Bite-sized Review:
Edge of Sanity

By Chris Picone, 21 September 2024

Edge of Sanity is a new Lovecraft-inspired sidescrolling adventure game by Vixa Games.  You must survive in a resource-scare environment where experiments have gotten loose and you're faced with eldritch horrors at every turn. It's narrative-driven, features plenty of action, and it's great to look at.

Aesthetics

Edge of Sanity is suitably dark and gloomy, with lights regularly failing and a gas lantern frequently required to light the way.  It's a fairly common mechanic these days but still adds a nice spot of tension - it burns through gas fairly quickly, a commodity that isn't easy to come by.  Everything has a lovely cartoony quality to it, with just the right amount of detail to bring every scene to life. It's a great looking game that gets the mood right. 

Gameplay

The core gameplay's much the same as any sidescroller - walk to the right, then keep walking.  You'll be taken on a journey through forests and caves  to different science outposts and laboratories. You get to explore each location though - you'll frequently be required to search through a number of rooms to find access cards or other items that'll help you progress.  The odd puzzle features; usually something simple like trying to work out a code by paying attention to your surroundings.  You'll face demons (sorry - eldritch horrors) along the way, and these require a range of strategies to defeat or bypass - some monsters can be stunned or distracted by throwing rocks. Others you can simply creep pass, while others you'll be forced to run from. Your primary objective is to survive, but of course you'll meet other survivors and unravel the story along the way. You'll occasionally have to make a difficult decision such as whether or not to rescue a test subject.  Leaving a potential survivor will eat at you but if you unlock him and he's already lost his mind you will have unleashed a fresh danger on the world.  And, since it's Lovecraft-inspired, every time you face some sort of trauma you also gain a "trauma perk" (which of course come with drawbacks). 

Verdict

Fans of sidescrolling adventure games will get exactly what they're expecting with this title.  It looks great, has an interesting story, it's written well, the locations and the horrors are memorable. It doesn't break any new ground but it's very decent. 

Links: 

https://store.steampowered.com/app/1897110/Edge_of_Sanity/