Madison Review

Developer: BLOODIOUS GAMES

Platforms: PC (Reviewed), PS4, PS5, Switch (July 29th), Xbox Series X |S

Genre: Adventure, Horror, First-person

Publisher: Perp Games

MADiSON is a first-person psychological horror game. This game is developed by BLOODIOUS GAMES. Games similar to this game include Outlast; and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

You start trapped in a room full of distraught and bloody pictures. You find yourself making your way through your grandparents’ house and come across some horrific situations. You pick up an extremely handy tool, an instant camera, which helps you through puzzles to get out of the hands of the spectral spirit, Madison. It’s a pure puzzle game that features no combat, unlike the combat found in games such as Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

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The controls for the game are very straightforward when playing on the PC. It is very useful how the game shows highlights of the controls at the bottom of the screen when interacting with items. If the game did not have this feature whilst walking throughout the house, it would take much longer for the player to find what item they are looking for. Thus, making this feature extremely important. On the other hand, using the mouse to open the doors can be a bit frustrating. The control for the door or opening handles has a bit of weird pull back, which makes things slightly difficult.

The visuals of the game resemble another first-person horror game by the name of Outlast. The visuals are not as gory as you would think, but they are realistic. Tiny details like the cockroaches, the clocks and many other items bring the game more to life and are extremely compelling to look at. The minimal lighting brings the overall playing of the game harder, yet it puts the instant camera to a lot more use due to its flash. After using the instant camera in certain places like, for example, the picture of the man in the corridor. The effect that plays after using it, which is an intense screen shake and loud thump; leads to a change. Using the camera creates this horrifying, lurking atmosphere when playing. The game is played best during the nighttime, with the lights turned off.

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The game truly is best played with headphones on. Many sound effects like glass breaking, the creaking of the doors, and the creaking of the wooden floor add to the dreadful, paranoiac atmosphere. The voice acting done for the character makes the game even more captivating to play. The visuals coincide with the sound effects. We find the voice acting to be an essential part of this game-making; it so much better.

Unlike some other games where jumpscares tend to be finicky or predictable, this game does a good job when it comes to jumpscares. Our favourite jumpscare that caught us completely off guard was one found in a well and another in a corridor of the house. The jumpscares throughout this game are done well and do not compare to other games which have jumpscares that you can see coming. The difficulty of the puzzles increases as you progress in the game, meaning you need to pay close attention to your surroundings.

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Something about the game that we enjoyed was the whole story-driven aspect and being able to walk around taking pictures with the instant camera. We found the instant camera to be such an interesting feature of the game, which made it different from other horror games. The idea of the instant camera opening up new areas and helping get deeper into the game is done wonderfully. We would want the door mechanic to be fixed up a bit, as it seems slightly stiff. Also, it is interesting how you can take many pictures without running out of film!

If you are looking for an atmospheric well, story-driven horror game with aspects of puzzling and using a surprising well mechanic, which is the instant camera. This game is then just for you. For horror game lovers, and even if you want to try out a really good horror game on its own, then definitely give MADiSON a try!

Overall: 8/10