The Final Take is the first title to come to Steam from developers HUSH Interactive. The game breeds a new sub-genre of horror, as it delves into the world of found footage; akin to movies such as The Last Horror Movie and V/H/S. This game has cropped up on "most anticipated" horror game lists around the web for the last few months, was it worth the hype and wait?
There's no doubt that this new sub-genre of horror games has extreme potential. There are many lovers of found footage style films, myself included, and bringing the concept to the world of gaming is a smart move that has somehow been delayed. However, with that being said, The Final Take does everything wrong in regards to capturing and embracing this monumental potential. The store page itself is highly misleading, and it's the biggest reason that I am down-voting the title; aside from it being excruciatingly generic in gameplay.
The store page states the following, which I will counter every point:
Multiple Character Stories (Switched up Gameplay) - There are two characters. Technically, "multiple".
Xbox Controller Support - Having a controller turned on or plugged in causes the game to go buggy.
Different AI Behavior (Each Level plays different) - The AI on every level simply follows you around, they are identical in behavior.
Gather Collectibles to dive deeper into the story - Little to no plot substance in any of the notes.
Hidden Objects only "Visible" by a few held items - One AI is visible by one camera, not "a few".
Play The Story in any order you choose - All levels unlock in a pre-determined sequence.
Re-Wire Locked doors, and lock pick to gain access to rooms - Two puzzles, neither of them contain "lock picking".
The page also claims that the game must be replayed in order to find new things. This is also untrue.
Now that I've called out the developers on misleading potential buyers with misinformation, I'll go on to explain just why this game is generic, aside from the style that it is presented in. You wander around, collecting notes and photographs... sound familiar? Aside from two very easy puzzles at the beginning, that is all you do in order to progress from one chapter to the next. All the while, an enemy stalks you by simply following you where ever you go; if you happen to run into them three times, you must start over again and recollect all of the notes/photos.
The game is very well optimized, and it ran at a stable 60 FPS for the entirety of my 45 minutes of play time. There are four chapters in all, and only the second chapter has you playing a different character; the rest of the time you're playing as a girl named Sarah. The story is confusing, mostly because the voice volume is so low you cannot make out a thing that the two characters are saying. While the VHS style "jumping" and static lines are a nice vintage touch, I found that they ended up giving me a headache over time. This was only furthered by the extremely poor visibility in the second chapter.
It's really a shame that The Final Take wasted all of the potential it had by being nothing more than a simple note/photo finding simulator. It's Slenderman hidden in a found footage style, replacing the man with a weird nurse or woman, or whatever she is. These factors are exacerbated by just how shamelessly misleading the store page for this title is. Quite honestly, I'd probably have given this game a 2.5 or a 3 if that weren't the case. There are a few moments of tension at the beginning, but it quickly wears off once you know the foes that you are up against. Do not support misleading developers. Stay away from this title.
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