As I’ve shared already, I’m trying to play games outside of my comfort zone. Games that I thought might be scary have not scared me yet, so we’re taking another step into the horror genre and trying Visage. I gotta say, I don’t know if I can do it. I have done basically nothing except walk around screaming because a light turned off or I heard a creak in the floorboard. This. game. terrifies. me.

I’m going to tell you what has happened so far, but there’s really not a lot to say because I’ve just been trying to figure out how to cheat the system. These may be spoilers though, so read at your own discretion.

The game opens with someone killing his entire family and then himself. You find yourself waking up and walking out of the room and you are in your home. It’s just eerie. It’s poorly lit, it’s quiet, and you’re slowly wandering around.

The controls aren’t exactly intuitive for me, so I’ve accidentally eaten all of the pills I found (you are supposed to take these to maintain your sanity when your character starts getting unhinged) and I’ve drained my lighter of fluid so I can’t light candles anymore. I thought I was real slick walking around with it in my hand through the dark, but spoiler, you can’t do that. I also tried to light candles and walk really slowly with them in front of me. When I moved too fast and the candle went out, I turned and ran screaming back to the light.

I was in this bathroom and the lights went out of my all of a sudden. I started spinning around yelling trying to figure out how to get back into the hall.

The next few clips are here to highlight my terrible play style. I feel like you can see my fear in these so I’m going to go ahead and paint a picture for you with each one.

The first time I played, I played at night in a dark room. The entire time, I am saying “OH MY GOD” out loud. I can’t even walk in a room without hesitating. I’m constantly pacing back and forth waiting for something to get me. Nothing has. Yet. Notice the pills in my hand. I don’t know that I have an inventory I can put them in yet, so I’m just carrying them with me, ready to throw them back like a box of Hot Tamales.

Okay, I can’t handle this. I turn off the game for the night. I try to cleanse my palette with Outriders. I still had nightmares about this game. Remember, absolutely nothing has happened except lights going out. It’s already haunting me.

My next session I try in the morning. Broad daylight. I decide I’m going to ride the exercise bike and play Lil Nas X so there’s no way I can be scared. Life hack: If you’re not feeling motivated to work out, just ride an exercise bike and play a video game at the same time. Minutes will fly by.

Anyway, I want to go ahead and say, this tactic did not work. I still screamed while playing. A lot.

So, the first room I brave is a bedroom. I open a door only to realize it’s the bathroom I was in earlier. When I left the bathroom, the light was on, the curtain was pulled back. Now, the light is off and the curtain is closed again. At this moment, I am repeatedly saying, “WHO TURNED OFF THE LIGHT WHO CLOSED THE CURTAIN” before running back out into the hall.

You’re wandering this house looking around, but there are certain rooms marked as “chapters”. Once you start one, you have to finish it. I decide to try Lucy’s room. I open the door and wander around a bit, but don’t find anything. Don’t worry – I’m completely panicked the whole time. I go to start the chapter. I look around some corners, walk in, go to look at a toy, and suddenly hear all the doors shut. I panic. I’m looking around, the doors are all shut and I can’t get back into the hall. So, I crouch and back into a corner like that would help me with anything.

Alright, “stop being a baby” I tell myself. I open the closet and realize there’s a drawing on the wall that I hadn’t seen before. I walk up to it, interact with it, freak out, do it again, freak out, and… try to shut myself in the closet? I don’t know; it felt right!

Guys, I turned it off after I got out of the room and saw a creepy drawing on the wall with some equally creepy toy donning a big, black handprint on it. I do not do scary things well and I am literally grimacing the entire time I’m playing this.

Since I am so scared, I of course turned to Google to see what I should expect. I can tell you now that I am not going to beat this game. As someone who loves horror elements, but is scared of everything, I am not ready for this. If you are a seasoned horror gamer and you are looking for something to traumatize you, I think Visage may be worth exploring. If you’re a newbie trying to start horror games, maybe don’t start with something like this.