The third game is perhaps the most brilliant, but also the most frustrating. Lakeview Cabin V features a wonderfully disturbing atmosphere and story, but it’s extremely obtuse with its puzzle design. There are so many ways to survive that it’ll make your jaw drop (I used a dildo a few different times to fend off my attackers- it makes for a surprisingly resilient weapon). This one is even more open-ended than the previous and there are several side objectives that affect the ending you get. Getting close to surviving the family that lives in the mansion only to die at the last second from the guy in the pig mask who wields a chainsaw is immensely frustrating, but at the same time, surviving and finally beating the level is immensely satisfying. Like the first game, this one is intended to be played over and over again until you get it just right. The above-mentioned horror elements are just nasty and really get under your skin, but the random layout each time you restart can be frustrating. All the while, the superb but minimalist sound design sells a sleazy and gross atmosphere.įrom a structural standpoint, this one is a mixed bag. In one room you find a few naked people bathing with some corpses, while in another a guy having sex with a gimp. The 2D plane means making a mental map of the mansion can be very tough, leading to a feeling of confused revulsion when you walk into one of the many gruesome rooms. You go through the mansion, but the way specific rooms are laid out is entirely random every time you play. Here, though, everything is doubled down on. While the first game had the aforementioned option to have an orgy if you wanted, it was still relatively straightforward fare for slasher fans. Going inside reveals all manner of horror, and it’s here that the game really reveals the perverse edge it hides beneath its charming pixel graphics. You play as a band of women who take a back road as a short cut to their gig, but they run out of gas right near an eerie white mansion. The second game, Lakeview Cabin IV, riffs heavily on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. The second episode ups the nastiness to a whole new level, making it feel surprisingly sleazy despite its simple graphics. As we will come to see, this microenvironment sets the tone for the rest of the game- brilliantly detailed, and frustratingly cryptic. Defeating the villain is just the first part. And, like any slasher movie, it’s not over when you think it is. There are plenty of ways to inflict damage on the enemy, but they take an almost comical amount of punishment. That’s because actually defeating the villain who shows up after a little bit is extremely difficult. See, the game wisely lets the player loose to experiment and demands that they make their own progress through repeated play-throughs. You can smoke weed if you want, or even have a no-holds-barred orgy in a surprisingly graphic depiction of fluid sexuality seen in the trashiest of horror movies (and believe it or not, doing so makes a key, that you need in order to access an important location, fall from a shelf).Įven though this environment is small, it’s jammed with things to find, and when night falls, you’ll discover their purposes one way or the other. There’s beer to drink, which makes the screen go all wobbly. You control one teenager at a time, going around the small environment and interacting with the various objects in it. A group of four teenagers is vacationing on an island. Not only was it the only episode available at release, but it’s also the most deceptively basic. Perhaps the most infamous of the games in this collection is Lakeview Cabin 3. The first episode is condensed, gory fun. Each game also offers up an entirely different experience, and each is jam-packed with secrets for adventurous players to find. For the purposes of this full release, we actually have access to 3-6 in the series (the original two are flash games that, if I’m not mistaken, are available for free online).Įach game has its own storyline that connects to the others in a surprisingly expansive mythology that is rather intriguing in a silly, horror-franchise sort of way. But it’s also extremely unique in the realm of gaming, and worth a look for people searching for something different.Įssentially a horror anthology in video game form, Lakeview Cabin Collection chronicles the fictitious movie series (surprise surprise) titled Lakeview Cabin. It’s a lot of things, and because of that, it’s most certainly not for everyone. It’s fun to mess around with but frustrating to complete. It’s a game with an interesting story that never says a word of dialogue or exposition. It’s a puzzle game where you need to kill extremely resilient enemies who resemble slasher villains. It’s a horror game with an emphasis on gory slapstick comedy that still kind of manages to be genuinely disturbing. I’m kind of struggling in trying to describe Roope Tamminen’s game Lakeview Cabin Collection.
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