Sally Face Episode 4

This game is quite disturbing; I’m going to start you off with that now. Follow Sal Fisher as he converses with ghosts, solves puzzles and riddles and makes incredible sacrifice in an attempt to protect the world from forces that he can’t fully comprehend in this episodic masterpiece, Sally Face Episode 4: The Trial by Steve Gabry.

Gameplay

This is a point and click adventure game with strong narrative driven gameplay. It’s up to you to decide how you will interact with the world that Sal occupies. The game rewards curiosity as to complete the story, you will need minimal effort but to learn more about the world and uncover more of its layers, you will need to dig deeper and push through some real head scratchers.

The game bears strong concept resemblance to Fran Bow by Killmonday Games. Dark fantasy adventure games with strong gothic horror and heavily narrative based stories. There is a lot to it and I would recommend a couple of runs through or maybe even make use of a walkthrough guide. Don’t let the first episode make you think the game will be simple all the way.

The Story

This game is episodic, breaking the sections of its story up so it may leave you on a cliff-hanger at the end of each but it really is better if you play them all as one. The first episode follows Sal Fisher as he recovers from a wound that has left his face heavily scarred, he and his father move to the small apartment with odd neighbours who all grow to be somewhat close friends.

Episode 4

Episode 4 is when things really start to go downhill for our plucky protagonist. It’s at this point that every falls apart and descends into a bizarre madness. Sal has to do some truly terrible things to a lot of people. This game is fantastic but it disturbing; some of the things it suggests, it shows and it makes you do can be quite horrifying and can leave you feeling a little raw.

Consider this a warning; the events that transpire in this episode, although narratively brilliant, are saddening and disturbing on a profound level. I was shocked that the story took a twist like this, even though I was glued to the screen the whole time. Player Beware! That may have sounded like a negative, but I can’t really pretend that it is, as it’s brilliant. The themes are dark and it really makes you think about it long after you stopped playing.

Art style

Designed like a flash game, this has a rough aesthetic as it looks like it was animated with drawings from Microsoft paint. That being said, the art does not detract from the game, rather it makes it stronger. The players are shown this gruesome and gory world where the unclean look to everything helps make you feel uncertain and somewhat queasy.

Pros

• Incredible narrative
• Brilliantly realised world
• Fantastic characters
• Interesting art style reminiscent of games long past

Cons

• A few things happen in the game that I cannot 100% agree with being shown