Apparition Review

The Nintendo Switch isn’t known for having a lack of survival horror games, but perhaps a lack of really good ones. Maybe Apparition will be one of the really good ones. You play as a paranormal investigator, who uses social media to search for unexplained occurrences and people inexcusable gone missing. To make money you have to find, collect, gather and sell this paranormal paraphernalia that you come across. In a town called Green Creek, there was a killer known as “The Plague” who preyed on tourists who came into the area. He was never caught and is still on the loose. This has caused the area to be a hotbed of paranormal activity, so it seems like a good place to check out.

As soon as you start the game you have to select what equipment you want to take along with you. Some of the items cost evidence points to purchase, like a video camera and voice recorder so you will have to wait until later to acquire these items. You will be able to take a camera, candle and some other items, but you only have room for so much. For space you have 100 slots, a book takes up 20 whereas something smaller like a lighter takes up 5. You will have a journal that you can access at any time you are playing and it contains stats like how many photos you have taken, how much paranormal footage you’ve recorded, and how many evidence points you have earned. These points are what you will use to purchase new equipment. Along with the items you choose to bring you will also have a Ouija board, known as a “spirit board” that you can use to communicate with the dead. This is a unique addition that I haven’t personally seen in a game and can lead to some creepy moments.

When you begin, your character is standing on a road outside of their car. Don’t make the mistake of jumping in your car off the bat because you will be taken right to the main menu. The graphics themselves aren’t anything to write home about. In fact, sometimes it is really hard to figure out if you are looking at a monster or trees. There are a few buildings like an outhouse and shed nearby that you can explore to find clues and items that will be useful to you. Be sure to grab any batteries you find because your camera's battery dies extremely fast and you have to be sure that it has power to capture images of the paranormal activity going on here. If you don’t then you can’t get the points you need to upgrade your equipment. When you explore the levels, you will find bits of paper with questions written on them, like “Who are you?” and “Are you good or evil?”. Collect these so you have questions to ask using the spirit board. The investigator does not have any weapons from the beginning, just a camera, candle and creepy staff with a skull on the top for protection, so be sure to keep an eye out for good places to hide if necessary . If you hear growling or your character’s heartbeat gets loud, you know it is time to hide. 

Once you explore the area a bit you come across a cabin that has multiple body bags strewn about outside, so be sure to take photos of this so you can get points. If you walk over to the firepit you can set up your spirit board and ask the spirits in the area some questions. Sometimes the spirit will just say NO when you ask a question, but other times they will answer you. The first time I used the board I asked the spirit if they were good or evil and the spirit answered WORST, so that was creepy. Though I have to say that there weren’t too many times I was actually scared playing this game, except for the first minute I was playing and a creature was running right at me and I didn’t know how to use any items. The game doesn’t tell you how to use the stuff you have, so be sure to pause the game and check out the section called controls. Otherwise you will have a hard time and will die.

Apparition does have potential, but man it was glitchy. One time it wouldn’t let me switch the items I was holding so I was stuck holding the camera, which really doesn’t help when you are trying to interact and pick up items like the batteries you need for the camera. Another time it wouldn’t let me put in new batteries so I was just carrying around a dead battery and couldn’t earn any points. Then on another playthrough I was in the cabin and trying to hide in the closet, which was working well, until the game wouldn’t let me leave the closet. So once it was the next day and I was supposed to go back to the car, I was screwed. These are just a few of the times when the game was working against me, and it is so frustrating when things like this keep happening.

Once you die from being attacked, or die from going insane from not being around light enough, you will be starting over from the same exact place every time. Apparition is almost arcade style where it keeps track of your record high for how many evidence points you earned before dying. Though even with that, the game gets old pretty quick when you are constantly doing the same thing over and over just to get screwed over by a glitch or dying because you can’t defend yourself. If you decide to play the game handheld on the Switch you will have to play around with your settings as it is incredibly dark by default. It is almost impossible to play like this. This game definitely sounded interesting but just didn’t live up to its potential. Even with the jump scares turned on in the options, just hearing creepy sounds and having the odd scare just isn’t enough to make this a good game. If the glitches can be fixed this game would definitely be better, though still underwhelming.