The town of Stonecreek is haunted. People keep disappearing into thin air, leaving nothing but an eerie symbol behind. With the townsfolk gripped with fear, use a missing victim's phone to unlock the truth in the third entry of the acclaimed horror series, Simulacra.
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spooky phone game but worse
I really enjoyed the first two games, but I just couldn't get myself to like this one honestly. The budget seems nowhere near as big as the one in Simulacra 2... In fact, this game pretty much lacks music.
The characters just seemed way too boring this time around. I know it's not the game's focus, but still... no charm at all. The voice acting also feels rather bad, completely soulless in fact.
Not good. I'll stick to 1 and 2. Really wanted to like this one, but the moment I finished it I couldn't help but be disappointed.
The characters just seemed way too boring this time around. I know it's not the game's focus, but still... no charm at all. The voice acting also feels rather bad, completely soulless in fact.
Not good. I'll stick to 1 and 2. Really wanted to like this one, but the moment I finished it I couldn't help but be disappointed.
I liked the first two Simulacra games! They’re… certainly not perfect — in fact, I’d go as far to say they’re quite flawed, in places — but they really do exactly what they set out to. They’re concise, fun little FMV games that take the concept of “go into a missing person’s phone to solve their disappearance” to some fun places, and at the end of the day always link back to their core concept in a way that… really makes it feel like it’s not just a gimmick, that being on a phone is a core part of the experience, and that to change it to something else would result in something else entirely. Sure, the voice acting is… rather inconsistent, and the writing has a tendency to make the cast a lot less likable than intended, but even discounting how… I’d probably give it a pass anyway given that these games are from a Malaysian studio, sometimes that sort of thing can unintentionally work in a game’s favour: sometimes having your asshole ex-boyfriend character be a total dick really manages to sell him as somebody who’s totally at fault in the situation. Sometimes one of the major parts of your narrative (and the road to avoiding the worst ending) involves placating and not alienating a guy who's… oftentimes totally cringe and easy to make fun of. Sometimes you’re talking about the inauthenticity of influencer culture, and having your influencer characters come off as unsympathetic and coarse to be around really helps to sell that message. It’s… definitely a fine line to tell whether it’s intentional or unintentional on the game’s part, but regardless, there’s virtue in being able to turn your weaknesses into a strength, and I think Simulacra and its direct sequel really do a good job at patching up those holes.
So when I found out that a new game in the series had released, I was pretty down to see how the series continued. I found it… odd, that it’d been released as quietly as it had — and for games I discovered through YouTube playthroughs it was definitely weird to see nobody I follow pick up and play this game at all — but I eventually got around to it and found, ultimately… something I don’t feel quite managed to work around its flaws quite as well as the first two games did. And, sad to say, I think I found something that didn’t quite have as strong a core concept as the first two. Or, in fact, that clear of a core concept at all.
You play as an intern at the local paper, tasked with helping out the lead journalist, Ruby Myers, as she investigates a series of disappearances around the town of Stonecreek. One day, the phone of Paul Castillo — the latest missing person — is mysteriously sent to Ruby, and she bequeaths it to you: both to search for any potential clues inside, and to help her as she does most of the legwork. Upon delving into Paul’s phone, it soon becomes clear that these disappearances are something supernatural in nature, and that Paul has rigged up his phone to serve as a breadcrumb trail, where by finding clues more parts of his phone and history are unlocked, leading the player to dig into the history of Stonecreek, interact with Paul’s former contacts, and hope that the end of the trail leads to a solution to the problem: a way to eliminate the supernatural threat before it takes any more victims.
As a base premise, it works, and as a game, the pieces are all there. It’s satisfying to be able to dig deep into somebody’s history and slowly piece together everything, and I like how the reward for finding clues or making progress is oftentimes being able to access more parts of the phone. It provides an interesting method of story progression beyond how the plot moves forward: for every step you take you’re made more privy to background info, which then feeds into you figuring out what to do next. There were some fairly neat puzzles — and one particular section involving accessing Paul’s home security which felt fairly standout, even if in practice I… felt it could’ve stood to be a bit more involved, or a bit more difficult. Most of all, I really do enjoy how much work was put into making Stonecreek feel like a real, lived-in community: from the chatter of incidental townspeople on the town social media app, the focus on local urban legends and ghost stories, the way your direct contacts talk about the place, there’s a real focus on painting this picture of a small town undergoing gentrification, and I think it pays off.
What maybe doesn’t work as well is the story itself: particularly, the people you directly interact with as you try and solve the mystery. This is what I was referring to during my preamble. The story hinges considerably on the player liking the cast of contacts in Paul’s phone, but the writing’s never quite there. Ruby’s potentially the biggest victim of this: you’re meant to be her sidekick, and a lot of the heft for the late stages of the game hinges on you having formed a connection with her, but there wasn’t really a lot of spunk or voice in the words she was saying to me: it felt like she was nagging me around for most of the game, and a lot of her conflict regarding the ethics of journalism/her place in Stonecreek felt more like things the game was trying to establish were her Traits rather than natural topics that popped up during gameplay. Paul, as the person you’re hoping you can maybe find, felt characterized through what we rummaged through, but for someone you mainly see through FMVs the acting was… not there (and, as a sidenote, there were wayyyy too many videos where Paul just parses over his notes or his corkboard where absolutely nothing happens), and I really felt as I was going through Paul’s history that I was doing so for the overall mystery rather than anything for Paul himself. The other characters felt… mostly there, more than anything. They’re defined and likable enough, but they lack story presence — you talk to them for one section of the game and then you don’t talk to them again and then you suddenly actually do have to talk to them again and it felt… abrupt, and a rather weak attempt at bringing it all together.
I also felt like a lot of the overall framing and concept was rather loose in how it came together, to the point where I felt the game never really took full advantage of the ‘found phone’ aspect of it. Specifically, while I was interested in the theming regarding small town gentrification, and the conflict of interests between the town council and the townspeople, this never quite really interfaces with the mechanics, or what you access on the phone: while internet comments and news articles talk about it, at best it’s mostly set dressing more than any sort of proper synthesis, and at worst it’s characters expositing that This Is The Main Theme of The Game. While previous games often had you access apps heavily based off real life ones (such as Twitter, Tinder, Instagram) which even beyond providing a sense of verisimilitude, also added a sense of diversity in what you did — sometimes you’d do a puzzle in one app, then you’d have to move to a different app, then you’d have to text someone, etc. Here, the only app other than texts/emails/the general internet is… this weird combination of Facebook/Twitter centered around local Stonecreek businesses that Paul has apparently jury rigged to hide (presumably) public pages from whoever accesses his phone unless they solve his riddles three?
That’s another area where I wasn’t really as into things: a lot of the game mechanics regarding uncovering more parts of the phone felt rather artificial. Rather than digging into a missing person’s phone to try and find them (with tech issues/more supernatural causes preventing you from seeing everything on the phone), you’re on Paul’s ride from the start: he has this grand keikaku he’s trying to guide you through and he apparently foresaw everything you were going to do before the phone ever touched your hands. One that he already has most of the pieces for but also doesn't enact because I guess there wouldn't have been a game otherwise. It never feels like the player is figuring anything out for themselves, nor does it feel like they have any agency, you're just doing what Paul already did for you, with nothing actually getting in the way of his grand plan up until the climax. Roadblocks aren’t “you don’t have the information you need to proceed,” it’s “Paul won’t let you proceed until you know exactly what he wants you to know.” It’s… a unique direction to take, sure, but it felt rather convoluted, and it strained credibility that this guy was able to foresee everything to this extent and also encrypt his… phone, of all things, into some weird horror game puzzle box. It didn’t feel natural. And a lot of the phone stuff in general… didn’t really feel like it really came together.
I also just feel like this game was a bit undercooked. My impression is that COVID played a part in this — actors having to film scenes in isolation, not being able to use exterior sets — but you can see it in other spots as well. There are a lot less FMVs this time around, and other than… I think two, they’re all connected to Paul and Ruby, which comes at the expense of most of the side characters: robbing the player of the chance to see that non-online dimension to them, or for some particular characters not even getting the chance to know what they even look like. The FMVs themselves… are also a bit rough. While there’s some fairly decent CGI across the board, a good portion suffer from having fairly obvious green screens — the climax, in particular, looks like it’s taking place in Minecraft, and even disregarding some of the plot frustrations I had with it it definitely cheapened the effect it was intended to give. I also feel the story suffers from not having a direct confrontation with the villain — and, in particular, from the villain not feeling very well defined at all. I feel like maybe this would’ve helped with my issues regarding themes linking into gameplay: a proper interaction where we understand what the villain, what they represent and their goals I feel could’ve done a lot to bring it all together (and the scenes in Simulacras 1 and 2 where you come face to face with the malevolent entity are fairly easily two of the best scenes in each game), but instead… honestly I’m not sure who the bad guy even was, in the end? They had the same name as the baddie in 1 but given that its MO was totally different it’s probably actually something else? It felt so indistinct. I felt like… a lot of this needed an edit pass. Or maybe a bit more time in the oven.
And in the end… I dunno. I don’t really like judging the worth of something based on its status as a sequel, an adaptation, etc., but I feel like, in comparison, this game is the worst in the trilogy. While there’s a sense of satisfaction in solving puzzles and unfolding the mystery, and while I can see the effort in building the setting and making it feel lived in, the rough character writing and the lack of cohesion between gameplay and theming makes this particular entry feel not quite up to snuff with the rest. 5/10.
So when I found out that a new game in the series had released, I was pretty down to see how the series continued. I found it… odd, that it’d been released as quietly as it had — and for games I discovered through YouTube playthroughs it was definitely weird to see nobody I follow pick up and play this game at all — but I eventually got around to it and found, ultimately… something I don’t feel quite managed to work around its flaws quite as well as the first two games did. And, sad to say, I think I found something that didn’t quite have as strong a core concept as the first two. Or, in fact, that clear of a core concept at all.
You play as an intern at the local paper, tasked with helping out the lead journalist, Ruby Myers, as she investigates a series of disappearances around the town of Stonecreek. One day, the phone of Paul Castillo — the latest missing person — is mysteriously sent to Ruby, and she bequeaths it to you: both to search for any potential clues inside, and to help her as she does most of the legwork. Upon delving into Paul’s phone, it soon becomes clear that these disappearances are something supernatural in nature, and that Paul has rigged up his phone to serve as a breadcrumb trail, where by finding clues more parts of his phone and history are unlocked, leading the player to dig into the history of Stonecreek, interact with Paul’s former contacts, and hope that the end of the trail leads to a solution to the problem: a way to eliminate the supernatural threat before it takes any more victims.
As a base premise, it works, and as a game, the pieces are all there. It’s satisfying to be able to dig deep into somebody’s history and slowly piece together everything, and I like how the reward for finding clues or making progress is oftentimes being able to access more parts of the phone. It provides an interesting method of story progression beyond how the plot moves forward: for every step you take you’re made more privy to background info, which then feeds into you figuring out what to do next. There were some fairly neat puzzles — and one particular section involving accessing Paul’s home security which felt fairly standout, even if in practice I… felt it could’ve stood to be a bit more involved, or a bit more difficult. Most of all, I really do enjoy how much work was put into making Stonecreek feel like a real, lived-in community: from the chatter of incidental townspeople on the town social media app, the focus on local urban legends and ghost stories, the way your direct contacts talk about the place, there’s a real focus on painting this picture of a small town undergoing gentrification, and I think it pays off.
What maybe doesn’t work as well is the story itself: particularly, the people you directly interact with as you try and solve the mystery. This is what I was referring to during my preamble. The story hinges considerably on the player liking the cast of contacts in Paul’s phone, but the writing’s never quite there. Ruby’s potentially the biggest victim of this: you’re meant to be her sidekick, and a lot of the heft for the late stages of the game hinges on you having formed a connection with her, but there wasn’t really a lot of spunk or voice in the words she was saying to me: it felt like she was nagging me around for most of the game, and a lot of her conflict regarding the ethics of journalism/her place in Stonecreek felt more like things the game was trying to establish were her Traits rather than natural topics that popped up during gameplay. Paul, as the person you’re hoping you can maybe find, felt characterized through what we rummaged through, but for someone you mainly see through FMVs the acting was… not there (and, as a sidenote, there were wayyyy too many videos where Paul just parses over his notes or his corkboard where absolutely nothing happens), and I really felt as I was going through Paul’s history that I was doing so for the overall mystery rather than anything for Paul himself. The other characters felt… mostly there, more than anything. They’re defined and likable enough, but they lack story presence — you talk to them for one section of the game and then you don’t talk to them again and then you suddenly actually do have to talk to them again and it felt… abrupt, and a rather weak attempt at bringing it all together.
I also felt like a lot of the overall framing and concept was rather loose in how it came together, to the point where I felt the game never really took full advantage of the ‘found phone’ aspect of it. Specifically, while I was interested in the theming regarding small town gentrification, and the conflict of interests between the town council and the townspeople, this never quite really interfaces with the mechanics, or what you access on the phone: while internet comments and news articles talk about it, at best it’s mostly set dressing more than any sort of proper synthesis, and at worst it’s characters expositing that This Is The Main Theme of The Game. While previous games often had you access apps heavily based off real life ones (such as Twitter, Tinder, Instagram) which even beyond providing a sense of verisimilitude, also added a sense of diversity in what you did — sometimes you’d do a puzzle in one app, then you’d have to move to a different app, then you’d have to text someone, etc. Here, the only app other than texts/emails/the general internet is… this weird combination of Facebook/Twitter centered around local Stonecreek businesses that Paul has apparently jury rigged to hide (presumably) public pages from whoever accesses his phone unless they solve his riddles three?
That’s another area where I wasn’t really as into things: a lot of the game mechanics regarding uncovering more parts of the phone felt rather artificial. Rather than digging into a missing person’s phone to try and find them (with tech issues/more supernatural causes preventing you from seeing everything on the phone), you’re on Paul’s ride from the start: he has this grand keikaku he’s trying to guide you through and he apparently foresaw everything you were going to do before the phone ever touched your hands. One that he already has most of the pieces for but also doesn't enact because I guess there wouldn't have been a game otherwise. It never feels like the player is figuring anything out for themselves, nor does it feel like they have any agency, you're just doing what Paul already did for you, with nothing actually getting in the way of his grand plan up until the climax. Roadblocks aren’t “you don’t have the information you need to proceed,” it’s “Paul won’t let you proceed until you know exactly what he wants you to know.” It’s… a unique direction to take, sure, but it felt rather convoluted, and it strained credibility that this guy was able to foresee everything to this extent and also encrypt his… phone, of all things, into some weird horror game puzzle box. It didn’t feel natural. And a lot of the phone stuff in general… didn’t really feel like it really came together.
I also just feel like this game was a bit undercooked. My impression is that COVID played a part in this — actors having to film scenes in isolation, not being able to use exterior sets — but you can see it in other spots as well. There are a lot less FMVs this time around, and other than… I think two, they’re all connected to Paul and Ruby, which comes at the expense of most of the side characters: robbing the player of the chance to see that non-online dimension to them, or for some particular characters not even getting the chance to know what they even look like. The FMVs themselves… are also a bit rough. While there’s some fairly decent CGI across the board, a good portion suffer from having fairly obvious green screens — the climax, in particular, looks like it’s taking place in Minecraft, and even disregarding some of the plot frustrations I had with it it definitely cheapened the effect it was intended to give. I also feel the story suffers from not having a direct confrontation with the villain — and, in particular, from the villain not feeling very well defined at all. I feel like maybe this would’ve helped with my issues regarding themes linking into gameplay: a proper interaction where we understand what the villain, what they represent and their goals I feel could’ve done a lot to bring it all together (and the scenes in Simulacras 1 and 2 where you come face to face with the malevolent entity are fairly easily two of the best scenes in each game), but instead… honestly I’m not sure who the bad guy even was, in the end? They had the same name as the baddie in 1 but given that its MO was totally different it’s probably actually something else? It felt so indistinct. I felt like… a lot of this needed an edit pass. Or maybe a bit more time in the oven.
And in the end… I dunno. I don’t really like judging the worth of something based on its status as a sequel, an adaptation, etc., but I feel like, in comparison, this game is the worst in the trilogy. While there’s a sense of satisfaction in solving puzzles and unfolding the mystery, and while I can see the effort in building the setting and making it feel lived in, the rough character writing and the lack of cohesion between gameplay and theming makes this particular entry feel not quite up to snuff with the rest. 5/10.
oh lord...
SIMULACRA 3 só reforça minha ideia de que essa franquia devia ter acabado no primeiro mesmo, e olhe que o primeiro já era um tanto quanto "meia-boca" por conta mais do arco final, mas pelo menos tinha todo um início, um meio e um fim com uma atmosfera presente e um thriller interessante, só que agora, a cada lançamento de um novo título a história com um potencial enorme só se perde cada vez mais, estragando a intenção principal que era a de criticar a forma que as pessoas usam as redes sociais com uma pegada de suspense e um terror funcional e só vira um jogo tentando ser assustador e pautado em algo sobrenatural, mas não é, tudo por conta de uma má construção da trama e novamente caindo nessa estrutura extremamente previsível e repetitiva que não consegue se reinventar ou pelo menos fazer direito, sendo esse o mais chato de toda a franquia.
Que história lenta, quase nada acontece de interessante e quando acontece você não liga e não sente o impacto devido às atuações e da construção dos personagens que são bem patéticas, em que a entidade daqui que deveria ser algo assustador e bizarro me parece mais uma cópia do "Grimcutty" e a forma semi-final que aparece só o olho seria bem mais interessante na minha visão para essa criatura.
O jogo então, não tem uma trilha como era presente no 1 e no 2, tudo é muito silencioso que perde todo o impacto da atmosfera do jogo e os puzzles então, quando um é interessante e você entra na ideia de investigar, do nada, vem vários outros puzzles ridículos escancarados que desafiam da sua inteligência para descobrir por conta própria, como o simples fato de encontrar uma pessoa na agenda sem um símbolo de "conteúdo novo" encontrado para você não se perder que novamente estraga toda a construção da imersão e perde o proposito de você mesmo encontrar que tendo um simples botão para pedir uma dica para àqueles que não fossem achar, já ajudaria e não prejudicaria de primeira toda a sequência de investigação.
Sinceramente, para mim, a história vai acabar aqui, onde vai ser difícil eu voltar a querer jogar as continuações por realmente eu não ter mais interesse de prosseguir, nem mesmo ao "spin-off" que foi lançado em conjunto gratuitamente na Steam, pois os criadores realmente não sabem mais o que fazer com a trama que construíram com o primeiro jogo, que atualmente esse e o "spin-off" estão sem uma tradução oficial PT-BR e não estão sabendo criar uma história que seja minimamente interessante ou igual ao do Simulacra 1, talvez para aqueles que gostaram do 2º possam achar esse até "ok", mas acima disso, eu acho difícil.
Que história lenta, quase nada acontece de interessante e quando acontece você não liga e não sente o impacto devido às atuações e da construção dos personagens que são bem patéticas, em que a entidade daqui que deveria ser algo assustador e bizarro me parece mais uma cópia do "Grimcutty" e a forma semi-final que aparece só o olho seria bem mais interessante na minha visão para essa criatura.
O jogo então, não tem uma trilha como era presente no 1 e no 2, tudo é muito silencioso que perde todo o impacto da atmosfera do jogo e os puzzles então, quando um é interessante e você entra na ideia de investigar, do nada, vem vários outros puzzles ridículos escancarados que desafiam da sua inteligência para descobrir por conta própria, como o simples fato de encontrar uma pessoa na agenda sem um símbolo de "conteúdo novo" encontrado para você não se perder que novamente estraga toda a construção da imersão e perde o proposito de você mesmo encontrar que tendo um simples botão para pedir uma dica para àqueles que não fossem achar, já ajudaria e não prejudicaria de primeira toda a sequência de investigação.
Sinceramente, para mim, a história vai acabar aqui, onde vai ser difícil eu voltar a querer jogar as continuações por realmente eu não ter mais interesse de prosseguir, nem mesmo ao "spin-off" que foi lançado em conjunto gratuitamente na Steam, pois os criadores realmente não sabem mais o que fazer com a trama que construíram com o primeiro jogo, que atualmente esse e o "spin-off" estão sem uma tradução oficial PT-BR e não estão sabendo criar uma história que seja minimamente interessante ou igual ao do Simulacra 1, talvez para aqueles que gostaram do 2º possam achar esse até "ok", mas acima disso, eu acho difícil.
This is a very soft recommend. 3.25 / 5
I'm a big fan of the first two games and this phone detective genre as a whole and I was very excited for this game when it came out, but had put it on hold for some other games I was playing and finally got through it this morning.
Bullet points incoming:
- The game itself is just okay. The story is serviceable but isn't as compelling as 1 or 2, as none of the characters really stood out. They just mostly served as quick conversation pieces and possible plot points / beats on your journey rather than actual characters. It's nothing bad, but the severe lack of personality from most of the characters is just a bit of a letdown.
- Gameplay was good, but definitely not as great as previous iterations. I personally didn't mind the more linear aspect of it (sure more puzzles would've been a lot better), but I felt for what it was doing it hit the mark so to speak.
- I know some people missed the horror element of it, but in reality a lot of the horror elements from the first 2 were cheap jumpscares which honestly I'm glad are gone bc that's all they are. Cheap ways to scare you and make you go BOO. That being said, the lack of ambient noise / other creepy subtle things from the first 2 games are also toned way down, to where this isn't really a horror game to me, but more of a mystery / adventure game. I feel going into it in that mindset may help more.
- Also, just curious, why would you remove the fast text option from Simulacra 2 for any subsequent playthroughs? That made being able to replay the game (if you so choose to or to achievement hunt) WAY easier and tolerable since you didn't have to wait for the slow pacing of the texts to come in. Removing that seems like such a huge misstep and is likely the only reason I won't 100% this one like I did the others bc in total reality, this is the first simulacra game where I don't really feel like trying to go back and do it.
All in all, is the game bad?
No, but it's nothing amazing either.
Is it a step down from the previous 2?
Yes.
Is it a horror game?
In my opinion, no. Consider this one more of a mystery / thriller experience versus horror.
Would I recommend it?
If you liked the other 2 games, I think you'll still at least enjoy your time enough to get through it once. If you don't like the previous 2, you probably won't care for it and I'd skip it. If you're in the middle, get it on sale and give a try maybe. If you don't like it, you can always return it before the 2 hour mark.
I'm a big fan of the first two games and this phone detective genre as a whole and I was very excited for this game when it came out, but had put it on hold for some other games I was playing and finally got through it this morning.
Bullet points incoming:
- The game itself is just okay. The story is serviceable but isn't as compelling as 1 or 2, as none of the characters really stood out. They just mostly served as quick conversation pieces and possible plot points / beats on your journey rather than actual characters. It's nothing bad, but the severe lack of personality from most of the characters is just a bit of a letdown.
- Gameplay was good, but definitely not as great as previous iterations. I personally didn't mind the more linear aspect of it (sure more puzzles would've been a lot better), but I felt for what it was doing it hit the mark so to speak.
- I know some people missed the horror element of it, but in reality a lot of the horror elements from the first 2 were cheap jumpscares which honestly I'm glad are gone bc that's all they are. Cheap ways to scare you and make you go BOO. That being said, the lack of ambient noise / other creepy subtle things from the first 2 games are also toned way down, to where this isn't really a horror game to me, but more of a mystery / adventure game. I feel going into it in that mindset may help more.
- Also, just curious, why would you remove the fast text option from Simulacra 2 for any subsequent playthroughs? That made being able to replay the game (if you so choose to or to achievement hunt) WAY easier and tolerable since you didn't have to wait for the slow pacing of the texts to come in. Removing that seems like such a huge misstep and is likely the only reason I won't 100% this one like I did the others bc in total reality, this is the first simulacra game where I don't really feel like trying to go back and do it.
All in all, is the game bad?
No, but it's nothing amazing either.
Is it a step down from the previous 2?
Yes.
Is it a horror game?
In my opinion, no. Consider this one more of a mystery / thriller experience versus horror.
Would I recommend it?
If you liked the other 2 games, I think you'll still at least enjoy your time enough to get through it once. If you don't like the previous 2, you probably won't care for it and I'd skip it. If you're in the middle, get it on sale and give a try maybe. If you don't like it, you can always return it before the 2 hour mark.