Releasing on Steam half a decade ago, the original version of The Shore was a solid and enjoyable walking simulator with a focus on atmosphere and spooky Lovecraftian shenanigans, updated to include more explicitly action-based sequences – a choice that met with mixed reception. Now that it’s finally come to consoles, how does it fare? Is this a glimpse into madness that will leave you screaming for more?
You play as a shipwrecked mariner who has lost his daughter, whether due to absence or death is unclear at first. This parental trauma opens him up to the whims of the cosmos but I generally prefer Mythos stories where curiosity – whether academic or predatory – causes the descent into madness. As you explore the beaches and environment you’ll find mysterious messages in bottles that speak of both the history of the island and your own. If anything, though, this can tend towards too much overt exposition and a purple prose that feels influenced by some of the wordier aspects of Lovecraft’s oeuvre.
To make matters worse, The Shore feels like two very distinctly different games crudely stitched together. All of the good work built up by the dread and atmosphere of the first half is squandered by a series of frustrating chase sequences defined by trial and error and getting stuck on the scenery. In this way it reminded me greatly of Conarium, a title I reviewed here a full seven years ago. I’m not sure why Lovecraftian games seem so drawn to stalker enemies and maze escapes when the true horror should be incalculable and uncaring, but I guess that’s a matter of game design and insecurities around the reception to walking simulators.
Perhaps the most egregious example of this comes after an encounter with a vision of Cthulhu, where you jump into a pit and are immediately attacked by a Shoggoth. You’ll almost certainly die at least once as you orientate yourself in the darkness, and then possibly multiple more times as you try to navigate the maze-like corridors without getting stuck on the walls. Another section requires you to jump over small rocks and barriers but these look identical to other ones that have been area borders and impassable.
So, the game doesn’t carry through with what it succeeds at, and devolves into clunky action, but it does at least try to convey the scale and horror of the various Eldritch abominations within. The overall aesthetics of The Shore work well. The initial beachfront setting is barren, windswept, and atmospheric, the wreckage of ships are joined by the carcasses of dead sea creatures and everything is accompanied by the eerie cawing of seagulls. As you venture underground into the more surreal locations and come to confront the cosmic horror itself, the game does start to feel more generic and, as already noted, suffers from being so dark as to obscure much of the design work.
There is a very effective depiction of Dagon which successfully demonstrates how insignificant we are to such a creature and other tentacled leviathans can be seen in the far distance. It is when we ‘see’ Cthulhu that things fall apart though, as he stands like an angry rugby player and monologues about the fate of the world. This is so out of whack with everything that Cthulhu should be that I had to stop playing for a bit – particularly because the camera can be directed to linger on his shapely rear when he walks away.
I finished The Shore and unlocked the Platinum trophy in a little over two hours which is short even by the standards of walking simulators. When you consider that at least a quarter of that time consisted of repeating frustrating chase sequences and you have a game that manages to throw away all the good will it builds up with its atmospheric opening.
