A few generations ago horror games were seldom seen, especially on Nintendo platforms. Even something low budget such as Cursed Mountain – a forgotten survival horror from 2009, published by a fledgling Deep Silver – gained a reasonable amount of press coverage, at least during launch week. Skip forward some fifteen years later, and things couldn’t be more different. Horror games are more common these days than first-person shooters. So much so, that The Beast Inside arrived on Switch with almost zero fanfare despite being well-received on other consoles. And during Halloween, of all times, too.
It probably didn’t help that it was buried under a mountain of Switch eShop shovelware on launch day. That, and the suspicious lack of screenshots on its eShop page – although this may be due to a specific reason. On current gen consoles, The Beast Inside is reasonably accomplished visually, featuring rich and dense UE4-generated outdoor locations along with indoor areas realistically lit by candlelight. This Switch iteration is majorly scaled down; instead of dense forests, we get patchy almost desert-like locations with a few shrubs that pop-up as you approach. It also takes a few seconds for textures to appear on any interactable object, and loading screens can sporadically appear while traversing more open environments. It isn’t a car crash of a conversion – indoor areas still feature a lot of detail – but it is stripped back. If you’ve never played (or even heard of) the PC/PS4 versions, the differences in visual quality may not be too apparent – there’s just a bit of pop-up and delayed textures to endure.
The good news is that little else is compromised. It remains an engaging and surprisingly lengthy (8-10 hour approx.) horror adventure, with plenty of intrigue to spare. The story begins in 1979 with Adam, a skilled CIA code breaker, relocating to a disused family countryside home. The Cold War is underway, and silence is needed to decipher the latest batch of messages intercepted by the US military. But while decorating the family-owned property, Adam discovers a journal written in the early 19th century belonging to Nicolas Hyde, a former resident. The journal details an eventful night that starts with the house being spied on, leading to a break-in and an attempted murder. Consumed by the discoveries before him, Adam sets about retracing Nicolas’ steps, harnessing his code cracking skills to figure out what really happened that night – and whether the house has more secrets. It’s a quest that takes him out of the property and into the surrounding woods and caves, in addition to what’s left standing of 19th century inn.
What then ensues is a storyline spread across two time periods set within the same locations. Adam’s storyline mostly takes place during the day and has a puzzle solving slant, with the CIA specialist entrusted with a prototype device that detects abnormalities. Think along the lines of the PKE Meter from Ghostbusters, only with a greenscreen monitor and the ability to emit EMP blasts. Often, you’ll be tracking signals only to find an obstacle or blocked path, requiring you to find an alternative route. The areas Adam investigates are long disused and abandoned, making for a hazardous journey. Nicolas’ sections, meanwhile, are horror based and set during nightfall. Nicolas carries a lamp that requires oil, which is easily refilled, and can also light candles – although these are in limited supply, almost making you think about which areas to luminate. It isn’t long until Nicolas finds himself pursued by foul beasts, resulting in a mix of stealth, chase, and combat scenes – with one chapter adding a revolver to the inventory. It’s only at this point that a ‘Game Over’ becomes possible, with each retry resulting in a 30-second-long loading screen
The two intertwined storylines make for a decent pairing, offering different mechanics and ideas. Although the two protagonists walk the same path – albeit a good hundred years apart – it doesn’t feel that assets are lazily reused, with most locations being remarkably different. The voice acting is decent too, and even though Adam swears often, said expletives aren’t wholly unnecessary – something some recent horror games have been guilty of. There’s even a sprinkling of innovation here thanks to the physics engine. Not only is it possible to pick up and examine items fully – before carelessly discarding them in an unintentionally amusing manner – but large objects such as tables can be dragged to unblock doorways or reach higher areas.
Although main objectives can be sometimes vague, Adam will provide a vocal prompt if you dawdle for too long, and puzzles can be skipped after around five minutes of head scratching. It’s a very different, ahem, beast to the recent Puppet House, where puzzle solutions were commonly found in the adjacent room to where they’re required. Progress can occasionally grind to a halt though, calling for backtracking or more thorough searching. It can also be hard to distinguish the boundaries of outdoor locations, making it difficult to tell how large, or small, some puzzle areas are. Throwing another spanner into the works, small text can be difficult to read when playing on a Switch Lite, especially “handwritten” notes using italic fonts.
You may have already guessed where this review is heading. The Beast Inside is a decent horror adventure, but this isn’t the best way to experience it. It isn’t another Switch ‘miracle port’ – it’s a compromised version that’s been stripped back to get it running smoothly, and it also feels that the Switch’s small screen wasn’t taken into consideration. If you’re hankering for horror thrills and this is your only option, you’ll find that this is a long-lasting experience with an engaging story and plenty of revelations, but you’ll also soon discover that there are rough edges to contend with. It isn’t as disastrous as the conversions we saw during the Switch’s early days, but neither is it a showcase of what the system is capable of with a bit of thought and attention. It’s merely a sufficient way to see what this intertwined tale has to offer.
Ultimate Games’ The Beast Inside is out now on Switch. It’s also available on PC, PS4 and Xbox One.