Betrayer

Overview

Betrayer is a first-person action game with horror elements set during the colonization of the New World in the early 17th century. The protagonist comes from England in 1604 to join a colony on the coast of Virginia. Instead, he wakes up on the shore with the ship stranded with no colony to be found. There are only remnants with ghosts and all of the environment has been drained of its colour. The game uses a monochrome visual style where only red elements stand out. It is however also possible to alter the saturation in the options and play it in full colour for the majority of the game. The goal is to figure out what has happened to the colony and the environment. Early on he meets a young woman called the Maiden in Red who is also trapped there. She often returns throughout the game and part of it deals with retrieving her identity. The game largely offers an open world environment where different areas on the world map are unlocked gradually. Inside a single area it is possible to explore freely. The story elements are split up in different parts, with scattered notes that are added to a journal and explain events, investigations based on clues and conversations with characters that all appear to be ghosts. Next to exploration there is a focus on combat. Soldiers roam the environment along with other types of enemies such as spider-like creatures and poisonous fungus. They can be taken on directly or with a stealth approach. Weapons include a melee attack, different types of bows, muskets, explosives, a tomahawk and more. All ranged weapons have a limited amount of ammo and a fairly long reloading time. As most enemies attack on sight, a stealth approach can be used. Walking instead of running minimizes sound and it is also possible to crouch. This approach can also prevent enemies from alerting each other. Additional help is provided through gusts of wind that block an amount of sound, allowing for a swift approach. There are abandoned shop locations provided by a merchant. The coins left behind by opponents can be exchanged for various items. Items are also left behind by slain opponents as loot and can be found in chests. Arrows that are shot can be picked up afterwards. Health is replenished by drinking water at certain locations and a flask can be taken along. All environments can also be explored in a very different type of world. Once a fort has been taken over, a bell can be restored. Ringing it transforms the entire environment with deep shades of black (no colour mode possible). There, enemies become skeletons and thieves of different types to defeat. In this world the story is furthered by helping out lost souls who have found no peace in bed. By locating clues for them and initiating conversations their past actions can be resolved. There are multiple options during conversations. Certain parts are blocked off by a corruption and this can only be resolved by locating corrupted totems or chests in the alternate world. These trigger an amount of enemies and after defeating them the corruption is removed. After picking up a severed ear help is provided to navigate the dark environment. A key triggers a radar-like sound that guides the player to a next location of interest. Returning to the normal world is only possible by muting the bell at the fortress. There are different settlements to discover and once they have been cleared they become a way to fast travel around the map. Using this however resets all roaming enemies in the environment and they will spawn at new locations. When dead, the character respawns at the latest settlement. There are two options when dying. In the hardest mode all equipment is left behind and needs to be retrieved. When unsuccessful, it is entirely lost. The other option is to respawn with all items and weapons. There is an inventory to assign up to three different weapons. Additional bonuses are achieved by collecting or buying charms. Items can be sold right away by dragging them to the scrap section of the inventory. Free exploration is encouraged through hidden chests, buried objects, notes and graves. The in-game map shows the major locations, but everything else has to be found by the player. When nearing an item of interest, a chime can be heard that intensifies when approaching. The game can be made harder by altering the difficulty level, activating loot drop, playing without colour, and disabling HUD elements such as the visual listen cues, the compass, health and ammo display, map position and enemy health bars.

Alternate Names

No information available

Wikipedia

Video