14 DAY TRIAL // 
The two-step authentication on this blog is centered around a pattern, which makes sense given I am currently using a phone to access it, and then a twisted take on the classic anti-bot CAPTCHA system. I know I have the answer to both questions somewhere in the files that the previous owner left scattered on the device. The problem is that I have a strong first guess that does not match the expected solution.
So it’s time to scroll through a ton of messages on a social network, trying to see how many weird apparitions I can find that match the local legends about the Beldam. The town might not be real but it manages to draw in a ton of supposedly supernatural phenomena that most players will find have been popular on the real-world Internet.
Simulacra 3 is developed by Kaigan Games, with publishing from Neon Doctrine. I played it using Steam on the PC. The title offers a mystery centered on a small town and its supernatural mysteries, with a lot of puzzle mechanics.
Gamers will take on the role of an intern at the Stonecreek Citizen, the local news site, who gets a weird and important first assignment from supervisor Ruby. People are disappearing all over town and the authorities seem to be more concerned with promotional efforts and crackdowns on dissent. But Ruby has received the phone of a local history buff and software engineer Paul Castillo, who has ideas about what’s happening and why. You need to become familiar with his device and see what kind of clues he has hidden and where they lead.
Because the game lacks the resources to allow players to move around the fictional town, gamers will only interact with the smartphone, trying to get more details about the narrative, and unlocking a variety of pieces of media.
Meanwhile, Ruby will move around Stonecreek, delivering her own bits of information and guiding the player in his investigation. As long as gamers acknowledge the limitations of this approach, it works pretty well and creates an interesting universe.
Simulacra 3 does a good job of fleshing out the town of Stonecreek, with its mythology, focused around a supernatural creature called the Beldam, its worrying present, and the mysterious disappearances of citizens. The characters, although a little one-note, also work well within the story.
There’s a lot of writing to get through and it’s mostly decent in terms of quality. Just be prepared to deal with many of the tropes of the horror space and its supernatural niche (some of which have been better executed elsewhere).
The biggest issue with Simulacra 3 is that everything happens on a found smartphone. Players don’t get to actually go to any location or interact with the town directly. Text conversations reveal characters, their role in the narrative, and point players toward puzzles.
There are full-motion video sequences that do the same. Gamers need to investigate audio diaries, images, locations, and more. Production values are decent. It takes a little time to understand the layout of the phone but, once that happens, it’s relatively easy to move from one system to another and get information to make progress.
The ATLAS map layer is the main way to unlock new content and clues. Players need to match notes to locations, which is not as hard as it sounds. Various town landmarks also need to be connected, based on how Paul moved between them. Once new content is revealed, click over to explore it and determine what the next puzzle requires.
The designs are inventive and the solutions are never divorced from the game’s reality, although a few are obscure. Always check in with Ruby to get a few more details about what’s expected of you to push the story forward. The title never manages to shack off the fact that everything happens via the phone but it makes a solid effort to deliver an immersive universe. There are a few jump scares that feel telegraphed.
But the psychological horror side of the game is good, with a creeping sense of dread that seeps through the cracks of the small town facade. The experience would have been elevated by focusing more on a smaller cast of characters, giving them more to do that simply serve as signposts along the mystery-solving road.
I found it best to play the game in relatively small chunks, solving one or two puzzles and then allowing Stonecreek’s weirdness to live in my head for a while. There’s some frustration, but nothing that stepping away from a puzzle for a while cannot solve.
Simulacra 3 uses its restrictions well and delivers a good-looking experience. The full-motion video sequences push the story forward in cool ways and have solid production values. The smartphone might not behave like any modern device but the layout allows players to quickly move between clues, puzzles, and potential solutions. With limited resources, the game evokes a place and the feelings it extracts from characters. The sound design is less attractive, mainly because the phone noises become repetitive very quickly and the other sound effects are geared toward jump scares.
The Good
- Small-town mystery
- FMV moments
- Some solid puzzles
The Bad
- No actual exploration
- Familiar story beats
- Some limited puzzles
Conclusion
I appreciate the way Stonecreek emerges as an interesting place, regardless of how the player feels about the horror moments and the direction of the narrative. I actually wanted to get more details about its past and how various characters feel about living there. Simulacra 3 shows that Kaigan Games has become very good at delivering this type of experience but a little more innovation would be appreciated for their next project, as well as more depth.
A review code was provided by the publisher.
