‘Night Book’ (Nintendo Switch Video Game Review)

In Night Book, Loralyn (Julie Dray) is an interpreter working remotely from home. She’s currently in quite a stressful situation being pregnant, handling the night shift, and looking after her mentally ill father, who has taken residence in her spare room.

Unfortunately for Loralyn, her stress is about to double after being tricked into reading a passage from an ancient book; she unwittingly invites something into her apartment. Her fate lies solely in the decisions that you (the player) make in this dark and isolated supernatural experience.

Night Book is the latest full-motion game from Wales Interactive, currently one of the few developers pioneering in FMV.

For those unaware of what an FMV is, it’s a video game that relies on pre-recorded videos. Like most modern FMVs, Night Book uses real humans to tell the game’s story, and players only interact when a choice is to be made. These choices not only affect your relationship with other characters but will determine their fate as well as the ending.

Filming in a Pandemic

Wales Interactive had done well to create a full game of this sort during the pandemic. Having it so that Loralyn is working remotely is a brilliant way to include other characters. Although, the game as a whole is only okay. Night Book took me under an hour to play through the first time. Despite the many possible choices and multiple endings, I didn’t really feel compelled to play through it a second time.

The pandemic has caused many issues in the media industry, and you can see it at work here because Night Book‘s budget looks tiny compared to some of Wales Interactive’s other games like The Complex. It also wasn’t particularly fun to play a game with a character stuck in her flat. Most of us have been living that very same experience for months.

Of course, most of us haven’t been living with a supernatural entity in our homes, like the one Loralyn is forced to contend with. As for the supernatural force… it really wasn’t scary, and a few times, I thought some of the “scares” bordered on hokey.

Speaking of hokey, I’m not going to name any specific actors, but the acting was okay at best. Julie Dray was great as Loralyn. However, performances from many other actors did not live up to the script.

Choose-Your-Own-Adventure

As with most FMVs, the player only “plays” when a choice is to be made. Your choices affect other characters, your character, and how the plot will continue to unfold. Since Night Book is a horror game, players have that looming threat hanging over them, fearing that something they will do or say will cause a character to meet their end.

The choices in Night Book appear less frequently than in some other games. I personally loved this because it felt even more like a movie, which is perfect if you have friends playing with you. No one needs to argue over the controller because everyone is helping and watching their decisions unfold. Unfortunately, I don’t think Night Book is strong enough to be a game you can play/watch at late-night get-togethers.

Final Thought on Night Book

Night Book is a short and fun ride, but it is sadly let down by its short run time, lacklustre script, and subpar acting.