You’re No Son of Mine! End scene. Nah, that isn’t the cries of some shoddy daytime soap opera, but your internal monologue when reading the title of this survival horror from Feardemic, developed by Maciej Radwański.
Located in, quite possibly, the darkest school known to humanity, you’ll plod along from a first-person perspective, solving a few puzzles, flashing, running, and inevitably hiding in lockers.
Body-shy people need not worry: the flashing in No Son of Mine relates to an infra-red tool, not showing your wobbly bits, and it’s to highlight your evil pursuer – shrouded by the darkness but visible in red.
No Son Of Mine Review (Switch)
So, what can you expect in No Son of Mine Switch? Jump scares (initially), dimly lit locations, and a persistent stalker. The stalker in question is a child that can’t be seen by the naked eye, other than a few silhouette shots to get you excited, so you have to use a special filter.
Lighting plays a vital role in the game, and it’s definitely one of the most challenging games to see what you’re doing unless you up the brightness a little. This, of course, adds to the ambience, but a torch lights the way, and quite effectively, may I add.
The torch in question is called a CB-9000 and masquerades as a torch and a gun to keep the enemy at bay. It’s pretty damn hard to pull off as you can’t see the child unless you have your red filter on, and of course, the red filter has a short charge time. Good luck with that.
Lock And Run
As with most modern horror games, The Bridge: Path to Salvation comes to mind, relies on running away and hiding in a nearby locker. I’m not a fan of this, as I often fill my pants in the process and hate the uncertainty of being caught without having a chance. The first-person perspective in No Son of Mine captures this well, but there’s a minor lifeline.
First, the lights will go out when the child approaches, plus the CB-9000 alludes to the threat. This gives you a brief opportunity to leg it or take the risk and try to shoot it. While there’s a hint when this will happen, and over time, it does get familiar and no longer scary, No Son of Mine is bloody hard, and the normal setting is challenging enough for the average user.
Even though there was a tough challenge ahead, there wasn’t enough to win me over. Sure, the visuals are good – helped by the lighting – but the repetition and lack of a strong story lost me along the way. There are clues to be found from interacting with a few objects, but some can be bypassed. Yeah, it looks alright, but I found myself losing interest quite early on, I’m afraid.
Verdict
For a solo dev? Yes, No Child of Mine is very good, but I couldn’t get into it as the end-user. The difficulty was a bit much, whereas the puzzles were not so much. Despite some decent set pieces, there wasn’t enough momentum for me to put this down as a recommendation, but check out the other reviews before you make your opinion.
