TonyDevGame invites us to spend a busy night in an abandoned amusement park.
Mansions full of monsters like the one in Resident Evil, cursed cities like the one in Silent Hill, environments that no one wants to visit in the middle of the night like the morgue in Autopsy Simulator… There are very recurrent places when it comes to immersing ourselves in a horror story. Amusement parks are too, especially if they have been abandoned, as is the case with the main stage of Jack Holmes: Master of Puppets, a new Spanish horror game.
Over the past few days we’ve had the opportunity to enjoy a full game, so here we are, ready to tell you what we thought of it and what you can expect from it. It’s a survival horror game with classic elements and modern gameplay, created by Alicante-based developer TonyDevGame and available on PS5, PS4 and PC.
A Busy Night
Without going into too many spoilers, since the story is interesting and keeps us on the edge of our seats until the end, we will tell you that the game puts us in the shoes of Jack Holmes, a descendant of the legendary detective who has carried his surname so many times around the world and who does not have it easy when it comes to tackling his first case: the disappearance of a man in Louisiana.
In principle, the mission is to go to his home with the intention of finding some clue about his whereabouts, but just a few minutes at the controls of the detective are enough to notice that something is not right. We don’t want to go into details, but as soon as we leave his house we assume that the missing person is hiding a dark secret…
As it could not be otherwise, the inspection of the house is nothing more than the starting point of a tortuous journey through a series of environments worthy of the best horror movies. They are all connected by the setting that acts as a nexus: an amusement park that seems abandoned, although it is actually full of puppets that seem to have come to life and do not welcome visitors too well.
Jack Holmes: Master of Puppets combines survival horror elements (search and resource management, the occasional simple puzzle, exploration, backtracking…) with an accentuated FPS facet, since almost at all times we can carry two weapons (pistol and shotgun) and the frequency of the combats is relatively high. In this sense, when it comes to shooting, you can tell that we are facing a modest development, as it is not entirely intuitive and the impact box makes some strange things. It’s understandable, but it’s good to know before you get behind the wheel.
One of the things we liked the most is the variety of the scenarios, as some of them are very original and give rise to all kinds of situations: detecting ghosts playing with lights and shadows, following a clue to solve a riddle, fleeing from the classic immortal enemy in the style of Mr. Tyrant (Resident Evil 2)…
We also really liked the way it throws a few nods to other games (there’s a very fun one, but we’d rather you discover it for yourself). On the sidelines, it is clear that the invoice of the title is what it is, since it is necessary to emphasize again that it is a very humble project. For this reason, it is not a lie that it is far from perfect.
Spain knows how to make video games
Beyond some rough edges and a bill far from that of the big productions, the truth is that Jack Holmes: Master of Puppets has seemed to us a recommended game for those who want to enjoy a horror game with its own personality, different from the standards of the genre and, why not say it, to support the development of video games in Spain.
An intense adventure that can be completed in about five or six hours, with a good pace and the occasional delirious moment. It’s available on PC (Steam and Epic Games) as well as PlayStation consoles (PS5 and PS4). The umpteenth proof that there is talent in Spain, because we are talking about a video game developed by a single person.