Frio – Lost in Old Town Review

Stop touching me, sheesh!

We open up on the road, not only by going into a new game but on the menu, that our character is on. It seems innocent enough…until the old man driving talks. Not because how he is talking (nice way to get around needing voice actors but still very weird) but what he says. Becoming very apparent that our main gal was forcibly taken to serve whatever need the old man intends. Luckily, a ghost comes to the rescue and we are graced with the most hilarious cutscene ever. However, the ghosts want a new friend to keep them company and they will try to stop you from leaving.

This focuses a lot on the puzzle aspect and just kept the game contained between two connected areas. Just be warned, this will involve backtracking due to only being able to hold two items and multiple items you use will be used again. What you need to use these items with are mostly logical. Throughout your exploration, you will come across areas that will need an item you’ll get in the future and areas that lets you get the next required item or to the next code that you need. Of course, there is no way to know if you need an old item till you need it, so be sure to remember where you drop them or drop them outside buildings.

There are also various codes you will have to figure out to unlock doors that includes an important item. These puzzles are quite easy once you get what you are looking for. You are given two hints, one that is located either on or by the lock telling you what it is related to (such as magnets) and one that directly shows you where you need to go if you put in enough failed attempts. So even if you may not get the initial clue, you will at least know where you need to go and it is easy to figure it out there.

We have the pleasure of being a guest to two ghosts. As long as your character can move or look somewhere, they will be able to grab and/or scare you. This will either be them showing up to grab you, or by just a lone hand coming through the wall. To be honest, when I saw a hand coming through the wall (every time it happened) it spooked me and put me on edge. As well as putting a new perspective on why we get peculiar angles and have to hold down a button when interacting (which is not as slow as it might seem when you actually get into the game).

What is really hilarious is that you can dodge out of the ghost’s way. There are various areas where they will sit, just waiting for you to pass them, or react too slowly. If you see, or hear the cue for, the hand you can easily escape it by canceling the interaction. Once you get grabbed, you will either enter a series of keys or alternate between two buttons to push them off of you. The plus side is that one ghost has one way to pass them so you will only need to take a look at the ghost to tell what you will need to do. They might not show up constantly, but the more you progress the tougher they will get, so make sure you save so you don’t lose progress.

I honestly really like the graphics. It has that old feel while still being visually appealing. The movements can be a tad weird to see in action, but otherwise is nicely done. The atmosphere was also put together quite well, and with the ghosts able to pop out of nowhere, this does bring out a dark and gloomy scenario. I do wish we didn’t have the mobile UI wasn’t included in the PC version, but you get used to it quick enough. It helps that it does give you interaction queues and thus does serve some purpose rather than none.

The story is kinda weird and really vague. I liked how the beginning is, making us think what the old man had in store, but the ending is confusing. I constantly jumped between two different theories (one that does not make too much sense when taking in the ghosts’ interactions with you) with a solid background to why the ghosts derailed the old man’s car. It would have helped if there was more substantial story telling rather than just vague details. Perhaps Frio 2 will shine more light on this.

Verdict

Frio – Lost in Old Town is surprisingly a decent game. There are some areas that could have been better, but the most important part, the puzzles, are pretty solid. I really enjoyed my time and really only got frustrated when a certain ghost kept exploiting my lack of finger coordination or simple forgot to save before a ghost grabbed me. Definitely check this out if you like puzzle games and don’t care about the graphics. It may not be perfect, but it will certainly give you a good time.