White Night

Be afraid, be very afraid (and a little infuriated, too). [May 2015, p.94]

White Night offers an intriguing mystery and dialog ripped from the pages of a Mickey Spillane novel and I had a good time with it, frustrations aside. That said, $15 seems a bit much for a game you’re only going to play once.

A unique visual style and an interesting story turn White Night into an experience that we can only recommend. You'll have to overcome the annoying checkpoint system though.

Its few shortcomings aren't to be overlooked, however, as its sluggish, frequently directionless, and deliberately archaic in its design. Don't come in expecting jump scares and big gore; this is a slow-burning experience with an emphasis on style and atmosphere.

Unlike the beauty of the game, though, its mechanics cannot make it to the end without spoiling the goodness it nurtured.

Beautifully Noir, White Night offers some excellent experiences mixed with punishing frustration. A dark and compelling survival horror, it is certainly worthwhile as long as you can overcome the anxiety and irritations.

White Night conceives of a series of brilliant ideas that are diluted in its irregular execution.

White Night is not very effective as a horror game, but its puzzles, lightning gameplay mechanics and creepy atmosphere work much better.

While it sounds great on paper, the execution varies throughout and for every moment of triumph, there are many more instances of frustration and exasperation.

Despite a gorgeous monochromatic art style and an intriguing mix of noir and survival horror elements, White Night allows its artistic ambition to overreach its clunky, frustrating combat.

There's a lot to like about White Night, if for no other reason than it genuinely is different and these is real potential for this to spin out into a franchise if the development team can do a better job of rationalising the noir elements and figuring out the solution to a frustrating Easter egg hunt in the dark. The underlying vision alone makes it worth a look, but it's not going to be quite remembered as the same innovative experience as those pioneering horror games it references back to.

White Night is a collection of already explored mechanics dressed in a peculiar, elegant and often uncomfortable suit. Very stylish, but too dull and punishing when it comes to actual gameplay.

White Night is a gorgeous and intriguing game that deserves to be played for its engrossing story and beautiful art style.

White Night does a lot right, delivering a great story which only dips slightly in the run up to its conclusion.

Possibly the scariest 12-rated game ever made, although the attractive visuals are better designed than the poorly balanced difficulty.

Had White Night been more of a ride, dragging you through rather than slowing things down, its subtly unsettling tone and at times nerve-shredding moments would have had a much greater impact.

While being in possession of some clever ideas, a good story and a superbly-realised black and white world, White Night doesn’t do enough scares to be a good horror or have inventive enough puzzles to be a decent adventure.

White Night is meant to be a slow-burn investigative horror story, but I grew impatient with how incompetent its mechanics are and how they combine to make the experience as irritating as possible. I'm a fan of old-school horror, but one-hit kill enemies, mazelike, hard-to-parse level design, obtuse camera angles and a punishing save system override any nostalgia I might have. I admire that it's trying to pull off a bit of an homage here, but with every good element canceled out by a misstep, I'll stick with the original stuff.