‘Distrust’ Review (PC)
If you’ve seen John Carpenter’s The Thing you’ll know that feeling of claustrophobic isolation that the film created so well. When looking for a fun game, this probably isn’t the experience you are looking for. Distrust looks to give just that, but thankfully doesn’t give up on the fun.
When starting the game, you have to pick the survivors from a helicopter crash. They have their traits that will help them to survive the Antarctica base they are trapped in. Once picking your little duo, your job is then to search the base for a way to get to the next level. All the time the alien presence at the base is sapping away at your sanity, and even worse, looking to take your life.
As you would expect in a game based on survival you need to keep warm, keep fed, and keep rested. When you decide to rest though this is when the aliens start to appear. This is just another danger for you to try to escape.
While the aliens themselves aren’t that scary, they are an annoyance that do their job well. The longer you survive, the more dangerous the aliens get, and more formed. If they were the only dangerous elements to the levels, you may stand a better chance to escape.
On many playthroughs there is a feeling of luck as to if you’ll survive or not. Sometimes you’ll start the game to find there is plenty of food available, and other resources to keep you alive long enough to find out how to get out of the level, and do so as quickly as possible.
It is expected in Antarctica that you are going to get cold, very cold. This is the most dangerous thing that I found in the game. Many times you find your character running from cabin to cabin as quickly as possible. This causes stamina and warmth to take a hit. Not being the best player, I often found that by the time I managed to get where I needed to, at least one of the characters were ready to drop.
Survival games are based on staying alive as long as possible, and even if there is a “monster” out there trying to kill you, your resources are the important element. This is something that Distrust does well. At the start of your playthrough, the focus is on making sure you have heat, that food is found and are able to explore your surroundings. The randomising of the levels keeps things fresh, which leads to different playthroughs each time, and thankfully the game doesn’t overstay its welcome, while being rewarding in the characters it unlocks.
While Distrust is influenced by The Thing, don’t expect this to be the game of the movie. I will admit that I would love there to be a good game based on the movie, but this isn’t it. What we have instead is a game that is easy to dip into, and enough of a challenge to keep you interested. Just don’t expect each playthrough to play out as fairly as you would hope.
**** 4/5
Distrust is available on the PC now.
