A haunted walk through the smelling amusement park can surprise, entertaining and frightening at the same time. The park is ideal leisure for one autumn evening. [Issue#258]
While it may be short and lack replayability, Funcom have delivered a well-crafted and finely tuned psychological experience with The Park. The exceptional audio design helps to build a chilling and tense ambiance that will delight fans of The Secret World, while even newcomers can enjoy the chilling tale of one mother’s search for her son. A true psychological thriller that you'll want to play with the headphones on and the lights off.
For the price, game is great, but also a little short. You have to make sure you explore all areas and just doesn't run through the game. That way you will miss out on a lot of good references and story, and the game will be much shorter. And you might not understand what you are suppose to in the game. This is very important to enhance on the experience. Atmosphere is creepy and pretty, though there should be more areas to explore and more interactivity. Also it would be cool if you could die. All in all an 8/10 but I give it a 10/10 since some people here are rating it 1 because of stupid things like keyboard binding options.
The Park is an excellent 1.5hr romp, and I hope Funcom makes more games like it (preferably still set in the TSW universe).
I give the game a solid 9.5/10. No game is perfect, and The Park has some minor details that could have been improved upon. That being said, read on.
I don't normally review on Metacritic, but with the hordes of people not understanding the underlying reason for Lorraine's flitting between frantic mother and melancholy musing, I have to help my fellow humans out.
You'll notice throughout the game (provided you are wearing at least a decent set of headphones) that the audio quality of the dialog vs the narration is different. Dialog is affected by the environment (echoes et al), while narration isn't. Pro-tip: consider the fact that you're experiencing the game through Lorraine's eyes, and therefore her mental state.
Hopefully this little tidbit helps others see the well-crafted story, setting, and open-ended possibilities for what they are: brilliant--instead of assuming that it's disjointed or haphazard.
More protips: This is the team that brought us The Secret World, so remember that. Subtle-yet-chasmic-depth is their trademark. Every word in the dialog is chosen specifically. Blonde guy probably doesn't have two jobs. Pay attention to the book-cover descriptions. Think outside the box.
Where is your god now?
While the first half of The Park tends to lean a bit too hard into the horror tropes of a spooky carnival, the final act does a really great job of developing a character with the pathos that comes from being a mother who’s having a tough time dealing with the impossible stress that comes from being a parent. Sure, it’s some of the same ground that Silent Hill games have covered in the past, but that doesn’t diminish its effectiveness.
The silver lining of The Park's poor showing is that it could lead Funcom to try harder should it attempt subsequent single-player adventures. In the meantime however, The Park is one attraction you should definitely skip out on.
The Park has solid atmosphere and pretty good scares, but it also has an unremarkable heroine and an inconsequential plot. It might be a decent curiosity if you’re looking purely for the video game equivalent of a haunted house, but its high price and short length make it difficult to recommend.
Although the Park offers a respectable level design, it is failing on all other aspects. It ignores the story and gameplay rules of the horror titles, and the result is an experience that you can easily miss.
A fantastic psychological horror game. The devil is in the details. Taking in all cues is essential to understand and appreciate the game. Fantastic work from the devs@Funcom.
The technical aspect is perfect. Game runs well, and everything is nicely polished. Graphics and animations are great and the game world and objects are nicely placed and interesting.
The story on the other hand is quite bland, and the game length is much too short.
SummaryThe Park is a single-player horror experience developed by Funcom, set against the backdrop of an amusement park where a dark and sinister secret is just waiting to be uncovered.