The Beast Inside is a hodge podge of ideas and genre tropes that holds glimmers of greatness, but falls short of past horror titles.

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The Game:

The Beast Inside sees you take on the roll of two characters, a CIA analyst from the 1970’s names Adam Stevenson, and Nicolas Hyde, a prodigal son returning to his family home after decades away in the early 19th century.

You start out as Adam, first arriving to a new home out in the wildness. He seeks to get away from the bustle of the city, and he hopes that the distance will help him in his goal of cracking a set of soviet codes for the CIA. Well, it turns out that Adam’s new home is the very same that Nicolas returned to in the past, and you’ll be set for a story of mixing narratives that jump between time and personality. There are secrets abound in the lives of both characters, and each will face questions of reality and place while terrifying foes hunt them down.

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The gameplay is part walking simulator, part puzzler, with a mix of boss battles and stealth segments thrown in for good measure. Beast Inside operates on a physics heavy style of play, forcing players grab hold of objects and doors and the like and control their movement in a more direct manner than most games require.

There are lots of notes and secrets to find as well, and the game is overall a linear experience.

The Good:

This is a good looking game. The graphics are solid, but more so is the placement and use of objects in a given scene. Outdoor areas feel sufficiently overgrown and wild, while indoor locations are cluttered nicely with strange objects, curios, and furniture. Everything looks as you might expect it would, and that’s actually kind of rare in a game these days.

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My favorite part of the game by far were the chase scenes peppered throughout. These chases are mad and chaotic dashes through levels as you’re hunted and terrorized by ghostly apparitions. That’s not all though, as all the while the environment is blasting apart as enemies break open doors in your path, flames tear through the building your running through, or a massive scaffolding you’re upon starts to collapse. It’s a great romp!

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All of that being said, what most lovers of this genre would probably take note of are the puzzles. To be clear, I am not a fan of puzzles in a game. I can enjoy a good physical one here and there, and even something more intellectually intense too, but they’re just not my thing. Well, The Beast Inside has a lot of puzzles, and they’re mostly of the more thoughtful variety. You’ll be cracking codes, analyzing passwords, navigating mazes, and more here. Don’t worry too much though if you’re like me and prefer less strenuous work, as the game comes with three difficulties that change how hard certain puzzles are or lets you skip some entirely.

The Mixed:

The game’s soundtrack is fine, but nothing special. Ghost design and character models are okay, I guess, but not worth taking note of.

The whole idea of a story intense but gameplay light game is nothing new. You will spend a lot of time walking around in this game. The scenes you are walking through might be pretty, but that does not exactly make up for having nothing else to focus on. Also, we’ve seen this style of game before . . . a lot. I just wish The Beast Inside had tried something new here.

Last in this category is how The Beast Inside does a lot of things that kind of feel like time wasters, or are simply one off gimmicks quickly discarded. There is a boss fight while wielding a pistol, there are stealth moments, chase scenes, a weird science fiction environment scanner mechanic, secret messages on items, and more. It’s a lot, but none of it goes very deep. The is a good boss fight example of this. It’s literally the only time you use the gun. Once that one fight is over, you’re done with it. It all just feels like a waste. Why spend time and money on implementing these systems if they will be so shortly used?

The Bad:

I really wanted to enjoy this game’s story. I tried. I really did. At the end of the day though, it’s cliched, full of holes, and worst of all, pointless. No spoilers here, but the ending is weak and seen from a mile away. It was a massive disappointment.

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Worse than that though is that I don’t understand why this game needed two narratives in the first place. Beyond a few fun moments of Adam walking through a scene and the player being able to see how Nicolas’ actions impacted it, there is little link between the two. The game ends trying to tie these two character together, but it falls flails at doing even that.

To be honest, the entire concept of having these two stories mixed together from a time apart feels like a gimmick. It smacks of some developer having come up with a the idea before creating the story, and then going back and trying to make it fit.

On their own, I think each narrative is fine. If they had been told separately, perhaps one being a DLC, I think it could have been a neat way to continue the tale and tie Adam and Nicolas together. In one game though, at the same time, while trying to make some sort of statement about the two, the story fails and ends confused and with nowhere to go.

The Verdict:

I was really disappointing with how The Beast Inside ended. Now, that could mean that I was invested enough to care about the ending . . . and thus it was worth the time. But, no, it’s not. At least not for me. A hardcore fan of this genre will probably find more fun it the telling through, and at a low cost of $25 it might just be worth it. Just know not to expect the experience to end on a high note if you risk a buy.