotional state of their characters. In particular, players feel Lauren's love for Beth through her excellently voiced dialogs.

It’s this love for her young sister that bolsters Lauren’s courage and compels her to undergo many challenges that she needs the player’s help to complete. The puzzles are well-constructed and advance the narrative. Using tobacco to track a person in an unconventional manner was particularly creative. I also had a fine time playing blackjack, for which the procedures are easy to master. One difficult mini-game, which involves clicking lights in a pattern, was extremely frustrating. Other than this one exception, however, the puzzles make sense and solving them delivers a sense of accomplishment.

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During gameplay the interface seamlessly ensnares the player in the tale’s terrifying web. Left-clicking on hotspots activates them. Clicking on a character starts a passive conversation. (Players aren’t able to choose topics.) Collecting items is as simple as left clicking on them, which puts them in a bag. Using them requires hovering the cursor over the bag in the bottom-left corner, clicking on an object, and finally clicking on the area of interest where it is to be put to use. The options button gives access to many settings – including the volume of music and sound effects – and saving and loading the game is simple.

Players’ hands may shake slightly on the mouse as they manipulate the point-and-click interface, experiencing frissons caused by jump scares and solving puzzles that are well-suited to this dread-inducing tale. However, none of the horror elements provide extreme nightmare fuel, and they assist in making the ending satisfying. We can highly recommend Devil’s Hideout.