MADiSON Review – Ski Jumping Paradise

Psychological horror games have been very blessed lately, and every small studio that has even the slightest interest in scary games is jumping into it. However, in most cases, this is what is unflatteringly called a walking simulator, i.e. a game in which you only walk and, in fact, do nothing else. MADiSON from the small studio Bloodius Games is another such project, but a little more ambitious.

• Platform: PC (Verified), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch
• Publication date: 8. 7. 2022
• Developer: bloody games
• Publisher: bloody games
• Genre: psychological horror
• Czech localization: Not
• Multiplayer: Not
• Data to download: 8 GB
• Price: €34.99 (Steam)

In the game, we play as Luka, who wakes up in the middle of a dark room with blood on his hands, even then it becomes clear to him that something is clearly wrong. Also, his father claims that he is possessed by a demon, which Luka soon discovers may actually be the case. In addition, everything has some connection to his grandmother Elizabeth and the serial killer Madison Hale, who ran rampant in the area 35 years ago.

I found this story quite interesting and definitely had potential, but it wasn’t fully exploited. The game gives you more questions than answers, and much is left up to you. Basically it’s about the classic cryptic way of storytelling, which, of course, some people may like, but it doesn’t really suit me. In this context, I have to praise at least the high-quality dubbing, and not just the main characters.

In terms of gameplay, it’s nice that the developers have gone a little further than just walking around here. Your main subject is the camera, which you often use to advance the story. In addition, there are also many logic puzzles waiting for you. Or logical…how should I put it. Playing this game brought back memories of last year’s 12 Minutes game and the disappointment I experienced. Something very similar was waiting for me here.

The puzzles are often so poorly designed that you have little to no chance of solving them on your own, and you will be dependent on the tutorial. Some solutions do make sense and I couldn’t understand how someone could create something so stupid. It would seem that at least a trial and error method could be applied, but, unfortunately, no. Often it doesn’t even work. Often you just don’t know what to do and run from place to place. Sometimes you know what to do but don’t know how. In short, this is a perfect example of what bad game design looks like. Even on normal difficulty, the game doesn’t give you enough clues on how to proceed, and this is available even on higher difficulty.

Limited inventory is also related to puzzles, but it is not as limited as it might seem at first glance. You can carry up to 10 items and I almost never had to use the safe for storage. That is, I used it several times, but in the end it turned out to be a mistake and I had to return for an important item.

In any case, a good horror film must rely on a great atmosphere, and it must be said that there are some signs here. Variable environments and relatively solid sound design are a good foundation, but the authors preferred something else – jump scars. Of course, this is still clear a few times per game, but it’s not the case here. It’s been a long time since I had jump scars that spammed like this in the game, waiting for you, especially in the second half of the game, almost everywhere. I’m still waiting for the developers to finally understand that this is not the way to make a scary game. Of course you’re scared, but it’s not scary. The high level of jump scars made me even more upset. In most cases, there are jump scars “just because” and you are not even in danger.

I have to praise at least the visual side. The graphics are at a fantastic level, considering that only two people actually worked on the game. In addition, it is relatively well optimized. Fortunately, most of the bugs have been fixed, the game was in a deplorable state before release. I myself got stuck at the loading screen a few times, but luckily reloading the game solved it. However, I don’t understand the developers’ decision not to allow manual saving at all. You will be constantly dependent on autosave, and if something goes wrong, your progress will be lost.

In a word, MADiSON is another in a series of psychological horror films, which has an interesting idea, but not quite completed. The biggest plus is definitely the excellent audio-visual processing, but otherwise it doesn’t have much to offer. It’s a very frustrating experience that I can only recommend to the most die-hard horror fans who want another game from the genre.