The Story of Henry Bishop is an indie horror game filled with escape-room-esque puzzles that proves how ideas and execution are more important than technicality, in which the game shows a little more than conventional walking-horror but a lot less than a survival-horror, all made only by one kind mind with passion in horror.

One Man's Passion for A Game's Horror

A horror game enthusiast would most likely be burnt out by now by the scares and sorrows dumped into the game as a couple of cheap tricks to get you convinced you are spending your money right. Nobody ever gets fooled by this delusion though. At this point in the horror landscape,  indie horror IPs are so saturated that what scares people away more is its own quality or lack thereof. However, you will still find yourself a hidden gem once in a while.

The Story of Henry Bishop is such a hidden gem that should have shined brighter. The creator, Nikolay Lazarev (name extracted by his email) spent 3 years making this game, alone. I’d say 3 years well spent as what the game offers prove to be a solid experience of horror and the fight against horror, with a little mystery unveiling on the story and brain exercising on the puzzles. It is a short game, but it spends every second keeping you entertained with different ideas. Creepy ideas crawling around the corner, frightening ideas chasing across the corridor, shocking ideas shrouding over the sky...quite literally (wink). In the late game, it feels like it takes the ambition of survival horror, but knowing one creator can only do so much, and strips down the genre’s most fundamental experience - having something to defend yourself in the midst of terror for the sense of short term relief, to give you a little taste of achievement.

It is very well done in terms of pacing. The horror in this game is paced quite rapidly as you’ll encounter the first enemy in the tutorial with a very short build-up beforehand. It is then spread across the game by shuffling the experience with puzzles, stories and small amounts of looting. It doesn’t rely on jumpscare that much, but a lot of shocking scenes to heighten the stakes. The story from the scattered notes itches you with imagination but it does fall short in environmental storytelling. The environment tells you very little about what really happened despite some hints here and there. What the environment does best however is how it stages the horror. One particular scene creeps me out just because of how well the scenario is staged, from what comes before and what follows after. In that scene, you’ll see a bloody footprint leading you to a corner, what’s chilling isn’t what you find but the process leading to it. These short moments really build the game a lot into masterful terror without using cheap scares.

The Fun When You Are Not Scared

The game jumps into action rather quickly but doesn’t feel out of place. The inventory UI suggests that you will get weapons to defend yourself which is a smart way to let you yearn for the moment you pick up that satisfyingly blasting shotgun. The gunplay is not exactly smooth but it isn’t a shooter to begin with so depending how forgiving you are in this sort of thing, it can be shrugged off the shoulder. Sure it could have been polished further, but 3 years are long enough to create this decent experience that speaks volume. It makes you scared, makes you think, then rewards you with something to defend yourself.

The whole game is also built with escape-room-type puzzles. The puzzle in this game is brilliant. A few of them utilize the natural mechanic to solve, meaning by putting a little thought in what could be the twist of the mechanic, could assist you in shouting Eureka!! Most of the time the puzzles are straightforward - find this, unlock that, but some require squeezing your brain slightly. It’s very fun and challenging, as well as intense when the horror hides around the corner. I find one description amusing. It says “the locker is locked”. I’ll just leave it at that.

The One Thing I am Frustrated About

The Door!!!! I can’t open the door the way I wanted! The door kept opening towards me, blocking my escape route and I died from it a few times. The door is not programmed to always open away from the players so please be mindful. Out of all the cluckiness in the controls, only this one really bothers me as you depended on it to survive. If the satisfaction of controls is your utmost priority, this wouldn’t be a game for you. It could be awkward sometimes but it isn’t game breaking. Other than the door, I have no problem navigating through the game. The ideas execution, addition to the passion shown in the game design totally redeemed the technical defect it suffers. The game may not have the best assets, best textures or the best music, but it has the best heart.

It is commendable what the developer has done with this little indie horror title. The ideas are rich. Although the game’s technical aspects feel unpolished (it is still very much playable), the content feels complete for what it’s trying to achieve.

Where's The Fun?

- Escape-room esque puzzle solving is fun while tense.

- Story has different endings depends on what you do near the end.

- A relief-inducing weapon at your service to make your fear less fearful.

Replayability: 2/10. Other than the multiple endings, it is not exactly built for multiple playthroughs.

Game Length: 100 minutes