One of the things I love about Virtual Reality is that it really does a lot to amplify the enjoyment of a game. That increased sense of immersion can help with pretty much anything, although horror is where is shines the most. I find it hard to be scared by any type of horror media since the existence of the screen breaks any sense of immersion and danger; however, VR changes all that. Being ‘inside’ the game world definitely makes it far more unsettling, which is why it’s sad to see that there aren’t way more horror games available on the platform. I suppose the reason is that people are too scared to play VR horror games, so there’s not a huge market for them.

Which is why I got excited when I saw the announcement for Hello Cruel World; promising to be a creep puzzle horror game developed by a publisher with a solid reputation, it seemed like it could be fantastic.

Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

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F IN CHAT
Playing as a streamer, whose content consists of them delving into abandoned places for the entertainment of the ever-present chat stream, you arrive outside your latest project: The Crab ‘n Grab. This abandoned seafood restaurant doesn’t seem like it’d be that much of a problem, but as you soon find out there is something going on underneath it all.

Fate will soon put you into contact with a trapped young woman, who seems to be undergoing some type of cruel experiment. Just what the hell is going on here? Can you get her out of there? And, more importantly, can you get the hell out of there too?

It’s worth keeping in mind going in that the game does deal with some heavy issues surrounding transphobia and homophobia. It does warn you before going in, but it’s probably a good idea to be aware of it before going in.

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Despite its premise and the opening ten minutes or so, Hello Cruel World isn’t really a horror game. Despite the creepy surroundings, there’s no real sense of dread nor is there any threat in the game at all. Once the puzzle mechanics start, the game essentially becomes a series of electrical door-opening puzzles until you eventually reach the end. It feels a little bit like a missed opportunity given the fantastic premise, and the lacklustre puzzling only really adds to that disappointment.

How the puzzling works is that you want to use the generator in each room to power up the appropriate receiver. To do so, you’ll typically have to move around pylons to help make the electric flow to where it needs to go. Of course, it’s not quite as simple as that as you may have to open other areas to acquire additional pylons so that you can make a long enough flow to reach the exit door.

There are a few tweaks to the formula along the way in order to keep things interesting, but the most interesting I found was an electrical gun that shoots out balls of energy, which serve the same purpose as the pylons but can be stuck to any surface. You only have limited shots, and there are other electrical sources that can stop the flow, but otherwise it’s a pretty fun device to use – mainly because you don’t have to worry about losing it.

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The reason I say this is that the game is more than a little bit buggy. Without the inclusion of hitboxes to push you back, it’s quite easy to reach through barriers such as lasers and door and accidentally drop stuff on the other side. At one point I pushed into a door because it was the way I came in, and before I knew it I’d lost the pylon on the other side – thus forcing me to reload the last checkpoint. It’s not just the bugs that can cause softlocks either since the floating electrical cores that you can move around near the end of the game can quite easily float away out of reach, thus making the puzzle impossible. The final real puzzle of the game was one I had to restart half a dozen times for this very reason, and the last automatic save point was a few rooms prior – thus forcing me to solve them all over again. As you can imagine, by the time I actually got through to it, I was keen to to just get to the end – making it hard to appreciate the final story resolution.

I really wanted to like Hello Cruel World, but honestly it ended up being a rather frustrating and tedious experience. It’s not just the lack of horror and the bugs that bothered me, but also the slow moving speed, the lack of variety in the puzzles, and the failure to implement its gimmicks properly. I realise that I haven’t talked about the chat stream that you can bring up, or the hand-microphone that you get early on; but the reason is simply because they serve no real function. I got by without using the microphone for the vast majority of the game, and the chat stream just says the same stuff over and over without ever really adding anything to the story. I had expected the chat to something that would prove to be important, or perhaps act as a subtle hint system, but all they ever seem to do is just say how you could do with a flashlight or comment on how much they like the stream. It’s absolutely pointless, and only really gets in the way. Thankfully you can turn it off, and I’d honestly recommend you do so if you do decide to get the game.

VERDICT
I really wanted to like Hello Cruel World, but after the horror-filled opening section, it suddenly turns into a series of rather tedious electricity puzzles. When combined with the bugs and soft-locks, it’s hard to really care about the narrative as it unfolds. Perhaps some of its issues can be resolved in a patch, but I don’t think it will be able to overcome the fundamental flaws that stop the game from being enjoyable.