Clea Review
Release Date: October 30, 2020 (Switch), July 10, 2019 (PC)
Developer: Invertmouse
Platforms: Nintendo Switch (Reviewed), Xbox One, PC
Price: $14.99 (Nintendo Switch), $10.99 (PC)
Stealth and survival horror have always gone hand in hand in a wonderful symbiotic relationship that's been around since the 90s and even more popularized by the 2000s thanks to the likes of Silent Hill, Amnesia, and more. We've seen publishers and developers far and wide jump into the genre and delve into their own sort of universe in unique ways like Nintendo with Eternal Darkness and acquiring Fatal Frame, Capcom with Haunting Ground, ATLUS with Rule of Rose, SEGA with Condemned, and so much more. Add the fact that indies have taken horror experiences to the next level not being afraid to experiment with the genre and trying new ideas, and we've seen titles that have no cemented themselves in the horror hall of fame with some of the all-time greats like Outlast, Layers of Fear, and more recent titles like Visage Phasmophobia, and House on the Hill. Invertmouse is much in the same vein as these, and as for as long as I've supported Invertmouse they've always released visual novels, until now (or a year ago on Steam) with Clea where they've designed a horror game that's a much different venture from the years of titles they've developed.
Clea is a skill-based survival horror game that takes a step back from cheap jump scares to illicit reactions from the player and instead relies heavily on its atmosphere and tension to make you feel uncomfortable as you go through the Whitelock Mansion avoiding the enemies that roam the halls in real-time and listen carefully for the footsteps and noise that you make. Enemies are smart - really smart - and to make matters worse if you get caught and you don't have any items that could repel them, it's game over. It's a one-and-done approach to gameplay that some may enjoy, but it's a brutal experience that, despite difficulty settings, can be problematic no matter which way you decide to play. Upon starting, you're introduced to Clea and her brother, and as it's time to go to bed, Clea decides to roam the halls knowing that she shouldn't because she's curious about a sort of ritual and experimentation happening. As you go aroudn the massive mansion looking to uncover the truth and get more backstory on everything that's going on through the notes and orbs you'll find, you'll have to do your best to tip-toe and hide to not be caught by the Chaos Servants. Clea keeps things interesting by giving more variety than other stealth-horror experiences as Clea has tip-toeing instead of crouching and in addition to hiding can also listen through doors to get somewhat of an idea of what's on the other side of a room before going in.
A lot of these mechanics personally didn't feel as fleshed out as they could have, however, due to what felt like odd controls to me on the Switch. The controls weren't particularly ergonomic, which is odd for a game like this where there aren't many button inputs to begin with, and my biggest complaint was not having an "equipped" item in the traditional sense where you can actually attach and use it in a button press instead of having to go into the inventory, scroll to the item, and *then* be able to use the item after pressing "use", and due to the fact that this menu - despite looking like a pause menu - doesn't actually freeze the world and things still move in real time, it can be extremely problematic when you're being chased and trying to repel an enemy only for you to die while looking at the inventory since you can't move while having it up either. Some games have worked around this by having a sort of slow motion effect as you're switching weapons or doing whatever, but in Clea everything needs to be planned ahead, and there's not really such a thing as improvising when something arbitrary happens. This sort of gameplay tends to frustrate me more often than not, because while there could be a level of skill needed as its advertised, it's what I like to call "choreographed experiences" where you need to perform things exactly as intended with little to no leeway. This makes the game to me feel more like a run of trial and error, and not in a good way like some puzzles or platformers have you do. Clea's approach to progression feels like something you do through practice rather than naturally, and it's because of that I feel more like I'm attending a class on how to play and beat Clea rather than having any genuine fun. Things get even crazier in the later levels thanks to interwoven doors and stairs where the only map you have is your memory as you'll find yourself running in circles, and with no checkpoints of the sort, any sort of capture and/or death results to going back to the main menu and having to load your previous save. Some doors remain hidden containing keys as well needed for progression, so if you're brightness settings aren't up to par you'd probably never even see it because of how subtle the outlines are, and when I found one I upped the brightness to max just to see what it would look like but it barely made a difference. With the entire mansion being 2D and filled with nothing but going in and out doors and effectively playing hide and go seek, hidden areas aren't something you look out for with tensions so high and constant chases. It's just hallway after hallway and door after door with odd symbols before turning into colors and nothing at all, so motivation to do so isn't particularly high either. The whole experience just sort of reminded me of the long, seemingly never-ending hallway area in The Matrix filled with doors evenly spread out for as long as the eye can see. Clea does, however, lend itself nicely to speedrunning for those that want the challenge, and once you learn the ins-and-outs of Clea's design, what feels like hours among hours among hours of Russian Roulette eventually becomes something you can likely finish up in the span of half an hour, but the initial charge I feel is more frustrating than rewarding and, in the end, simply doesn’t pay off in any meaningful way.
Overall, Clea is a unique take on the horror genre that truly does what it says and relies more on skill than anything else to get through the game. Clea is not easy, but a lot of the time it can unfortunately feel unfair regardless of how skilled the player feels like they can be. At times, it ultimately feels like a test of patience more than anything else, and while I'm someone who absolutely loves all sorts of survival horror games and dedicate so much of my time to them every single year, Clea feels different in how it handles its horror in terms of stealth and survival. You have your inventory management and limited saves (unless you enable Infinite Saves) which is no issue for me, stealth and survival is also something I'm all too familiar with, but it's the rogue nature of Clea that can feel like it's taking away from the experience rather than enhancing it with something like, say, Hades. Starting over from the previous save is also no issue and autosaves aren't always necessary in games - I'm someone who saves any and every chance they get anyways and marathon all the Resident Evil games periodically, so the similar system of Ink Ribbons is second nature to me - but it's the one-and-done aspect of Clea and its clunky controls (albeit simplistic) that cause a lot of the issue to begin with. You can avoid enemies that move around in real time with a repelling candlelight, sure, but the inventory doesn't act as a "pause", so when you open it up things are still happening in real time and if you don't immediately have it out by the time you're being chased, more often than not you'll find yourself getting caught and having to start over from your previous save. This constant back, forth, back, forth, back, forth nature of Clea kills the pacing, and even for a game that should be relatively short, it can't help but feel like it’s endless. Even with its multiple difficulty modes, nothing really feels different between them and, much like Alien: Isolation and how the Xenomorph would be an insta-kill and supplies were always limited to begin with, it very much is a situation where you may as well go hard or go home choosing the hardest difficulty right off the gate because the rest make no difference, or just avoiding the challenge all together.
PROS:
Great art that stays unique and helps give the game its own identity
Atmosphere is well done and the sound design helps amplify it
Storytelling is good thanks to Invertmouse's visual novel history, also accompanied by multiple endings.
CONS:
Can feel extremely unfair with how the chases and detection works
Hallway after hallway gets boring fast
A big thank you to Invertmouse for providing us with a copy of Clea for the purposes of this review