System: Valve Index, HTC Vive & Oculus Rift
Price at Time Of Review: £2.99
Comfort Rating: Red (Extreme Movement)
Genre: Horror
Input: Tracked Motion Controllers
Best Playing Position: Sitting
Multi-Player: No
Age Rating: 18+
Description: Marlene is a tense and immersive psychological horror story in which you star as the protagonist Ewan Brody. Ewan is on his way to visit his estranged sister at her remote cottage after hearing the news that his Niece Marlene has gone missing or possibly something worse! As you uncover the mystery by completing environmental tasks and puzzle solving you are relentlessly pursued by a mysterious figure who’s motives are unclear. Enter an interactive horror story that immerses the player in its supernatural setting and piece together what has been happening around the estranged family.
Now playable without a VR headset. Joypad or mouse/keyboard support. Built for VR as a room-scale experience for the HTC Vive & Oculus Touch. Environmental tasks, puzzle-solving and object manipulation. Psychological horror visual and audio elements *Headphones are advised for the best audio experience. Marlene is an indie game produced & developed solely by one individual with a goal to bring an 80’s horror movie vibe to VR and PC gamers.
Review: You play the role of Ewan and upon learning the news that your estranged sister has gone missing you set out to find her and hopefully bring her back home. But of course, she hasn’t gone missing in a brightly light theme park or somewhere nice, it just happens to be a creepy looking abandoned house with a back figure following you who seems to be keeping a very firm eye on what you are getting up to.
Played using the controller, right from the off you will realise that this isn’t a game for people who get easily frustrated. There are no tips and things that you need are often very well hidden around the rooms and locations meaning you really do have to look long and hard before moving onto the next room. And while you keep looking for things and solving puzzles there are jump scares and that strange dark figure always lurking by which keeps the tension levels high the whole time.
While a little basic in design and looks Marlene Betwixt is still a creepy horror that will make your hairs stand on end now and again. It’s not the biggest of horror adventures but with the promise of more storyline to come it might be worth getting it just to see where the developer goes with it. Just be warned that this is a very nauseating game that doesn’t hold your hand meaning it will test both your brain and stomach at the same time.
