PLATFORM: PC | RELEASE DATE: OCTOBER 9TH
In this grim, gritty and sleazy homage to grindhouse movies and video nasties, players assume the role of Max, apparently one of the most famous porn stars of the 1980s. While on “another job with another sexy woman”, Max is abducted and wakes up in a grimy prison along with his co-star Sandy and cameraman Rodriguez, both of whom appear to be a little worse for wear. As the only one of the trio who is still fully conscious, it’s up to Max to find a way out of this highly undesirable predicament and, hopefully, get the rest of his crew out in one piece.
As a throwback to the days of low-res PS1-era survival horror, The Lacerator takes a hefty amount of influence from early Resident Evil. Inventory management, finding items and using them in the correct places, a Nemesis-style wandering antagonist, demented prisoners (taking the place of RE‘s shambling zombies), and, if you want them, tank controls and era-appropriate wonky aiming are all present and correct, along with suitably chunky low-poly visuals that leave the finer details of the scuzzy environments to your own imagination, somehow making them seem even more unsettling.
The Lacerator brings some of its own ideas to the table as well, though. While escaping the prison, you’ll be faced with countless traps, some of which you might notice and therefore have a chance at disarming, and others that might take you completely be surprise. Being caught by a trap will usually result in the loss of a limb, changing the way that Max can interact with his surroundings and potentially altering the path he’ll need to take to get out alive, forcing you to think on the fly and adapt your escape plan depending on which limbs (and therefore abilities) Max still has. No arms? No shooting. No legs? You probably won’t be running away too quickly. No arms or legs? Well, you’re probably buggered, but there might just be a way!
Branching paths and multiple endings add a decent amount of replayability to what is a fairly short adventure, but what the game lacks in length (matron) it makes up for with its oppressive Manhunt-esque atmosphere, creative puzzles and over the top B-movie violence. The Lacerator‘s take on survival horror escape rooms is definitely for grown-ups only, but as spooky season is well and truly upon us there’s no better time to pick this one up!
