Metascore
61

Mixed or average reviews - based on 13 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 13
  2. Negative: 1 out of 13
  1. Jan 10, 2022
    82
    Vertigo offers a thrilling and captivating playable story that touches on some very serious themes. Not for the feint hearted or weak in temperament.
  2. Feb 23, 2022
    77
    A bit more polish on the story, better attention to technical details and improved camera/editing would have turned it into a masterpiece. Still, this solid interactive thriller is absolutely worth one full playthrough.
  3. Dec 27, 2021
    76
    With Vertigo, Pendulo Studios is abandoning the genre of puzzle adventure games in favor of slightly interactive fictions, Dontnod Entertainment style. The initial promise was enticing, but the pacing issues, lack of real gameplay, and bugs got the better of our enthusiasm.
  4. Jan 24, 2022
    75
    Vertigo is a thrilling adventure game with a cinematic atmosphere and a lack of any real gameplay. Most of the game is captivating, but the ending is disappointing.
  5. Dec 21, 2021
    75
    Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo offers a worthy tribute to the master of anxiety. Not only does it respect the codes of the films of the time and provides us with a soundtrack at the height of its model, but it also relies on a perfectly crafted scenario, with numerous twists and turns that keep us on the edge of our seats. It's a pity that it suffers from a not always perfect technique, as well as an often disastrous lip animation. But if you are a fan of narrative games and Hitchcock's films, you should forgive this pitfall as the atmosphere is there and the flashbacks are appreciable.
  6. Jan 2, 2022
    65
    Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo is an interesting narrative-driven adventure game, or more like an interactive story, which incorporates several themes from Hitchcock's work. While not linked to the film of the same name, Vertigo is similar in many ways and - like Vertigo - features a compelling and well-told story with (mostly) interesting and well-developed characters. However, this story is countered by distracting facial animation, issues with balancing the generally good audio, and other technical problems. Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo isn't a bad interactive story, I'd even recommend the story, it misses the mark on too much for me to not offer some caution.
  7. Dec 20, 2021
    65
    Alfred Hitchcock: Vertigo is an intriguing thriller if not breathtaking. Its common thread is woven through the mysteries that we are keen to unveil. But it suffers from such a slow pace that it can become heavy. The spectacle is also appreciated in half-tone; Pendulo Studios develops a conclusive sound atmosphere to the detriment of particularly lame animation and technique.
  8. Oct 22, 2022
    60
    With a great story and an engaging cast of characters, it feels a bit frustrating that the game falls so short on so many other elements like its gameplay, animation, controls, voice acting, pacing etc.
  9. The Games Machine
    Oct 13, 2022
    60
    Vertigo's main problem, probably, is its ambition. When you choose such a cumbersome source of inspiration, the risk of ending up crushed by it is real. The Pendulo game wisely chooses not to retrace the path traced by Hitchcock, but to borrow the main theme. Unfortunately, however, it manages to keep the interest high only in the initial stages, then a under-the-bar acting and questionable narrative choices prevail over originality. You could appreciate the attempt, not so much the outcome.
  10. Apr 18, 2022
    60
    Given the low number of new releases and the genre' stagnation, you can play Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo, only via small sessions.
  11. Jan 7, 2022
    50
    Whilst its exciting plot twists are sure to have you dizzy with surprise, Vertigo ultimately fails to stand up against the weight of expectation brought about by its own name.
  12. Dec 27, 2021
    50
    Translating the cinematographic language of a seminal director like Hitchcock into a video game is a complicated intent, and the way in which Pendulo Studio chased it underlines an obvious confusion about the very nature of the adaptation. Vertigo is all form and little content, and qualifies as a narrative adventure a la TellTale with very little to say, mostly due to the flatness of its tale. A great pity, unfortunately.
  13. Sep 28, 2022
    20
    This version of Vertigo portrays women in a way that is seriously difficult to stomach in a post-#MeToo era. Here, women prey on an unsuspecting man using, for instance, sex and hypnosis to lure him in and do him harm. Male trauma is of course absolutely real, but this game doesn’t have the tools to examine it with the required care, and ends up essentially saying #MenToo – and doing a significant disservice to the body of cinematic work that inspires it.
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  1. Dec 23, 2021
    Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo is a good reimagining of the 1958 celluloid classic. Packed with script twists and turns and creating a completely new story on the basis of the original, it can be blamed for at times extending longer than it should by discovering thus its weak points in the plot. Playable is scarce, it could well have the same plot and dialogues taken to the cinema or television and the result would have been the same. Artistically, it hits the ground running because of the modeling of the characters' faces and highly improvable facial animations. A narrative adventure that can please those looking only for a good plot that comes completely dubbed into Spanish.
  2. There’s definitely some dark stuff in there and the characters have a real spark of life in them, but it doesn’t quite stick the landing - and that’s kind of how I feel about Vertigo as whole, too.
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 29 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 29
  2. Negative: 4 out of 29
  1. Dec 19, 2021
    5
    +10 because every game could be a 10.

    - 5 This is not a game. It's a more or less straightforward animated movie where you have to
    +10 because every game could be a 10.

    - 5 This is not a game. It's a more or less straightforward animated movie where you have to constantly fiddle around to keep it going, pull the stick here, click the mouse there, press a key,

    "Call of Duty"-players know the drill: Press F to pay respect.

    I kind of expected an adventure game, since that is what the studio is known for, and they weren't bad at it. But for some reason they decided to go down the David Caige route, which is daring because the only saving grace of those "games" is the technical side aka: Lots of money. Pendulo Studios does not have that kind of money, and it shows.

    And as if making a psychological horror movie wouldn't be hard enough, they decided to decorate themselves with one of the biggest names out there.

    I wonder: How can you be a fan of Hitchcock and think that padding your narrative with useless filler dialogue and inane activities would improve the experience?

    How can you have watched any decent movie and not understand that pacing is everything?

    How can you think that an obviously tight animation budget and mediocre voice acting can be a substitute for a great actor?

    How do you not understand that there is a reason why you normally don't spend 6 to 8 hours in a cinema? Even in this age of trilogies going home -aka saving the game- and doing something completely different before you continue watching the story isn't the norm for a reason. You don't get up in the middle of a movie and do the dishes and drive your kid to school for a reason. Movies are built to keep you in your seat and keep your attention. And if your movie doesn't do that, it failed, especially when you put *that* name on it.

    Having to press buttons and move the controller does not equal engagement, especially if there is no reason to do it in the first place. There is no failure here, there are no branching storylines, you won't miss out, and you won't "win" anything, you can't be good at it, and you can't get better at it. So what am I supposed to do with this?! It's a passable animated movie that I have to wind up or it won't play, and that is why it actually doesn't deserve a 5, because it's more of a chore that way.

    Let's just hope that this represents an evolutionary stage of a new medium that's neither a game nor a movie that we'll look back at like the 15 seconds of moving black and white pictures back in the late 18th century. A sideshow at best, and there really isn't a reason to pay for this except supporting the developers.
    Full Review »
  2. Mar 18, 2022
    7
    Un buena aventura narrativa en forma de novela de suspense interactiva. Trama y giros de guión que enganchan, aunque su conclusión terminaUn buena aventura narrativa en forma de novela de suspense interactiva. Trama y giros de guión que enganchan, aunque su conclusión termina haciéndose innecesariamente larga. La trama se va oscureciendo según avanzas, tocando temas como los trastornos psicológicos, la psicopatía, el maltrato infantil, los abusos sexuales y conflictos no resueltos. Su duración, es de unas 8-9 horas de juego. Aunque lineales y algo repetitivas, la dinámicas de juego y sencillos QTE cumplen correctamente su principal función, que es servir como pretextos para la revelación y resolución progresivas del misterio o misterios que se nos plantean. Aunque las expresiones faciales de los personajes es mejorable, los entornos y escenarios principales está bien conseguidos visual y estéticamente. También cuenta con buenos diálogos y doblaje al castellano. El rendimiento gráfico es bueno la mayoría del tiempo, aunque hay algunas partes de cinemáticas con bajones y tirones importantes de FPS. Full Review »
  3. Dec 27, 2021
    10
    Súper recomendable! Me ha encantado la estética y la construcción de los personajes a medida que avanza la historia. Te mantiene en tensión,Súper recomendable! Me ha encantado la estética y la construcción de los personajes a medida que avanza la historia. Te mantiene en tensión, pegado a la pantalla, sin poder pausar ni un minuto. Full Review »