The Baptiste demo offers a tantalising, albeit brief, descent into a world of unsettling psychological horror. It’s a taste of something far more sinister, leaving a lingering sense of dread and a burning curiosity about the full experience. Does this small fragment portend a truly terrifying ordeal, or is it merely a flicker of fear in an otherwise unremarkable darkness? Read our review to find out!

The Seeds of Dread

The opening scene is a startling one. You are experiencing a dream through the eyes of the main character, a young man, who is remembering the night of his father’s death. The two of them have stopped on the roadside during a car journey and his father steps out to go to a petrol station. As he is stepping backwards, assuring you that all will be fine, he gets ploughed into by an oncoming car at high speed. The next moment, your character wakes up, finding himself in the car with his mother, outside their new (and ridiculously creepy) house in the middle of some truly terrifying woods.

As soon as you enter the house, things immediately begin to feel uneasy. For a start, you can hear your mother but can’t find her anywhere. Then, as you explore the house, you see leftover furniture everywhere. However, the most notable piece of furniture is a display case, which contains (what we assume to be) the titular puppet, Baptiste. His wide, lifeless eyes almost feel like they’re piercing through your very skin as you move around the upper floor, despite him being a small puppet.

The Tools of Terror

The demo allows you to interact with objects, explore the environment, and solve simple puzzles (such as where to put the damned puppet so he isn’t always staring at you from behind the glass). The controls are responsive and intuitive, and the environment (your new house) is large and spacious, yet also feels incredibly claustrophobic for some reason.

A Brush with Darkness

The environments are dark and detailed, with effective use of lighting and shadow to heighten the tension. The audio design is equally impressive, with unsettling ambient sounds and a near-deafening silence. The demo effectively demonstrates the game’s ability to create a terrifying atmosphere through its visuals and sound design, which is a good sign for the full release, which will likely expand on these elements, creating an even more immersive and terrifying experience.

Conclusion

The Baptiste demo provides a chilling glimpse into a world of psychological horror. Its atmospheric design, unsettling audio, and fragmented narrative create a sense of unease that lingers long after the demo ends. It hints at a much more terrifying and complex experience in the full game, which we really hope will deliver on the promise of the demo based on what we’ve seen so far! Naturally, the demo only gives you a taste of what’s to come, and with no history or story behind the puppet, our interest is most certainly piqued!

Grade: 8/10