After playing Paratopic and Fatum Betula I went looking for games that looked similar or had a similar feeling to them. In this search, I stumbled on Sagebrush. And while its not nearly as weird as the previously mentioned games, its Lo-Fi aesthetic created a similar feeling and almost creepy atmosphere.

Sagebrush is essentially a walking sim in the same vein as Firewatch or What Remains of Edith Finch. At the start of the game, we have just arrived at this compound that looks to be entirely abandoned. Walking through this place you find little hints about a cult that used to live here, who they are, how they lived, and what eventually happened to them.

While everything looks open to explore, you'll soon realize this game is rather linear. You'll enter a building, find some bits and pieces of the story, find a key or something similar, go to the next building that you now can enter with the key, and do the whole thing again. I personally didn't mind this 'gameplay loop' since it worked in favor of the story. You constantly find things that give you information (whether it are letters, books, or audio logs) to unravel the mysteries surrounding the cult. It grabbed my attention all the way through its 2-hour-ish runtime. The Lo-Fi style of the game works perfectly with its themes and the story it's trying to tell. It does go in some disturbing directions with the story and it sometimes felt unsettling to me.

I played the game on Nintendo Switch, it's rather cheap on there and goes on sale a lot (I bought it for 1,79 euro), it runs great but the cursor to interact with things feels a bit wonky sometimes.

TL:DR: Sagebrush is a walking sim with some dark themes. The story made this a fulfilling experience, while its short runtime in combination with the simple gameplay left me wanting (a bit) more in the end.

I would suggest playing this game if you're a fan of walking sims and looking for a short interesting story, but not without a trigger warning (minor spoiler): the story has some suicide-related themes, so be aware if that's not something you want to be confronted with.

Grows steadily more unsettling thanks to the refreshingly minimalist visual style and spare synth soundtrack which allows the conscience to form its own isolated terrors and the game for the most part feeds into that paranoia. Kinda whiffs it in the needlessly melodramatic third act but even then the overall mystery is less so about empty shocks than it is about dissecting the scarred psyche of our protagonist. The South(western) Gothic atmosphere allows for this empathetic study of a disillusioned individual existing beyond an increasingly fractured community to feel authentic without being exploitative and while I wish it was more satisfying in the end (it takes the easy road in the final moments instead of conquering the difficult questions about the character’s PTSD) I was spooked enough for an hour and a half to give a pass.

The only reason I bought and played this game is because it was 59 cents on the Playstation Store, that said I did end up enjoying it for what it was worth. It is pretty typical for a walking simulator-style indie horror game, and most of the horror comes from the atmosphere than actual gameplay, but it does tell a story (through notes and recordings) that is interesting enough to want to see it through to the end. The gameplay consists mostly of walking around through a compound picking up notes and items such as keys that are used to progress the game. The game utilizes 3d graphics that are pixelated and so sometimes it is difficult to tell what something is or find your way around, especially as the area you explore gets darker. You will also have to solve very simple puzzles sometimes to advance with hints often found in the notes you read so it's important to pay attention. I had a good time with this one, simple though it may have been, and at the price I mentioned I more than got my money's worth.

Essentially, a walking sim inside a cult compound. You arrive in the late evening, because why would you want to see anything? You don't need the sun, here's a tiny missable flashlight you can use to barely see. What do you mean blundering around in the dark isn't fun??

Everything is told through written notes and tape recordings. If you're hiding a secret in a cult, what better way to hide your guilt in a note someone could find laying around??

You begin to ignore the same creaking noise because it has proven to never be anything. It's the same noise, over and over. You lose all sense of dread.

It's a short, cheap walk with nothing original. You hold out hope only to be disappointed in the end that it is indeed, a walking sim spoken through notes. Bummer.

a perfectly fine keyhunt, though the reality of cults and their slow inducement via gentle attrition is rushed for the sake of a convenient background. despite the lack of any actual threat to the player, there remains a cloying presence on the empty compound which hangs thick over every step in progression. there is no conclusion, only an inevitability.

somewhat spoilers, but in the vein of believability i wish more care was taken into portraying James both in voice and writing; cult leader who seemingly coerced tens of people into militant aggression and mass self-harm also seen fumbling over nudie magazines and his own safe lock, rehearsing his empty speeches within earshot of a believer.

I interact with quite a lot of horror media. At this point, visual stuff never really does it for me. I’ve seen basically everything there is to see. This game really shows how sometimes less is more. There is no gameplay in this game. You walk, press a button and then listen and that’s basically it. But my god this game kind of fucked me up. Prior to this, I had never gone out of my way to watch any horror media that was about cults but after playing this game, I have really started to. This game made me realise how truly fucking horrifying cults are and I feel like it’s something most people do not properly grasp. If you just want to play video games for the exciting gameplay and cool jumpscares - and I don’t blame you - you will downright dislike this game. My advice is to not play it. However if you’re willing to let yourself be lost in a disturbing story for an hour or two, then I can’t recommend this game enough. Again, I knew little about cults prior to playing this game but even as I played it I had one thought in mind; this feels like such a real depiction of a cult. And I think that’s how the horror in this game really works. This feels like a story that really happened and these tapes were really recorded by the victims. Such a disturbing story but honestly this is one of those games that when I walked away from it, I just kept thinking about it and I doubt I’ll forget about it anytime soon. Really cool visuals, a very immersive story and it made me realise that cults really fuck me up! Definitely recommend to anyone who’s willing to give it a shot.

In many ways a standard walking sim, but there's an ineffable something that, compared to others in the genre, Sagebrush absolutely nails. Is it the way it humanizes its subject matter--often sensationalized? The protagonist, maybe?

I'll say this: a lot of environmental storytelling games have an "empty showroom" feel, where a town (lighthouse, forest, what-have-you) has been conveniently vacated for us to gawk at. The protagonist is oddly removed from the proceedings--a player-insert, or perhaps voyeur. (As much as I liked Gone Home, I didn't buy that these people were related to me.) In others, the spotlight is on the protagonist's psyche, with the environment rendered little more than a pretty but irrelevant set-piece for them to navel-gaze at.

Sagebrush doesn't fall into either of these traps. The protagonist's presence makes the story of the people who lived here much more real, and her trajectory through the environment tells a story about her, too. The tense moments reflect a particular person's fears. I thought these elements were interwoven really well, telling a story about the mundane horror of cults: thought control, sexual abuse, and shame at having been abused. I can't say I loved some of the pixel-hunting for keys, but I found it very emotionally affecting.