Vertigo Temple

Vertigo Temple is a really singular game - this is not an rpg or adventure game, I consider it as a visual novel or an interactive tale of mystery and horror. It's a short experience of little more than an hour (I finished it in about 70 minutes), and it's more akin to a short horror tale.

The gameplay is really linear and just consist in exploring the world around you collecting some items, reading messages on the mobile phone and using a computer. In few words you have to walk around an read a lot, there's no great interaction with the surroundings or choices, but it's as good as reading a good book.
I will not tell you about the story, since it's the main course and it's one of the best parts of the game, but I will tell about graphics and music:


Welcome to a dark and creepy world of conspiracies, religions and mysteries

Game uses a simple side view (even if you can interact with items and doors on the background and foreground, for example) with some resources (like charsets) that I am pretty sure are edits from the First Seed resource pack and some instead from other rpgmaker resources. The final result are that the locations are really colorful and detailed, with a clever use of lights and shadows that creates a dark and mysterious atmosphere. There are also some videos and images seen through the phone, computer or television that contribuites to create an uncomfortable atmosphere of dread and mystery. In the end I liked a lot the graphics of this game, simple but really atmospheric, there's a certain rising crescendo that cannot be denied.

Sounds and music follow the same steps of graphics in creating the atmosphere. Surprisingly I found the musics in background well varied and not repetitive at all, while sounds are just few and the only one I remember well is the humming of the messages on the mobile phone, since you will received and send a lot of them.


There's something quite unsettling here...

Verdict
This game despite being quite simple and short starts rather quietly and then it becomes better and better. I mean that as you progress both music and visual effects become amazing, and the story ensure that you keep playing until the end. Really I was totally forced to see what was going to happen and the ending did not disappoint me. Clearly its a game that not everyone will appreciate, there is no action, strategy or upsetting scenes, so people who do not like reading this kind of stories would probably not appreciate this fully. But it's clearly well planned and well made. No doubt: writing, music and mapping are all of high level and quality, I also found zero typos or errors in this game.
So?
4/5, very creepy and very good.


Do you trust in life after death? 
Do you believe there is room for true love on this earth? 
Do you understand our heavenly father's plan for us all? 
The kingdom of the heavens is at hand!