HORROR TALES: The Wine | Nintendo Switch Review
Updated: Nov 19, 2021
Set on a fictional Mediterranean island, where a pandemic has swept over the land, the only cure appears to be a specific type of red wine. And it's up to you in this first-person survival horror to search high and low for that wine. HORROR TALES: The Wine is developed and published by Carlos Coronado and was released on July 30th for Windows PC, PlayStation, XBox and Nintendo Switch. For this review I was playing handheld on the Nintendo Switch.
You start the game and your search for the wine having just made your way to one of the islands, and it's not long before you get an idea of the size of this game. It is not small at all. There are villas, cellars, courtyards, caverns, as well as the island itself to explore and search. And along the way, there are items to examine, items to pick up, collectables to discover, as well a threatening nemesis who is trying to stop you at every opportunity. Oh, and there is also a headless entity to contend with, who appears every now and then just to add some extra jump scare horror element to the game. I was playing the game with the volume up high so a couple of times, the surprise of the entity appearing was all the more frightening.
There are puzzles all throughout HORROR TALES: The Wine, most being memory ones or just puzzles that require you to move certain objects. There are lots of locked doors you will need to find keys for, and you have some collectable items scattered all throughout the game which does add a little bonus, especially for achievement hunters. The game has some quiet sections, where you can take in the scenery, as well as some absolutely frantic sections where you are non-stop being chased by the entity while trying to solve a puzzle and unlock a door as you manage your flashlight, trying not to let it overheat. The survival-horror element is the main focus here as you make your way through each of the 5 chapters.
The visuals looked stunning throughout, whether you are crawling through the cramped and dimly lit cellars of a villa, or navigating your way around the side of a clifftop. There were a few times during my playthrough where I just stopped to take in the amazing scenery. There were also quite a few times, more than I would have liked really, where I stopped to take in the 'You Died' screen. Thankfully, if you do succumb to the nemesis or the entity, or through some other way, you can restart from the most previous save point, which is not too far back. You can also select which chapter you want to play through. I should also point out that there is a Photo Mode which is unlocked upon completion of the game, or manually selected in the settings. You will require this setting to be switched on, if you want to secure the complete set of collectables. But yeah, you are going to want to leave the setting off for your first playthrough, then you can scoop up all of the items at your leisure on a further play.
The controls in HORROR TALES: The Wine can be fully mapped in the settings to your own preferences and you can adjust the master volume as well as music and SFX. Accessibility options are for subtitles, with text size and style, gamma, X and Y invert, crosshairs, rumble, camera shake, as well as photo mode, an immersive mode, and finally the option for you to disable flashing lights. There are also various languages settings as well as the list of credits.
HORROR TALES: The Wine is a game that I absolutely loved playing through. Yes it is yet another survival-horror, but it is one that I think deserves at the very least, some of your time. You will get a few hours from a single playthrough, more though if you want to seek out and discover those elusive collectables that are scattered throughout the game. I think that Carlos has done an outstanding job - it has the perfect balance of exploration with puzzles and that survival-horror element, all in one tidy little package. It is available already on all the major formats with those details below and I really cannot recommend this game enough.
g1a5w3g1an's Rating: 5 out of 5.
For more information on HORROR TALES : The Wine please use the following links...
Carlos Coronado - Developer | Publisher | Twitch | Twitter | YouTube
Many thanks to Carlos Coronado for the Review Key.
HORROR TALES: The Wine | Steam Store | PlayStation Store | XBox Live | Nintendo eShop
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