The Park – Review

“There is something special about the entrance to an amusement park. A line drawn between the real world and the world of whimsy within.” These are the first words you hear as Lorraine, a single mother, enters the Atlantic Island Park to follow her son, Callum. This park is anything but whimsical though, as come closing time, the night draws in and her son disappears further into the park, apparently in search of his lost teddy bear.

At night, the parks emptiness crafts a tense, eerily suspenseful atmosphere. Silhouetted rollercoasters and rides loom over you, turning the colourful amusements into haunting constructs. The Park perfectly capitalises on the fear of being alone in the dark, with every noise or movement giving you a horrible feeling about what lies around the next corner. Despite the linear paths you feel lost, like you’ve stumbled into an area where you really shouldn’t be. This makes for a chilling experience that unfortunately creates a great amount of tension, but never quite pushes itself into the realm of fully terrifying its audience.

Cleverly, The Park mostly relies on its atmosphere rather than attempting to scare the player with cheap tricks and jump scares, although there are a few towards the end. Finding notes and documents scattered around the park, reveals details of horrific events that have occurred in the past. Giving this added background serves to present more reason to be afraid of the park itself, as you learn of past traumas that, in some cases, relate back to Lorraine and her absent husband.

While the documents you find give you information about the past, the narrative mainly focuses on Lorraine. While walking through the park, Lorraine will talk about her relationship with her son and, as time goes on, it becomes clear that she has doubts about her ability as a mother –she isn’t exactly a candidate for Mother of the Year – and this adds an interesting layer to what otherwise would have been a mostly simple story. At times you are expected to use the rides. What normally, in the daylight, would be fun and exhilarating becomes much more terrifying at night. Bumper cars move on their own, crashing out of the arena into nearby trees and a ride on the rollercoaster has you being accompanied by a mysterious, hook-handed creature.

For the most part, seeing Lorraine’s journey through the park and experiencing her apparent descent into madness is interesting, although some details are left unclear. While you could make assumptions based on some of Lorraine’s poetic – mostly pessimistic – speeches, it would have been nice if a few key things were clearer in the games conclusion. For example, who is the aforementioned hook-handed creature and, more importantly, did any of it actually happen? The slightly hazy conclusion detracts from what otherwise makes for an interesting, if not slightly unoriginal, narrative.

While terrifying, the park and all of its areas are very well constructed, making for a good looking game. The imagery is chilling, drawing from a few horror influences. A final tour through the House of Horrors, stands out in particular as you return to the same few rooms but, similarly to the PT demo, with noticeable – and increasingly disturbing – changes each time.

Lorraine’s narration is mostly well acted, transforming from distressed to terrified before becoming almost maniacal towards the end. Every sound, whether it be the calls of your son in the distance or a door creaking open, add to the already chilling tone. As you explore the park, the occasional noise will break through an otherwise silent night, scaring Lorraine causing the screen to become hazed, camera pulsating, and every time setting your own heart in motion as you wait for something terrifying to come your way. But, unfortunately, rarely anything does. The Park is a horror game built primarily on its atmosphere but what you soon realise is that there isn’t really anything to be that scared about. There are no enemies to harm you and no sense of urgency to find Callum; while searching for him, Lorraine is more than willing to jump on every single ride before continuing her search. It becomes increasingly difficult to really be scared when you know that outside of the occasional noise, nothing bad will actually happen. The game’s relatively short length, one to two hours, ultimately benefits the game as, if it were to be any longer, the sense of dread created by the abandoned park probably would have disappeared, as you realise that that there is actually nothing to fear.