Game Review: The Eerie Surroundings

By Al

Players: 1
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC

The Eerie Surroundings is a continuously looping, spot-the-differences type game that has a horror aesthetic. It's out now on PC and the Nintendo Switch, and we're going to be taking a look at the Switch release today. This is a rather small game, so we're going to dispense with the intros and get right into it!

No matter what I end up writing here, I'm sure that finishing this review will take longer than me completely beating the game. I saw everything it had to offer in about 20 minutes, and I think that's going to be the standard experience for most people. Simply put, The Eerie Surroundings doesn't have a whole lot of either story or gameplay to cover, but I'm going to do my best. You're locked in an endlessly looping room, and the only way to break the loop is to take note of any anomalies the room may have. You move in a first-person perspective, and there is literally no other action for you to take beyond movement. Selecting "anomaly detected" or "no anomaly detected" is done by stepping into marked elevators, and a correct choice moves you to the next floor where you repeat the process. It takes ten floors for you to escape, and you unlock a new room if you beat the time limit. There are a total of three rooms to experience, and that's the entire game. Seriously, that's it.

Graphically The Eerie Surroundings does give off some spooky vibes, but the small scope of the game keeps those vibes from ever truly landing. There also are some atmospheric sounds (maybe music?) that helps set the mood, but none of its worth mentioning. That brings us to my big problem with the game: it just doesn't feel eerie enough. I'm pretty sure this game uses pre-made assets, and I couldn't help but feel that adding in more spooky bits here and there, maybe a jump scare or a flickering light, would've done wonders. I know that's not the genre this game is going for, but the gameplay loop feels rather empty as it stands. It all just feels so bland, and you don't even have a cool title screen or room clear screen to spice things up.

It's funny because at first I didn't realize I was unlocking each room as I went. I simply thought that they were available, and it wasn't until I read the game's online description that I realized that only one room was unlocked from the start. I had no problem at all clearing any of the rooms within their time limits, so I guess that's why. Each playthrough does seem to be random, so memorization won't help you here, but the differences are usually so obvious that it all feels trivial. The three rooms do offer some variety, though I think it's very strange that only the second one has instructions as to how to play the game. The gameplay isn't rocket science of course, but knowing that the first room is always the baseline, and "no anomaly detected", would've saved me a minute or two in my first playthrough. There's nothing more to do gameplay-wise once you clear the three rooms. I guess you can go for better times, but I honestly can't imagine anyone bothering with that sort of thing. Lastly, the stage select screen looks like it could hold four rooms, but it only has three. That's just weird.

All in all, I didn't hate my time with The Eerie Surroundings, but I still don't think I can recommend picking it up. I know that there's an entire scene out there for games like this, and it honestly isn't a bad one as far as that goes, but it also doesn't have anything that makes it stand out. At $3.99 I guess it's cheap enough to grab on a whim, but I can't help but feel that even that price is just a little too steep. If you're a fan of these spot-the-difference type games, then maybe you'll have fun here, but everyone else is better off grabbing an actual survival horror title instead. See you in the next one.

Check Out The Eerie Surroundings on Nintendo Switch:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/products/the-eerie-surroundings-switch/

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Story: N/A
Gameplay: C
Graphics: B
Music/Sound: B-
Value: B

Overall: B-

Pros:
+ Gives off decently spooky vibes and atmosphere.
+ Runs well and doesn't have any issues as far as performance or controls go.
+ Relatively cheap, so you can at least pick this one up without needing to break the bank.

Cons:
- Has a very repetitive, borderline boring, gameplay loop.
- Could've used better graphics, sound, or presentation.
- Just isn't nearly as eerie as I would've hoped.

A copy of this game was provided to us free-of-charge by the publisher for the purpose of this review. This did not affect our review in any way.

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