Shadows 2: Perfidia

Is it Halloween yet? No? Well, Shadows 2: Perfidia will bring a spine-chilling experience to you!

Shadows 2: Perfidia is a survival horror game developed by MrCiastku. It takes inspiration from other survival horror classics such as Penumbra and Layers of Fear. All you need to do is get out of the office complex. Seems easy, right? Not when scary dark monsters are trying to kill you!

After a retirement party, you are left alone in an office complex. At first, things seem normal, but then weird things start to happen: weird shadows, strange sounds and…a lot of (moving) mannequins?
Each level looks mostly the same: you start from the elevator and you must reach the other elevator to go to the lower floor. But the road ahead isn’t easy. There are a lot of locked doors, items to find and monsters to avoid before you manage to run to the elevator.

Armed with only a flashlight, you must run from a room to the other, hoping that nothing scary will happen to you. The more you stay in that obscure place, the more you’ll feel worse, with headaches making your character dizzy. To feel better, you must either close your eyes and wait a minute or have a cold drink. You are also able to find notes in the complex in order to discover what is going on or to resolve riddles.

Each level looks about the same: they mostly have the same structure, the same corridors, and the same rooms, but they are filled with both scripted and random encounters that you must pass. There are also secret objects scattered around the map that, once found, will unlock extras such as artworks.

Shadows 2: Perfidia is filled with jumpscares. This includes loud sounds, fast-moving objects, and unexpected deaths. Sure, they may be cheap, but they are indeed scary. But the game will not only scare you with those jumpscares: since each level looks about the same, you will notice that things start to look…odd. Maybe there are limbs scattered around the map or the paintings on the walls start to change. It’s all in the details!

This game may be great if you are looking for something scary to play on a dark night, but it doesn’t come without issues. The assets are overused and look like plastic. The levels are repetitive, and random encounters are scarce. The story is only about 4 hours long if you play both chapters. Also, the framerate sometimes struggle if you are playing Michael’s story.

In conclusion, if you are looking for a scary game to play on one go, Shadows 2: Perfidia will surely do the job. While it’s not a perfect game, it’s fair for its price and it’s a good experience altogether. It’s objective is to be scary, and it does that correctly.

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Reviewed on the Nintendo Switch by Senpavo. Game provided by Ultimate Games.