Bedlam: The Game by Christopher Brookmyre

 PlayStation 4
Bedlam: The Game by Christopher Brookmyre Image
Metascore
53

Mixed or average reviews - based on 18 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
4.2

Generally unfavorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

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  • Summary: The game is based on the novel of the same name by award-winning author, Christopher Brookmyre, and sees the player take on the role of protagonist Heather Quinn as she negotiates a variety of levels, all of which reference classic games and genres of years gone by.

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Bedlam - Dossier on Dozers Trailer

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 12 out of 18
  3. Negative: 5 out of 18
  1. Twinfinite
    Oct 16, 2015
    80
    Bedlam is like a love letter to gaming’s history, and a relatively well-written one. By staying true to the idea of the game in which Quinn/Athena is trapped, it keeps itself well-centered.
  2. PlayStation LifeStyle
    Oct 13, 2015
    70
    Bedlam is undeniably an enjoyable kick for those who grew up in the ’80s and ’90s, surely drawing from personal experiences with the games it’s emulating. The eccentricities found in Brookmyre’s writing may work to alienate those merely passing through, but for those drawn in by the familiarity of its charming block graphics it’ll simply be an added bonus.
  3. GamesRadar+
    Oct 12, 2015
    60
    An ambitious and fascinating wander through gaming’s history, but one that can’t replicate the addictive gameplay of the forefathers it documents.
  4. TheSixthAxis
    Oct 12, 2015
    50
    In the end Bedlam has an interesting premise at its core and dialogue that will amuse for a while, but it gets same-y very quickly in each environment. Perhaps if the game started more quickly and had you hopping genres a little earlier in the game, it wouldn’t outstay its welcome quite so quickly. As it is, it can only really be recommended if the genre-hopping idea has you weak at the knees.
  5. God is a Geek
    Oct 12, 2015
    50
    A faux-retro shooter with an irreverent sense of humour, Bedlam is hard to recommend as anything other than a curio, despite its popular source material.
  6. COGconnected
    Oct 27, 2015
    43
    Although Bedlam has quite a few areas to improve on, what makes the game bearable is the story.
  7. Digitally Downloaded
    Oct 12, 2015
    40
    The one saving grace to Bedlam is that it doesn't take itself seriously. There's some nicely written self-referential humour in there. Sadly, Bedlam seems to think it is genuinely funny, rather than the actual joke, so some of the humour falls a bit flat in assuming that people want to play the game in the first place.

See all 18 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 3 out of 5
  1. axehero
    Mar 14, 2016
    8
    I really loved this game. A nod to nostalgia and witty voice over got me giggling. The game play is meant to be a bit clunky to reflect someI really loved this game. A nod to nostalgia and witty voice over got me giggling. The game play is meant to be a bit clunky to reflect some of those games experiences we all played from the past.… Expand
  2. GreenMachineG
    Dec 20, 2015
    5
    Bedlam is the kind of game you want to be amazing when you hear the idea for the game, but it is one that sadly disappoints. You areBedlam is the kind of game you want to be amazing when you hear the idea for the game, but it is one that sadly disappoints. You are transported from your normal life into a video game world you recall from your teenage years, and you move through several different worlds trying to figure out why you are there. Great concept. And the narration/dialogue is a lot of fun. Bedlam presents you with a nice nostalgia for what games used to be, and got me missing some old games, but the game feels bad and plays bad. I glitched the game over and over again by accidentally falling or getting stuck in walls more times than I could stand. As much as the old games are something that will always be in our hearts, Bedlam sadly gives a poor representation of how the games actually handled. I would probably recommend most people to avoid this games, but there is enough there where some might enjoy it.

    6.0/10    … Expand
  4. Allthat
    Feb 20, 2016
    2
    This is a boring buggy excuse for a game that claims to be a nostalgia trip. The level design is god awful, the voice acting is terrible andThis is a boring buggy excuse for a game that claims to be a nostalgia trip. The level design is god awful, the voice acting is terrible and the whole game is just very poorly made.… Expand
  5. kessler817
    Oct 27, 2020
    2
    Chapter 4 is where frame rates drop and the GPS aspect becomes a joke even on "Easy". If you're getting paid to play this game, give it a go.Chapter 4 is where frame rates drop and the GPS aspect becomes a joke even on "Easy". If you're getting paid to play this game, give it a go. Otherwise, save your money.… Expand
  6. LightNova
    Oct 21, 2019
    1
    This game had potential but it's ideas were so poorly executed that it became painful to play through.

    For a start, it poses as an FPS but    This game had potential but it's ideas were so poorly executed that it became painful to play through.

    For a start, it poses as an FPS but hides a ridiculous amount of platforming. You'll spend ages wandering around near-empty spaces thanks to poor signposting and making needlessly difficult jumps. Fall and you'll usually be forced to restart the level.

    Enemies are generic and usually snipe at you with ridiculous accuracy. Given there's no regenerating health/shield, sparse open areas and no cover system, you'll spend a lot of the game either trying to counter-snipe with inaccurate weapons or having your limited health chipped away as you try to outrun auto-aiming bots. It feels horrible to play, even before factoring the terrible gunplay. The 'retro' excuse doesn't hold water here as it continues to feel clunky even when you get to the more modern weapons later in the game.

    The guns handle like a 'my first FPS' Unity project, with weak feedback, finicky aiming and all the power of a flaccid noodle. If you're going to focus on being a shooter you *need* to get this right.

    While it's refreshing to hear a genuine Scottish accent playing a big part of the voice-over work, a lot of the voice acting was really poor (admittedly most notably from the supporting cast). The sound effects weren't much better when they weren't missing entirely.

    Without spoiling any plot points, the final boss tasks you with bouncing on a jump pad over and over while firing at an inanimate object. Not exactly the climax players would expect but is just uninspired as every other boss this game throws at you.

    The game is low budget and it shows; it's buggy and crashed to dashboard multiple times. One comically ironic level tasks the player with "finding the glitch" when the entire level is covered in disappearing tanks, NPCs glitching through buildings and walls hovering in the air.

    Steadfast Interactive may be a small studio but there's no excuse for the rookie mistakes on display here (e.g. defaulting to restarting the level on death instead of loading a more recent save and forcing the same long unskippable cutscenes on the player when they die). And with games like Undertale and Dust: an Elysian Tail being made by a single person, being a small team isn't much of a defence.

    I can't quite explain how much this felt like a test of endurance - the promise of progressing away from the clunky shooting never being met. You run around repetitive environments in the hope that it will all be worth it. Jump through bland platforming sections that over-stay their welcome just to see what it's all building to. Only to find it's all smoke and mirrors; it ends unceremoniously with a non-boss and cuts to credits without even closing the contrived story.    … Expand

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