MADiSON Review – Horror Done Right

Developer Bloodious Games has released their horror game MADiSON upon the masses. Is the game timid and mild, or should you be afraid of playing it in the dark?

Read on to find out.

 

Horror games are a dime a dozen, and often are more gory and dark than scary. The last great horror game was actually just a demo, and P.T. did a great job all the way around. MADiSON looks to meet that high bar, and may have cleared it by several feet.


MADiSON Review – A Horror Story Done Right

A horror based video game can only be as good as its story, and MADiSON doesn’t disappoint. The story opens up in a dark and mangy looking room and right away you realize that the game isn’t going to hold your hand and walk you through anything. This isn’t your standard point-and-click adventure, but instead it’s a deeply told story, with minimal help, that you’ll have to figure your way through. The storyline includes all of the great horror based stuff like severed limbs, bleeding angels, and even what might be satanic rituals.

Developer Bloodious Games did a great job of having dual storylines going at once. On one bloody hand you have Luca, the main protagonist that you control, who is trying to figure what actually happened within the confines of their grandfather’s house. On the other hand you have the storyline of the game’s namesake MADiSON, an infamous serial killer. The story is told through notes and lost cassette tapes that you’ll find lying around, and these can also be key to figuring out what you need to do next.

 

MADiSON Review – A Snapshot of terror

As you play through MADiSON, you’ll find an old Polaroid camera (an instant shot camera for those that don’t know) and this will be your only ‘weapon’ in the game. There’s only one level where you’ll use it as a weapon, though, and the rest of the time it will be your key to solving a bunch of puzzles.

For those folks that like to use guides to help them solve puzzles quickly, you are outta luck on this one. While a guide my assist you in figuring out how to solve a given puzzle, the actual answer to the puzzles are different for each player and also change on your subsequent playthroughs. We ended up keeping a notepad handy which became useful at several points in the game when searching the horror halls of Grampa’s house for certain things.

MADiSON Review – Near Perfect Horror Game

Developer Bloodious Studios has created a near perfect horror game in MADiSON, with the right pacing, an incredibly deep and disturbing storyline, and even a serial killer thrown in for good measure. With this being their first entry into the video game world, they have created a bar for themselves that will be hard to top.

Impressive job!

10


MADiSON review code provided by publisher and played on a PS5. For more information on scoring, please read What our review scores really mean.

 

Louis Edwards

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