I knew I was in trouble when upon starting The Bridge Curse 2, I was warned about jump scares. Brilliant.
The game plays out telling the story of a film club at Wen Hua University, where the members are investigating ghost stories in order to make a sort of viral recruitment drive. Would you believe it though, some of their investigations turn out to be to be powered by real ghosts and as such, it’s scares-a-plenty.
As you play through different members of the club, you’re investigating cases and areas in a pretty slow pace. This means you don’t need to be an FPS elite player as it’s more of the ‘walking simulator’ style of game, but you do need your wits about you to solve puzzles and uncover mysteries.
Rather than just the jump scares, the things you’re investigating are more than just ghosts. It’s a horror game, so they turn out to be all manner of gruesome beasts and whilst you’re investigating them, they are hunting you. Gameplay then comes down to a loop of solving puzzles, running, hiding, and back to solving. This ensures a constant looming threat of fear and tension throughout the game.
It’s pretty short but I think for a game of this kind, having it not outstay its welcome is a good thing. At points it probably got a bit too slow for my liking, but sometimes that’s the pay off for a good atmospheric setting. The constant small cutscenes could sometimes jar the pace a bit too much for me too, but it’s almost worth it to see the borderline B-movie dialogue play out which feels nicely at home for this sort of title.
It’s released at the right time (on console at least) that’s for sure – admittedly I’m writing this the day after Halloween, and I played it during the day because I was basically too scared. It’s the perfect binge over a few evenings of the spooky season as the nights get darker early, assuming you’re brave enough.
Reviewed on Xbox Series X
