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Writer's pictureArielle Danan

Truth Speaks, Even From the Grave: Serena REVIEW (WARNING SPOILERS)

Updated: May 15, 2021

Intro: The dead have many secrets…Listen carefully; their stories are vast with lies, love and a dangerous mental cacophony which leads to our man characters downfall.


Over and Over and Over Again: We play as the husband in this game and, much like Layers of Fear, this game has the same theme of a never-ending loop of feeling like you’re going insane. Repetition in dialogue, the ability to examine several types of objects and the changes in environment that happen after a new discovery is made. The mouse pointer even changes as the story progresses showing the progression of how the story’s main antagonist withers in both his body and soul. The story itself it’s a very slow, and easy progression but when it builds up it takes a dramatic turn all at once which makes it feel unexpected. The ending, for me was predictable but at the same time it wasn’t because I was shocked that I was right about how it ended. The game itself is very simple in mechanics but the story has a dark overlay that drags you into it slowly, methodically and carefully. With each object you investigate it gets darker and more sinister and shows the antagonists true intentions that turn to be sinister. The lead character telling the story is very manipulative in nature, the cabin he lives in looks like something out of a horror movie and oh, did I mention, he killed his wife.


A Killer Mistake: the main thing I noticed about this game is how dissociated from the world the main character is. Much like Dorian Grey, he painted a beautiful picture with a reality that’s rotting away. In the beginning of the game you see a picture of a couple on the table, where the girls face is blurred and throughout the game the picture changes, and becomes more morbid and decrepit. The picture goes from a blurred face of who his beloved was, to an angered faced woman and a Skeleton faced man who proclaimed that he loved her. As the character you search the house for clues as to why she left, thinking hat she will be back, and that things will be fine. In reality the mindset of the husband's character is delusional and chaotic, every time he hears the clock he at first was reminiscent of the wife but then became angry at it and wanted to rip it off the wall. After going in a loop and hearing different sets of dialogue for a while, you are able to open the armoire, and surprise surprise his very much decomposed wife was in there, rotting away like the lie the husband had painted. Seeing that I let out a gasp and a loud “I KNEW IT” it was really interesting to see how the game progressed after that because he didn’t even recollect doing it. The house became darker, and two shadows talked outside the window, with main character yelling and wondering why and how this happened…at the end of the game the cabin is set on fire by said two people.


The Divorce is Final: Ending Thoughts. When a lie is strong enough, the person believes it as if it were their bread and butter. Everyone has skeletons in the closet; this one however is of the non metaphorical variety. This game is very short and to the point but is a good psychological horror game that relies heavily on the story that conveys a strong message of betrayal, delusion, anger, wrongfully placed hope and lies.

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