Yuppie Psycho is a ruthless satirization of company grind tradition packaged right into a witty, terrifying thriller journey recreation. You play as Brian Pasternack, a younger man from the suburbs who’s been given an opportunity to make a reputation for himself within the large metropolis. Brian receives a mysterious letter with a job provide from Sintracorp, the world’s largest, most profitable company. It sounds stereotypical, but it surely’s the catalyst for a novel plot and setting.
From the primary degree within the recreation, the theme of hierarchy is established, and Brian is low within the pecking order at Sintracorp. He’s a category G citizen, it’s not the worst lot in life, however he’s nonetheless out of his component whereas speaking with the upper lessons. Working for Sintracorp may enhance Brian’s social standing, however the job provide letter had no particulars as to what he would really be doing. Brian is visibly totally different from everybody else, as his blue go well with stands out in a sea of grey and charcoal enterprise apparel. He makes use of first names as an alternative of final, a formality solely the higher class are accustomed to.
You wait within the foyer to your identify to be known as. Additionally within the foyer are; a belief fund man-child named Mr. Chapman, an upbeat new-hire lady named Kate, and an elevator. The belief fund man lambasts you for being class G and tells you that the flooring of the constructing correspond to the worth you’re price on the firm. Naturally, Mr Chapman is introduced all the best way to… the second of ten flooring. Kate, then again, is type and understanding of Brian’s discomfort, as she was as soon as a category E. She’s delivered to the fourth ground.
Every thing up till this level has been Disney-esque. The younger man chasing his goals, the bully getting what’s coming to him, the sort lady reassures you of your path. It’s all regular, till you enter the elevator. If you happen to have been inquisitive within the foyer, you’ll have recognized one thing wasn’t proper, you can have seen the warning indicators. Upon trying into the trash can, bugs scurry out in each course, and the ground seems grimey and cracked. The piano stings and synth construct suspense because the elevator strikes previous the second ground, and the fifth, and retains going all the best way to the tenth ground. Was the letter you got a golden ticket, or a dying warrant? That’s while you’re clued in to your actual job at Sintracorp. You stroll to the tip of the CEO’s workplace, and there, spelled in blood on display screen emanating static is your main job:
So, you do the one factor you are able to do on this state of affairs, signal a contract you don’t perceive and get to work. Properly, you are able to do that, or you can simply stroll proper out the door. That was how I first found that this recreation has a number of endings.
I known as this recreation a ruthless satirization of the company grind, and that wasn’t only a flowery description for the sake of the overview. This recreation takes each alternative to mock the company office. Your boss, Col. Dumont, is a Frenchman on a horse in imperialist garb, waving a saber like a madman. An excessive tackle an excessive boss. He actually takes your bonus cash for not degrading your self in the fitting order in entrance of him. At first it sucks to have your cash taken for a gag, but it surely simply makes the critique extra poignant. In what I imagine was a genius thematic transfer, cash actually by no means turns out to be useful all that a lot. You get greater than sufficient of every little thing you want from looting desks and cupboards.
There are many cases of nice gags on this recreation. At one level, you must fairly actually corral the PR division again into their pen (they stroll on all fours). You feed one in all them meal alternative capsules and he follows you again to his pen like a Minecraft sheep. That had me cackling. There are moments like this all all through the sport, and the overwhelming majority of those jokes land terrifically.
Yuppie Psycho balances humor and comedy exceedingly nicely, normally utilizing one to arrange the opposite. You by no means know while you’re going to have the rug pulled out from below you. There was one specific second the place my eyes rolled at a dumb joke, after which widened, staring on the display screen in horror as the remainder of the scene performed out.
The humor is backed up by the stellar audio work. Listening to Kate’s heels faucet faucet faucet as she runs to and from stacks of paper whereas making an attempt to carry a dialog with Brian introduced a smile to my face. The audio is great on this recreation generally. Listening to the crackle of the espresso machine because it fills my cup of joe additionally fills my coronary heart with pleasure. The audio additionally enhances the horror. When every little thing goes quiet throughout suspenseful scenes, it causes you to focus additional exhausting on the scene at hand, ready for the opposite shoe to drop.
The humor is generally character pushed. Sosa, your officemate, is borderline feral, missing any and all social graces. Your different officemate, Hugo, is a weird, upbeat fellow who exhibits you round your workplace for the primary time. Regardless of the situation of the constructing, it’s nonetheless a roughly functioning workplace, and there are many damaged, soul-sucked employee drones strolling about. There are different named officemates who you’ll get to know in time, every of whom look distinct, few of whom are regular. One notable particular person is Sintra, an AI created by Sintracorp to help staff with their duties, and is among the few people who is aware of you’re looking the witch. All of those characters profit from stellar sprite-work which provides them distinct silhouettes that contrasts their related workplace attire. The sprites on this recreation are nice generally, there was by no means a time after I was taking a look at an object questioning what it was purported to be.
The story of Yuppie Psycho has layers to it, and for those who’re keen to perform a little investigating, then you definitely’ll uncover a really attention-grabbing plot. Don’t assume this recreation is all horror or laughs, it may be fairly touching when it desires to be. Put together to have your heartstrings performed like a guitar. It actually encourages you to return and discover the seven endings. It’s going to in all probability take you about 10 hours to finish the sport as soon as, and you’ll load earlier saves to finish the opposite endings.
Talking of saving, Yuppie Psycho has a novel save system. You save in recreation at printers, however the catch is, you want an merchandise to do it. The merchandise is known as witch paper, and it will get consumed upon use, so you possibly can’t save everytime you need. This is usually a drawback for gamers with shorter gaming classes. Among the puzzles can put on on you (shoutout to ground 3), and typically you simply wish to take a break and go play one thing else, so it could possibly make the sport really feel tiresome often. The system is great at constructing a way of dread, and including a significant option to an motion so simple as saving. On the finish of the day, saving your recreation continues to be a utility, so think about for those who needed to get an merchandise to alter the brightness or subtitles. All in all, you get greater than sufficient witch paper to save lots of when it’s essential, and it not often felt overbearing in my longer play classes, however I can see the way it may flip some folks off of the sport.
The gameplay leaves one thing to be desired. It isn’t horrible, but it surely’s undoubtedly not on the identical degree as the opposite points of this recreation. I solely skilled one bug in my complete play time, the display screen froze for about 30 seconds. With regards to presenting how enemies work, the sport, at occasions, neither exhibits nor tells. The primary time I encountered enemies, they only flung themselves at me with no warning or clarification to how they work. Generally you simply should get hit within the face to be taught your lesson. One ground specifically, ground three, was fairly tedious with patrolling, sluggish transferring enemies, and a restricted line of sight in a sprawling maze, however you wager this ground made me really feel one thing, and that’s how this recreation works general. The story and character interactions maintain you hooked with their intrinsic absurdity, thriller, horror, humor, and sentiment.
There are 10 flooring within the Sintracorp constructing, most of that are distorted in a roundabout way or one other by the haunting. It feels as if the constructing is barely holding collectively, rotting away as you play the sport. The state of the constructing provides to the cat and mouse recreation that’s looking the witch, and it’s eerie to observe folks work in such deteriorated situations like nothing is going on. The sport contains backtracking, however the devs made it simpler by opening up shortcuts as you progress. It’s clear that the devs needed the sport to be difficult, not irritating, and for essentially the most half, they succeeded. Nothing feels prefer it’s tacked on so as to add runtime to the sport.
Regardless of some often tough gameplay, this recreation is an absolute should for journey recreation followers, particularly those that take pleasure in a great thriller. The hostile denizens of Sintracorp are harmful, however the story beats hit as exhausting because the enemies do. Yuppie Psycho gave me chills, and it wasn’t at all times the darkish corridors, restricted imaginative and prescient, horrifying setting, or unnerving enemy design. Generally it was only a few strains of disarming dialogue that left me shocked, looking at my display screen. For the value of $16.66 and with the replay worth it provides, seize it. Funnily sufficient, checking steam low cost trackers exhibits that they normally low cost the sport for 60% off, that means it will value $6.66, if that isn’t dedication to the occult theme, then I don’t know what’s.

Whether or not or not you take pleasure in puzzle journey video games, Yuppie Psycho: Government Version is price a strive for its spooky ambiance, snigger out loud humor, and wonderful plot. It might need poor gameplay in some sections, however that poor gameplay is overwhelmingly outnumbered by nice moments. Add within the many enjoyable, visually distinct characters to fulfill, and there are only a few causes to skip Yuppie Psycho. This recreation could have you charmed from the primary scene all the best way to one of many seven endings.
PROS
- Nice Story
- Balances Humor and Horror Properly
- Attention-grabbing Characters
- Distinctive Setting and Theme
CONS
- Enemy Encounters Really feel Half Baked At Occasions
- Save System May Be A Deal Breaker For Some Gamers
Jackson likes to play and write about video video games. Rogue-lites, FPS, and RPG video games are his favourite. He is an enormous fan of the Battlefield sequence and Warhammer 40K.
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