All it takes is one bad day to turn the sanest man alive to lunacy. That’s all it takes. One bad day. In the case of The Works of Mercy this day could be the breaking point. I do love me a good psychological horror game but even I have to draw the line somewhere I fear to tread. I don’t mind having a game mess with my mind. In fact, I relish every moment of one that does. However, when I’m forced to do something that I would never even dream of in interactive fiction I find myself having to pass on the experience.
This is where The Works of Mercy takes psychological horror to the next level and one that has me slowly backing away from it not because it doesn’t look like a great game but because it makes me do something I detest. In this case the game makes you the killer instead of hunting down or evading an external threat. Sure, you don’t have a whole lot of a choice if you want to see your family again, but even so it’s twisted and depraved and a bit too sadistic for my taste. And I’m someone who does have a pretty strong constitution to seeing things like this happen.
That said, I don’t want to make anyone else shy away from what I can only surmise is still a good game. What I’ve seen looks promising but as I said it’s not my cup of blood coffee. It’s the same reason that I steer as far away from movies like the Saw franchise. I just cringe at the thought of forcing people to do things against their own will. I’m not sure how it will all play out but I do wish them the best of luck on getting The Works of Mercy funded.
Track the progress of the Works of Mercy Kickstarter in our Campaign Calendar.
