I’m a newbie to horror games, so I’m pretty much a sissy when it comes to playing any title that’s supposed to be scary. That said, I have mixed feelings toward Black Plague. On one hand, I have to thank the game for giving me an enjoyable experience. On the other hand, however, I have to give the game the evil eye for not easing me slowly into the horror genre. Black Plague didn’t throw any minor scares my way for me to scoff at and use to build my confidence; it utterly decimated my bravery from the get-go. Black Plague, to put it bluntly, scared the crap out of me.
"Black Plague, to put it bluntly, scared the crap out of me."
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The interesting thing is that Black Plague doesn’t rely on the "monster pops out from behind a corner" brand of scare tactics. It’s much more subtle than that. What the game does is drop you into a musty environment where you have no idea what’s going on, and then it lets you create the unseen, imaginary monsters by yourself. And when you do actually encounter a monster – or an "infected" – you’ll be surprised and, frankly, scared; you’ll try to get away from the infected and stumble over your own footsteps in terror. Black Plague’s scariness, then, relies on frightening you with threats. It’ll threaten you by telling you there’s something behind the door you want to go through, and then it’ll back up its threat by making it seem like that "something" is going to barge through said door. Then it’ll laugh as nothing happens and you stand there, shocked and offended. It’ll put voices in your head that will confuse you and convince you to see things that aren’t real. In essence, what Black Plague does is make you not want to be where you currently are, and then make you want to go back to hide once you get to where you were trying to go. It makes you want to get out of this place you’re in and doesn’t let you do so. In short, you’re trapped in a living hell and there’s nothing you can do about it.
"I liked the open-endedness of the puzzles, and the game’s eclectic array of solutions gave me many satisfying "a-ha" moments that kept me intrigued."
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Black Plague is also quite the mind-bender. It’s largely puzzle-based in the sense that you have to solve cleverly constructed scenarios to pass through to different areas. You’ll have to collect various items strewn throughout the environment and use them in specific ways to bring about specific results. But that’s not as easy as it sounds: The game’s puzzles are not a walk in the park, and you’ll often have to rack your brain to come up with solutions. It certainly doesn’t help that there’s usually a distinct lack of clues to point you to the right way to proceed, but that could be a good thing depending on whether you like heightened challenges. Personally, I found myself fairly frustrated as to what to do in certain situations, but I concede that I still enjoyed solving my way through the game’s enigmas. I liked the open-endedness of the puzzles, and the game’s eclectic array of solutions gave me many satisfying "a-ha" moments that kept me intrigued.
After I finished playing this game the first time, I was unsure what to think about it. I loved the atmosphere and puzzles of the game, but I felt that I had to spend too much time walking around aimlessly figuring out what to do. So I played it again – and what’s more, I had a blast. I knew how to complete every puzzle, and yet I still enjoyed solving my way through the game. Furthermore, what boggles my brain is the fact that I was still scared out of my mind even though I knew exactly where every infected was going to show up. In fact, I was even more scared the second time than I was the first time. Maybe this was because I didn’t have to slog through long periods during which I was bored because I didn’t know what to do (my first run took eight hours as opposed to my second, three-hour run). So, I highly recommend playing through this game a second time. You’ll get more value out of it and have fun in the process.
"If you plan to play this game only once, then you should adjust my score to a 7.5 or a 7.0, depending on your tolerance for non-straightforward puzzles."
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That leads me to the 8.0 at the top of this page. Don’t forget to view my score through the lens that I’ve played through this game twice, thereby knowing the second time how to get through everything with ease. If you plan to play this game only once, then you should adjust my score to a 7.5 or a 7.0, depending on your tolerance for non-straightforward puzzles. This game is a lot more fun when you know what you have to do to complete the puzzles, and having knowledge of what to do doesn’t decrease the complexity of any puzzle. That makes me believe there could have been more hints dropped throughout the game to make the puzzles more palatable. So, think of the score for this game as a range between 7.0 and 8.0, but still know that Black Plague is a good game nonetheless. And don’t forget that you can buy it for ten bucks.
Also, don’t be a sissy! Make sure you play this game in the dark, and then make sure you turn the volume up on your computer (this game’s music and sound effects are superb). Oh, and make sure you play this game by yourself. Then you’ll have a great time getting the crap scared out of you.
