Detention's review on Switch

There is a very strong message behind Detention, which emerges clearly between screens and upon which the entire game has been built. It is a testimony and a warning that should not be underestimated and that Coffee Yao and the developers of RedCandle wanted to pack in the form of a video game, that is a means of communication capable of reaching a large and young audience. We have already reviewed the game in its PC version but let's go back to talking about it also on the occasion of the release on Switch both to evaluate the quality of the adaptation, being originally a point and click adventure transported to the console, and to emphasize the importance of this little pearl that would risk ending up neglected in the indie tide that hit the Nintendo console. To understand exactly what the context in which the story takes place is you will easily find yourself looking for information on the "White Terror" and the period of martial law in Taiwan, learning a twist of history that in our country is probably not dealt with that much but which is of enormous interest.



Detention's review on Switch

Even just for being a spring able to give rise to this curiosity, Detention is a precious title, whose value goes beyond its purely videogame aspects, which to tell the truth are not even without defects. At the end of the 40s, Taiwan essentially became a hostage to the Kuomintang, the Chinese nationalist party which, having lost the clash with Mao Tse-Tung, withdrew to the island to found the Republic of China in stark contrast to the People's Republic of China. From then on, Taiwan becomes a sort of reality suspended between worlds, held together by a martial law that lasted almost forty years during which countless crimes were committed on civilians. On this historical basis, which remains only apparently in the background, an introspective story is grafted and centered on the sense of guilt and the need to face reality which, in any case, has an indissoluble double bond with the context in which it is inserted.



An almost normal life

We are in the 60s and Wei and Ray are two high school students. The regime extends its shadow over every aspect of life, but the two boys lead a more or less normal existence (as it may be in a context of this kind) marked by what seem to be the usual daily worries of two young people who live a good part of their day at school. This until the arrival of a violent typhoon that forces the two to remain isolated inside the building, where events take an unexpected turn. Between the corridors and the empty classrooms then the cracks of a normality that is only a facade emerge, while the horror creeps into the places taking different forms, starting from the clichés of the genre but arriving in rather unprecedented territories for horror video games, which we can illustrate in detail so as not to ruin the whole experience, being founded on the discovery of history.

Detention's review on Switch

There is the usual endowment of ghosts and classical presences of oriental horror, which refers to the local tradition between legends, mythology and folklore, but they are mostly representations chosen to convey the real restlessness at the base of the plot., which has a much more concrete basis and becomes more and more terrifying the closer it gets to what is familiar and normal for the protagonist Ray. The horror of Detention digs deeper than it may seem at first, also exploiting the code established by the genre but telling in its own way a narrative that is intimate and introspective but also full of references to the historical and socio-political context that the developers obviously wanted to bring out and spread with this their work. In this sense it is an almost unique experience, avoiding excessive hermeticism and on the other hand without falling into the didactic when illustrating the surrounding scenario. And always in this sense it is also an important game, because it tells us a terrible historical truth by making us experience it in the first person, in a way that would be impossible for other means of communication and without giving up a videogame form that still has elements of interest. also as an adventure.



Detention's review on Switch

An atypical adventure

Detention is part of the genre of graphic adventures, even if it is a rather atypical declination with survival horror influences: with the action being framed sideways on a 2D plane, the game mechanics are obviously limited and this involves simple management of the encounters with monsters, which result in some basic "stealth" techniques. On the other hand, the strong narrative structure and the low density of puzzles compared to standard graphic adventures almost makes us lean towards a definition of hybrid walking simulator, something similar to Lone Survivor, to stay on the horror theme, with which Detention also shares the general setting. It is clear that the developers started from the narrative component to then build the game around it and the weakest part of the whole experience is in fact precisely the purely playful element.

Detention's review on Switch

There are creative and challenging puzzles, but in general it is difficult to find real challenges during the 4 hours or so required to complete the game, which flows away pleasantly (so to speak, considering the topics covered) thanks to its widespread and pressing narration. The sense of mystery persists throughout the first part and is played on a twist of long construction, revealing the nature of the horrors in a final section that becomes more explicit, transferring the anxieties from a metaphysical plane to a more concrete one but still maintaining high voltage. The conversion for Switch works really well: although the original made extensive use of the mouse, the 2D scrolling setting facilitated the transition on the console controls, which are very functional when it comes to simply moving between locations and meetings. with creatures but also in puzzles. The puzzles are obviously designed for the mouse and on Switch we find ourselves with the pointer to be controlled with the analog, but the solution does not disturb, also for the obviously staid rhythm of these sections. Unfortunately, since there is no official translation (the one on the PC comes from an amateur job), the Switch version does not have the Spanish language and is therefore playable in English.



Detention's review on Switch

Comment

Digital Delivery Steam, Nintendo eShop Price 10,49 € Resources4Gaming.com

9.0

Readers (10)

8.0

Your vote

Detention must be forgiven for some roughness and naivety in terms of game design because everything must be seen in terms of its message. This small work by RedCandle was born from the need to tell a story and for this purpose it bends the typical dynamics of a graphic adventure, also playing with the classic code of the horror genre but obtaining a very particular result: it is not just a story of awareness. and expiation and it is not only a testimony of a historical period, it is all this merged together in a memory that is also a warning and has the importance of informing us and making us reflect on profound concepts. This is not really a small thing for a "simple" video game.

PRO

  • Interesting and non-trivial story, which raises important issues
  • Excellent presentation of a historical context with strong connotations
  • Beautiful stylistic imprint
AGAINST
  • It doesn't last long
  • Playful dynamics a little sketchy between adventure and horror game
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