REVIEW – Agony: noun. Extreme physical or mental suffering. The final stages of a difficult or painful death. (Source: Google due to sheer laziness) Well, would you look at that, that’s exactly how I felt after playing this game? The word’s definition suits the game as well!

Agony could have easily been one of the most brutal surprises of the year: a small, Polish developer team could have created a horror adventure that could have pulled in a ton of cash for Madmind… but they took a step back and were not able to provide content behind the visuals. 1995, 2015, and in a sense, 1998 cries in the background: the Unreal Engine 4-using agony has stepped to a higher level. It could have redeemed itself but wasn’t able to do it.

Limitations

I was already suspecting something of a disappointment when they announced a day before the release that they have to censor the game. The devs were afraid that if Agony were way too violent, it wouldn’t have received an M (Mature) rating… If they had kept the game as is, they might have made Agony memorable, albeit in a similar way how 2015’s Hatred is remembered even today. The team could have received notoriety, but they were afraid of their team shutting down due to „lawsuits…”

What were cut from the game? As Madmind promised, they have released a video about the cut content, which shows off the scenes. I’m not going to comment it, have a look yourself:

Awakening in Hell, the Red Goddess offers you a way out, but until then, you will have to do a ton of puzzles, as well as hide from the demons – in the latter case, Creative Assembly’s 2014 game, Alien: Isolation, is laughing from outer space. Most of Agony will not give you a chance to defend yourself. Instead, you will have to hold your breath back, while also performing some possession on other NPCs – the game took cues from Clive Barker’s Jericho (and I have to mention that Barker’s style is somewhat (!) present in Agony).

Dying is something you will see often, and if your possessed character also figuratively bites the bullet and/or you aren’t able to possess something in time, you’ll see the pleasant sight of reloading the checkpoint, followed by the sight of those soul mirrors that act as checkpoints.

Finding a way

One of the biggest flaws of the game is how the visuals (which are demonic and gory in a depressive way, although the latter term’s quality is questionable…) have become the strongest point of Agony. The way it looks feels unfinished to an extent, and seeing how the gameplay feels unpolished as well (even after multiple delays, which can’t be forgiven!), Agony will become irritating in no time.

Despite having several endings, it becomes annoying, boring, or both at the same time. It doesn’t always explain to you what to do, and you also have to hide for way too much. At least you can have a look at the game’s world, which is lively, disgusting, and, from a bit of perverted aspect, ambient…

Technical failure

On a basic PlayStation 4, I noticed how there is a LOT of screen tearing. Well done! The voice acting is terrible here and there (while at other parts, it’s okay), and its volume balance is also problematic at some points. Well done! The frame rate feels unstable, and the game also tended to crash a few times (making it exciting for all the wrong reasons: when will Agony crash? oh wait, the cutscene didn’t trigger, time to restart!). LOL! Madmind wanted too much but they couldn’t stand a chance.

1995, 1998, 2015 – in 1995, Rise of the Robots felt like a technical masterpiece but the hype killed it, and the game was one of the worst of its decade. 1998 – EA, the publisher who bought Virgin, found that Thrill Kill is way too violent, and despite it being pretty much complete, deleted the game, which itself was a technical revolution, as it was a four-player brawl on the PS1. 2015 – Hatred’s extreme violence gains notoriety for its developers.

2018 – Agony‘s world (while it has a bit of awfulness to it, like how the blood shows up) was held back in a few scenes, but perhaps the risk of having them uncensored could have provided sales results. Instead, we received a downgraded, technically problematic, and gameplay-wise, way too stealth-based game, which had all the boxes ticked to get an 8 out of 10. However, its mistakes pushed it down to 5.5, and I was kind with its rating to be honest. This demon fell flat on its face, receiving one of the most disappointing games of the year award. It had the potential.

-V-

Publisher: PlayWay

Developer: Madmind Studios

Genre: Survival horror

Release date: May 29, 2018