Paradise Lost
Szymon says investigate the bunker
Winter. It’s always winter. In this alternate history adventure game, the year is 1980 on an Earth that saw no victor in World War II. Szymon, a young boy left alone with no option but to venture out into a nuclear winter, explores an abandoned Nazi bunker. What follows is an exploration-focussed experience that pulls few punches in following threads from history to a speculative fiction conclusion.
As you venture into the pitch-black bunker with nothing but your trusty lighter for company and illumination, there is an undeniable sense of tension. However, once you get the power back on, it’s clear that whatever monsters lurked down here once are now long gone, and all you’re left with are reams of their missives to read through. A desire to excavate the full story through longforgotten possessions and dialogue choices will draw you much deeper, though it’ll be in spite of the title’s noticeably rougher edges.
GONE TO GROUND
As young Szymon struggles to scramble up chilly platforms and onto abandoned trains, the first-person character animation effectively emphasises not only his youth but the scope of the environment. This bunker’s not so much a hole in the ground as a virtual mine, it stretches so deep into the earth.
Unfortunately, the early exploration also includes flashbacks featuring awkward character animation that does its darndest to draw your attention away from beautifully presented environments. The awkward angles of the game’s presentation extend to Szymon himself – your protagonist’s voice acting is decidedly uneven, in particular. Regular two-part controller prompts for pulling levers, opening doors, and rootling through drawers further take you out of the experience. These are clearly designed to add just a little more immersive interaction but ultimately feel arbitrary in execution.
It’s still an underground tour worth taking but there’s no escaping the areas where the project’s ambition is overreaching. Stick with it and you’ll shake the dust off of a subterranean story that grapples with difficult legacies aplenty, and even pull a compelling final choice out of the bag that we’re still mentally turning over. Yes, you’ll be squinting at poorly implemented subtitles as it unfolds but by the time the credits roll, the rough edges will be far from your mind.