Theatre

by Brendon Wyber

1995
Horror
Inform 5

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Review

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
Spooky precursor to Anchorhead and The King Of Shreds & Patches, May 8, 2023
by Cody Gaisser (Florence, Alabama, United States of America, North America, Earth, Solar System, Milky Way, Known Universe, ???)

Theatre is a nice, atmospheric horror game in which you find yourself trapped in an old, run-down theatre that seems to have malevolent designs for you. The backstory is pieced together out-of-order by collecting torn journal pages as you puzzle your way through the secret passages of the old building.

The puzzles are mostly logical, especially in the early game, and probably all doable with some patience and trial-and-error, though I found myself consulting a walkthrough a few times so I could keep up with the brisk pace at which I plowed through the early parts of the game. This logic breaks down a little towards the end, when I found myself consulting the walkthrough more often and doing things I didn't completely understand (or which only made sense once they had been done).

The tone is more eerie than outright horrifying (which is fine with me) and is a little inconsistent in places (as if tropes have been pulled from different styles of horror without serious thought as to how they fit together).

All that said, the game was fun and satisfying to play, and I found myself constantly eager to see what would happen next. I don't quite rate Theatre as highly as Anchorhead or The King Of Shreds & Patches (both of which were probably influenced by this earlier game), but I would still recommend it to players who enjoyed those other titles.

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