Yuppie Psycho combines horror with science fiction. The game seems a bit bizarre. It's a pixel-style survival horror from Baroque Decay. The game is an adventure game at heart and is as funny as it is twisted.
Brian Pasternack, a young man from the suburbs of the lower class, has never been employed before. That is, until he receives a letter in the mail stating that he has been selected for a position with one of the largest companies in the world, Sintracorp. Not only is the salary higher than he could have dreamed of, if he accepts the job, he will immediately rise to the top of the caste system. Despite fearing that it might be a scam, Brian eventually heads to the big city to find out the legitimacy of the letter. He could never have predicted how bad and unqualified he would be for the job - that of a witch hunter. Apparently there has been a witch in the Sintracorp building for years corrupting the company from the inside out. Now it's up to Brian to uncover the witch's secret and find a way to end her terror. Since the witch could influence the thoughts of his colleagues, Brian has to stay on his toes. After all, they're a pretty suspicious bunch. His office mates are the sneaky prankster Hugo and the timid, humble Sosa. Elsewhere is Kate, but she does her best to maintain an affable demeanor as the rude Chapman pronounces his stature. There's also the swimming Malone, the domineering Rostov, the tech-savvy Doshi, and the enigmatic Mappy. Oh, and Colonel Dumont, wearing old fashioned military clothing and riding a horse through the building while trying to motivate the staff. This cast is at the core of establishing Brian as a character and ultimately creates a complete picture of the oppressive nature of Sintracorp. Perhaps the most important ally, however, is the dubiously named Sintra, an AI that will act as your guide, sending you towards goals, and paying you for success at every point.
With the elevator you get to know the eleven floors of the building very well on your journeys. Your office on the fifth floor acts as a hub that you return to regularly to contact Sintra or chat with Hugo and Sosa over a water cooler. The second floor is a canteen that influences Yuppie Psycho's survival game. The rest is consumed by the chaos of confused employees and supernatural events. However, it is not all cubicles and offices. You can also explore a garden, a crypt, an art exhibition, and a narrow hall where workers frolic aimlessly. You are free to visit most of these floors from the start. However, it is recommended that you stick to the given path as you first have an explicit reason to be there. Fortunately, the game does a good job of giving directions and telegraphing areas and important items so that you rarely, if ever, feel lost. No matter where you go, the most important thing to remember is to search everything you see. Closets, trash cans, briefcases - don't leave anything untouched. Currency and consumables are hidden everywhere. In other cases, the inspection of the environment can provide clues to puzzles or text to refine the setting. If you choose to use a keyboard, mouse, or controller, it won't take time to familiarize yourself with the re-bindable controls. Yuppie Psycho also has a low learning curve that explains the mechanics when needed, but ultimately works like a traditional adventure game: talking to people, collecting things, solving puzzles. The briefcase that Brian always holds on to fills up with what you take with you on the go. The inventory is divided into three different tabs where individual items can be inspected, used, or taken with food and drink to replenish health. Puzzle-related objects must also be selected manually from this menu.
Fortunately, you don't have to micromanage the batteries for your flashlight as they are automatically changed in the event of a power failure. And you will blow many of them through when you consider how many times you are thrown into the dark with just a cone of light as a guide. When you run out of batteries, the strength of the light beam decreases dramatically. Later on, glow sticks will also be available that are weaker than the flashlight but never go out and can even be dropped on the ground to keep a path lit. The puzzles aren't too complex, but the way they are lined up triggers an almost constant sense of success. Your first task is to get a book called Hexenhammer, which supposedly shows how to defeat witches. Sealed in the archives, you must search a library and decipher symbols that lead to bookshelves that provide the clues you want. A puzzle lets you bring together ad reps who have wandered out of your work area and crawl like animals on all fours. You will discover slogans around you that will tempt you to follow the one that best suits your interests. And of course there are commonly used inventory puzzles where you will have to look for key elements that are necessary to progress. When considering the survival horror aspects of Yuppie Psycho, it should be noted that there is no combat system. The closest thing to guns are pencils, which will take out certain stationary enemies when you're close enough, and even then you'll still be using them as standard inventory. Enemies are the corrupt creatures who carry out the witch's command, most of whom were once employees. What used to be the Human Resources department is now a group of women with oversized lips instead of heads spitting acid from a distance. Another poor soul has a filing cabinet strapped to his back and is trying to get you around on all fours while in the garden firefly-like bullets cause damage if they touch you.
These monsters are positioned as scheduled encounters in various locations, with environmental interactions often occurring. You will elude some by ducking under tables or climbing into closets. This is a simple system as once you are hidden you cannot be harmed. Even if an enemy is chasing you, they will give up immediately after losing sight of you. These scenarios could certainly be more challenging, but giving players such an ease of escape is a conscious choice. It's really about using cover efficiently to get from point A to point B while preventing or minimizing enemy attacks. If you are hit by something nasty, you can follow the health meter from the inventory screen. Brian can take a lot before he goes game over. The few bosses you face have a more imposing presence, but function more like puzzles where you use your surroundings to your advantage. For example, such a monster circles an area where you are trapped while you stumble around with your flashlight and take cover to find switches and flip them in the correct order to open an escape route. To ensure your survival in this harsh world of business suits and bloodthirsty monsters, the canteen gives you access to the equipment necessary to prepare meals with more healing benefits than the individual ingredients. This is a safe place to prepare before you reach your next goal. A recipe will help you. If you have a few slices of bread and a single slice of cheese, you can make a sandwich out of them. Do you have a cup of water You may want to use it with some coffee beans, or maybe some pasta. Frozen pizza? Put them in the microwave. The recipes are simple enough to memorize, and interacting with the devices lets you know whether or not you meet their requirements. Other means of maintaining your health include the lesser refill effects of candy and soda. If you run out of supplies, you can buy them from vending machines. If you already have them in stock, you can exchange your currency for items like pencils and batteries at some makeshift stores. Note that the stores also have a limited inventory.
To begin with, Yuppie Psycho warns that there is no auto save feature, which is technically not true as the game creates its own handy save before a certain late game event. Otherwise, this warning is correct, as to save your game you will have to rely on "witch paper" - a consumable that can only be used on the photocopiers distributed throughout the building. Fans of the classic Resident Evil series will compare them to ribbons and typewriters as they work identically. The advantage of this system is that you play more attentively and keep yourself updated on the issues ahead for fear of losing progress. Ink cartridges are a resource that restores decommissioned photocopiers and essentially creates new storage points. Regardless, the challenge isn't particularly difficult, so frustration is unlikely.
Although Yuppie Psycho's retro art style was not developed in Japan, it is certainly indebted to the influence of anime and manga. A series of dramatic moments are accompanied by short animated cutscenes that maintain the pixel aesthetic. In-game sprites look simple and blocky, but their close-ups during dialogue offer plenty of expression, match the mood of the character, and include details like Brian holding a newspaper in front of his face while reading. What might be considered a shocking portrayal of Gore is cushioned by the comic art, and while the content is undoubtedly macabre, it's not scary. That's not to say that there aren't any moments when ghostly shapes crawl out with a subtle whisper in the dark and flashes of ghostly shapes. Half of the game is dedicated to the story, which means a fair bit of reading due to the lack of voice output. Dialog options are rare, mostly for getting information, but sometimes you need to answer questions correctly in order to continue.
The music is synthetic, jazzy, eerily solemn and sometimes even sounds like Silent Hill. Certainly a soundtrack that deserves to be heard outside of the game when it's available on its own. If you love uncovering secrets in games, Yuppie Psycho has plenty that are guaranteed to get you searching its corners. It can be as simple as unlocking links between areas to find visible VHS tapes of short but fascinating and sometimes annoying live action footage. You can choose to donate to the humble shrines you come across to see what could become of them. For more immediate rewards, you can give Doshi "electronic parts" to increase the width of the beam of your flashlight and a lantern that illuminates a sizable 360 degree radius. There are even side goals, like helping Chapman rank up in the company by passing a test monitored by men with boxes over their heads. If Steam Achievements are any indicator, there are still plenty of secrets left, not to mention the five endings that can be unlocked. You play the game for about eight hours.
Conclusion
Yuppie Psycho is an adventure that never gets boring. The game with its pixel graphics knows how to inspire with quests, entertainment and game concept. With its horror elements, it offers elements from survival horror and adventure games. The game is definitely worth recommending.
Originally posted on 2021-05-05 16:22:00.
