Mysterious intrigues mingle with youth drama in a story of terror with Re: Turn-One Way Trip, 2D side-scrolling horror RPG from simple gameplay to interactive puzzles in a graphic adventure sauce, developed by Red Ego Games and published by Green Man Gaming Publishing for Nintendo Switch; camping, night, five teenagers gather around a fire, perfect ready-made recipe that makes us wonder: where will the ghost story take us this time?
Paranormal activity
When it comes to horror there is nothing more classic than what we have said, tales of fear around the bonfire and of the boys left at the mercy of a gloomy forest; perfect incipit for Re: Turn, where our goal will be equally classic: to find our lost friends. In this title we will play Saki, a young girl who decides, with her group of closest companions including her boyfriend, to spend one last pleasant adventure together, at the end of their schooling and before officially entering the period of adulthood, having to respect all the obligations that it includes; an unexpected altercation, however, makes them divide during the night, and everything becomes bizarre as well as frightening when a dilapidated train appears, abandoned to rot in the heart of the forest. Climbing on it in search of our friends we will be catapulted into a horrific environment, where strange figures make their appearance and macabre events happen, remaining entangled in events that are beyond our understanding; we will therefore not only have to rejoin, but also to understand what is happening in this place, or rather, what has happened: in fact, during our adventures we will explore two parallel worlds, that of present time and that of past time, where still the car was shiny and in working order as well as populated by its old passengers.
All this we will basically do by moving in both directions and solving puzzles, we will have a small inventory in which to take into account the objects found and a diary to keep any notes, written or figurative; in terms of gameplay, the game manages to create a fun and basic mix between a point and click horror adventure, a visual novel and a classic RPG from the "rpg maker" mold, while remaining very simple and usable.
This "simplicity" is the cross and delight of the title, which essentially remains "light": basic in the mechanics, easy to approach, but also not very demanding in terms of the game and not too busy in terms of script, characters, plot, and scares. Instead, the aesthetics are very appreciable, the game map is all in all small but well cared for, detailed in fine pixel art, the sprites of the anime-style characters do not shine for originality but are well made (as regards other objects in game instead would have been welcome perhaps a greater uniformity of purpose); sound sector at the height, which manages to characterize well the gloomy atmosphere of a ghost train, with squeaks, noises and macabre verses.
Without going around too much, let's specify what has already been said: Re: Turn is a light game. It is not unpleasant to play and indeed manages to bring pleasant entertainment, but it often remains superficial; once you get used to the ghost train environment there will be very few real scares, so as a horror game it remains light. It will be pleasant to solve the puzzles to continue, but the development of the title will be extremely linear, we will hardly know what to do or we will have to squeeze our brains to get to grips with the puzzles, and obviously the two-dimensional structure does not help to add complexity: therefore at the level of gameplay remains a light title.
Finally, plot and characters: as mentioned above, the narrative base is based on some clichés of the genre, such as the group of teenagers who separate in a dangerous and abandoned place due to sentimental reasons inside the party (misunderstandings, by the way), perfect excuse to get caught up in paranormal events that involve ghosts, demons, and in this case figures inspired by the folklore and tradition of Japanese culture; nothing wrong from this point of view, and indeed a good way to arouse the player's attention, however the title does not go too far with its own and original elements, such as the dialogues of the characters that are uninteresting or sometimes bland and plot implications that, starting from intriguing intertwining, are resolved in a hasty and not so inspired way, ending in slips that can almost be defined as "holes" at the end. Generally nice and well-finished, but the memorable moments are just a couple, it tends to remain "flat" even if enjoyable.
Verdict
To conclude, Re: Turn-One Way Trip is a game that I certainly started with good spirit, imagining to find a title with very simple mechanics but with absurd and curious situations in line with other products of the indie rpg genre horror, and I was only partially disappointed; the lightness that characterizes the title actually remains a key aspect, and all in all playing it was pleasant, at times interesting and fun, despite its limited content and depth. The biggest sore point lies in the epilogue of the plot: the ending unfortunately gives way to bitterness, the events are resolved in an unsatisfactory way, and it leaves us struck by the fact that everything is reduced to a minimum with so much approximation. A discreet title, a good pastime and a nice game for those looking for, as already mentioned, a “light” horror.
Vote 6,5/10