Sorry, We’re Closed Review

Recently there has been a spate of nostalgic games inspired by the PlayStation aesthetic. I found almost every single one of them to be a complete eyesore. Awful lack of anti aliasing, low poly models and often deliberately clumsy controls.

I’ve declared, full-throatedly, that anyone that likes these modern, deliberately bad looking games is deluded. I’ve demanded that we return to the nostalgia of the 16-bit era (if we must) because things didn’t get really compelling until the PS4/Xbox One era when fidelity had got to a suitably high level.

Then I played Sorry, We’re Closed and found myself falling into a deep and wonderful Dreamcast whimsy. No anti aliasing issues due to the way textures were applied, bright colours abound, and blue skies as far as the eye can see.

I was in the middle of this reverie when my partner came in and looked at SWC on the screen, and asked in a bemused tone ‘Is this a recent game?’.

SWC is set in a time period when games consoles were powerful enough to render everything, but game design had not pulled away from the existing norms of fixed cameras – originally implemented on PS1 to save memory – SWC exists in a specific bubble to target my nostalgia. And that means it is better than games set in a time that does not target my nostalgia.

The player takes on the role of Michelle, a disaffected 20-something working a dead-end job in a dead-end part of her town. A turn of fate gets Michelle embroiled in a conflict between angels and demons, one that reveals her world is teeming with spirits, and she ends up battling for her soul that has been bound to an entity know as The Duchess. The themes of love, forgiveness (or lack thereof), demons (figurative and literal) and trauma are pretty heavy, but SWC does a good job of twisting some levity into the procedures with some goofy dialogue and some knowing winks to the audience that come off as endearing instead of written by Joss Whedon.

Michelle spends some of her time talking to \people/entities that are drifting through the backstreets; Oakley the bearded café owner; Marty, a conspiratorial record store owner, and many others. These chats matter as they impact the ending depending on the choices that Michelle makes. Helping the shirtless, bad tattoo wearing Darrell is one option, or aligning with the mysterious Lucy is another, and it is fun to see how these play out.

When not chatting with locals Michelle has to go into one of the themed dungeons, an abandoned train station, or wilting palace. While wandering through these areas she must swing and shoot her way through the monsters that dwell there. The exploration is done similar to the early Resident Evil games, but the combat does something novel – holding down the right trigger fixes Michelle to the spot but puts her perspective into first-person. This then requires the player to manoeuvre into a good position away from the enemies and then switch to a shooting stance to take them out quickly. Alongside an axe, a pistol, and shotgun, Michelle also gets an ability to see a dual realm. This is used a lot in the many, well executed puzzles, but also triggering this ability when enemies are near will stun them and reveal their weak spots. Successfully hitting these weak spots builds a meter that unlocks Michelle’s other key skill – the heartbreaker shot. This shot is so powerful it freezes time and will kill most enemies in one shot. There are enemies, like the bosses, which require this power for them to be killed.

I found the combat to be the right balance of fiddly so as to not be too easy, but responsive so that I always felt like I was in control. Imagine the uniqueness of something like Killer 7 or Gun Valkyrie but instead of it being a control system that made you want to pull your eyebrows out, it was enjoyable.

I’ve not said much about the art style, but the colour scheme and character design also feel unmistakably torn from games Blue Stinger and Power Stone. There are lots of creative characters, simple but deeply expressive geometry (there is tunnel full of spikes that is laid out in a way that should be exhibited in the Louvre). Given the story the imagery of skulking half-bird, half-man creatures and centaur angels with their faces missing, all work to enhance the writing.

There is a level of confidence to everything here that is impressive, it manages to be weird without being awkward, clunky without being alienating, and nostalgic while not being beholden to the weaker aspects of that genre. It is an impressive debut for sure.

Conclusion

Sorry, We’re Closed is going to hit a set of people in their early 2000s nostalgia. For the rest there is a weird and compelling game that feels like a throwback that is also fresh.