I decided to play Song of horror in the middle of the day with my cats cuddled up next to me because I wasn’t ready to handle anything creepy at night. Even with the sun shining through my windows, this third-person survival horror adventure successfully delivered an atmosphere of suspense that is not for the faint of heart.

The game begins with a disclaimer to players that characters can succumb to permadeath, meaning you don’t have many lives. Yes, that means once you die you’re dead forever. While the game was designed to be played with permadeath enabled, players have the option to disable it. I chose to play the game properly.

Daniel Noyer is the first character I had the pleasure of meeting, a publisher, divorcee and ex-alcoholic, quite a stale character. Things started slowly as I explored Daniel’s apartment, but soon Daniel is sent on a mission to explore the lifeless Husher mansion, a foreboding, dilapidated house in need of repair.

Song of horror he does a great job with his cut scenes. None of it is too long (you can obviously skip it if you’re impatient) and the narration moves the story forward while also helping you understand the different characters. Each character plays an important role in the game, so it’s worth paying attention to the scenes and enjoying the slow build-up.

As with any horror game, it’s best not to stick with characters. I knew as soon as Daniel set foot on the Husher Mansion premises that things were about to go downhill. The atmosphere of the mansion isn’t particularly spooky during the day, but my palms began to sweat almost immediately, knowing that something dangerous lurked within. Sure enough, Daniel finds a door that screams DO NOT BELIEVE, but what choice is there but to enter.

Daniel ends up trapped behind the mysterious door, which also ends up disappearing. At this point I got to meet Daniel’s ex-wife Sophie van Denend. Here you learn about some of the strengths and weaknesses of the playable characters, and you can choose from three more.

I ended up choosing Sophie because she seemed the most reasonable choice. I’m not sure why Sophie has a candle as a light source when this game takes place in the 90s, but at least the candles seem to help her sanity. However, I can’t imagine she’s that sane if she’s desperate to go inside a haunted house to look for her missing ex.

While playing as Sophie, I noticed how choppy some of the movements are. It walks quite stiffly, and there were times I tried to pick up or see an object, but I had to position myself just so to interact. The camera changes as you walk through different rooms, allowing you to view the room from different angles, but the camera is fixed. I found some of the control dynamics a bit outdated and the character graphics are underwhelming. Despite these flaws, I was still impressed with some other details.

Like I said, the camera feels a bit far away at times, but there are some great angles too, almost cinematic. There are also various items that are necessary to progress the game and you are forced to explore every inch of each room. This might seem tedious at first, but it wasn’t long before he heard a noise on the other side of a door. Characters are able to hear sounds before opening a door, which adds to the authenticity of the atmosphere. Who in their right mind wouldn’t want to check that the coast is clear?

I knew things were about to take a turn for the worse when I found the office, the same room where Daniel disappeared. On the wall is a note that looked completely harmless, but after adding it to my inventory I heard a slight gust of wind in the room followed by a child’s soft laughter. When you’re in a mansion alone, in the dark, that’s the last thing you want to hear.

At this point I went into panic mode, ready to leave the mansion. But instead I had my first encounter with The Presence, a dark eerie humanoid that tries to force its way through doors. Fortunately, Sophie is stronger than she seems and managed to close the door on The Presence.

This is not the end of episode 1 of it Song of horror, but it was enough for me at the moment. I will definitely return to this game. Although lacking in some areas, the unique abilities of each character and the small details hidden among the objects you find are part of solving the mystery and make this a unique and memorable horror game. Song of horror it doesn’t rely on jump scares or grunts and instead plays with your mind so you never know what’s going to happen next.

This review is based on a retail copy of the game provided by the publisher.