Chillingo has helped launch some of the App Store’s best-sellers, including Angry Birds, but its latest title is without doubt the publisher’s most terrifying endeavor yet.
Building on the popularity of titles such as Dark Meadow and Walking Dead: The Game, In Fear I Trust first begins with a short sequence in which some of the app’s mysterious back-story is hinted at. But don’t get too comfortable, because little is given away. Instead, after the screen goes dark, players suddenly find the game’s protagonist regains consciousness in a deserted hospital some time in the near future, and moments later are able to take control and explore this dark, desolate environment in much greater detail.
You’ll need a strong stomach to endure In Fear I Trust.
The app takes a first-person point-of-view approach, and allows gamers to maneuver the main character using a combination of virtual joysticks with touch and tilt controls. This kind of setup makes it difficult to get a full grasp on your surrounding environment, and it seems this is the exact effect developer Black Wing Foundation is aiming to create; as such, players are never quite sure who – or what – is in the same room. Is that a person, a shadow, or just a trick of the light? To find out, gamers must dig deep and push ever onwards through the app’s many levels.
In Fear I Trust places particular emphasis on problem-solving, and players will come up against countless puzzles as they explore room after room in this abandoned hospital. Often, you’ll need to have found at least one item – and more frequently a couple of items – in order to unlock doors and interact with objects. Though some puzzles are certainly tougher than others, the app features a useful ‘retroactive’ mode which highlights clues and points of interest when activated. You’re equipped with a notebook, too, which contains notes made from all the items and objects you encounter, and you’ll often have to read through documents or listen to audio recordings in order to figure out how to progress forward in the game.
Some of the app’s in-game puzzles are quite challenging.
Feel the fear
The app includes support for auto-saves and Game Center, and both allow players to focus on the game’s content rather than having to worry about checking their save progress. Thanks to its use of Epic Games’ Unreal Engine 3, In Fear I Trust boasts exceptional graphics which render in minimal time (especially on Apple’s newer 64-bit iPhone 5s), and this joins with the app’s impressive storyline to create a truly immersive experience.
It’s worth stressing that In Fear I Trust is clearly a game that’s engineered to give players the creeps, and it does this brilliantly. Combining stomach-churning, grizzly content with graphics which are vague and purposely distorted, surprising sound effects, and eerie music, the app is hands-down one of the most haunting titles available in the App Store, and it’s definitely a game you don’t want to play after dark with the lights out.
Price: /£1.99
Size: 927 MB
Version: 1.0.1
Platform: iOS Universal
Developer: Chillingo
