Frightence Review – Not as Scary as Eviction

For a janitor tasked with making sure a condemned apartment complex has gotten evicted, the creepy denizens of the building may be their least concern. At the start of Frightence, this cursed custodian wakes up in their basement bedroom, which contains a bed and a few trash bags. If this person could live through that, they could probably live through anything. And as it turns out, they wouldn’t have to make it through much.

Game Name: Frightence
Platforms: PlayStation 4 (Reviewed), Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch
Publisher: Playstige Interactive
Developer(s): Playstige Interactive
Release Date: March 11th, 2022
Price: $5.99

Frightence is a short horror game in which you play as said janitor, going from room to room to make sure that the residents have all cleared out. It seems like all of them have, or all the living and sane ones, at least. As a horror fan, I was shocked that I’d never played a game involving a haunted apartment building or hotel before where each room has its own horror motif, from crazy cat lady to doll collector and a few in between. The concept could offer endless horror variation. In a weird way, Frightence is like playing a game version of The Shining. I’m surprised nobody else has thought of that, and I wish this game had more to offer.

Reading the postings on the hallway boards and at other locations, there’s some humorous and intriguing lore about the residents of this dilapidated dwelling. However, none of it actually ties into the game itself. Reading a number on a letter taped to a door, I thought it might come in handy later, but there’s no gameplay past pressing X to open a door or pick up a file.

Otherwise, the button mappings are odd. The pause button is the left trigger. There’s no run button, and I wondered if the janitor intentionally had a limp or the walk animation was just jagged, as the framerate tends to drop. The game has a few documents to collect but offers no way to make the text easier to read nor an inventory to view these files. As such, I could piece together a little of the story, if there was much, but the significance of several events was lost on me.

I kept collecting videotapes and expecting to find a place to play them. But this may be a later Gen-Z janitor as they do not know what VHS tapes do, even when brought to a VHS player. Interactivity here would have offered an opportunity for at least a little more gameplay. As it stands the game consists of going from room to room, gathering the object or two in each, and then moving on until something scary happens that puts our hapless friend back in their basement home.

As for the scares, they’re not too intense, but the game maintains a solidly creepy atmosphere through the roughly 45 minutes it takes to complete. One room is a near recreation of the infamous hallway from PT, clearly a homage to the horror demo, but it lacks the gameplay or frights of that title. While PT was a short game, a “Playable Teaser,” it still had enough secrets and variety to keep people going back. Frightence lacks that depth. It does appear to be a teaser for something more, as the game ends with “To be continued…”

This suggests something intriguing, as Frightence ends on a note that promises the first real plot point of the game. It’s a shame it ends right as it picks up. Additionally, if it is a demo, it feels a little odd for it to cost $5.99, though I imagine that’s to help fund the teased sequel.

As such, there are other horror games that are free to download that offer more scares and longer runtime. On PlayStation, Frightence may appeal to trophy collectors, as I nabbed the platinum without even trying to get it. Yes, the platinum. If you have yet to get one, this is the game for you, but it’s a little sad that none of the trophies hint at replay value. I hoped to check out the trophies and at least find one I’d missed, suggesting a hidden room or item somewhere, but no, you’ll see everything this game has in one playthrough. It may offer replay value in having a spooky time with friends over, as the game does build suspense for those diving in for the first time, but perhaps that’s overly generous. There’s a promising premise in Frightence for sure, it’s just a pity that, like the sparse abode of our janitor friend, it doesn’t have more substance.