"The Park" is a horror-themed Walking Sim developed and published by Funcom. In the game, we take control of Lorraine Maillard, a widowed mother of a single son, Callum. After Callum gets lost in the Atlantic Island Park, Lorraine enters the amusement park after closing hours and has to face not only the sinister, supernatural forces that seem to be embedded deeply within the Park and its history, but also her own tragic past as well as her struggles as a mother.

So, what did I like about the game? The titular amusement park is definitely an amazing setting for a horror story. It's fittingly eerie and rugged and gives you a bad feeling as soon as the sun sets. The developers also did a really good job in building lore about the location, gradually revealing all the tragedies, inexplicable accidents and other strange occurences that seem to accompany the amusement park since it's construction. The game is a spin-off of the MMORPG "The Secret World", which I haven't played (yet). Still it was quite easy for me to follow the general story. On the other hand, it really feels like a lot of the revelations hint at something bigger that you might only fully grasp if you played the MMO as well...

So with it's story, atmosphere and setting spot on, why can't I recommend this game? Unfortunately it suffers from some really annoying shortcomings that hit too hard to be overlooked. First, the playtime is short. Like, REALLY short. It took me around 80 minutes to finish the game and I was kinda baffled when I realised that. To be fair, the game is advertised as a "1-2 hour long game" on the store page, but it's definitely something to take note of, especially if you consider the asking price. I bought this game during a sale and bundled with "Moons Of Madness" and I still feel like I didn't get my moneys worth out of it. Of course, the reason for that is not only the short playtime. If "The Park" gave me 80 minutes of emotional rollercoaster (pun intended), mind-effing plot twists or the ability to influence the story through my actions and decisions, I'd gladly support the game with a raving review. But the reality is that a shockingly large amount of it's short playtime is actually spent by sitting through the several rides of the park. What might seem like a cool and obvious idea for a game set in an amusement park at first look, feels like a drag in its execution. The swan ride alone took around ten minutes to sit through while listening to a far too stretched retelling of a fairy tale that basically everyone knows by heart. On top of that, the final area of the game lets you wander through the exact same location time after time with only minor changes during each visit, ultimately feeling like the devs were just trying to extend the playtime instead of intertwining the narrative with the location. Coming back to my criticism of the short playtime, simply too much of that short time was spent with activities that felt like the devs desperatly tried to stretch the game a few more minutes than to focus on delivering an unforgetable experience.

So all in all, I must admit that while playing, I couldn't shake the feeling that a video game was simply the wrong form of medium to deliver this story. I feel like "The Park" could have been made into a decent movie or an interesting novella, but as a video game, it simply lacks the "gaming", even as a walking sim. It's not a particularly bad experience per se and can easily be finished in an evening. You should just be aware that you won't get a masterpiece of a video game here. If you're a horror fan, you might get some fun out of it, but I felt like I could have spent my money on something more worthwhile.

Alot of mental illnesses causes mother to hate own child. What could go wrong?