Sorry We’re Closed is an eccentric story-driven survival horror game about demons, angels and what happens when both sides collide. A mix of classic fixed-camera exploration and arcade-style shooting where Michelle must use her Third Eye to see between worlds, uncover secrets and solve puzzles.
Developed by: à la mode games
Played on: PlayStation 5
Length: 9 hours
A review key was provided by Soft Source Publishing.
Sorry We’re Closed is the kind of game that is way cooler than I could ever hope to be. Every ounce of this game is dripping with style, from its PS2 era low-poly art direction, to its blood-soaked neon punk aesthetics. It’s the kind of style that vaguely brings to mind the names of subcultures I’m not cool enough to know, but for nine hours straight, I loved pretending that I did.
In the game, you play as Michelle, a convenience store worker who hates her job and can’t seem to get over her ex. Her prolonged forlornness attracts the attention of a powerful archdemon looking for love, leaving her cursed with a Third Eye. As she battles to break the curse placed on her, she uses her newly gained Third Eye to peer into the demonic world that has taken over the London borough where she lives.
Before I jump into the rest of the review, it is worth disclaiming that this isn’t going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Even strong aesthetics and a banger soundtrack isn’t going to be enough to convert players who dislike the genre and mechanics. But for those who love survival horror games and arcade-style shooters, or just the idea of deeply impractical clothes for demon hunting, you’re in for one helluva ride.
The events of Sorry We’re Closed takes place over three in-game days, but each one is split into two phases. You start each day by exploring your neighbourhood and interacting with the strange residents in your borough. There is an obvious main quest here, but there are also multiple side quests that lead to other endings. Like, you definitely want to break your curse, but maybe you also want to get your ex-girlfriend back, or maybe you want to get rid of the annoying bar owner down the street. You can even choose to romance the archdemon herself if you’re feeling a little spicy.
In the true spirit of demonhood, there is always a price to pay for your decisions. You can choose to help or hinder your friends in service of your own goals, but the best choice is never in plain sight. Every character and decision in this game comes in shades of morally gray, each one with cascading consequences that may or may not return to haunt you. It doesn’t help that the characters are as charismatic as they are eccentric, pulling at your moral compass each time they open their mouths.
If that wasn’t enough torment, Sorry We’re Closed gives you plenty of chances to change your mind throughout the game. Since each ending comes with a long list of prerequisites, you can always decide to pursue or ignore it through your later choices. Unlike other games, it doesn’t matter whether you initially accept or reject a quest. Characters will constantly give you opportunities to go back on your word. You can even choose to completely abandon an ending after fulfilling all of its requirements, which is something I did in my playthrough.
Once you’re done mingling with the neighbours, it’s time to pull out the demon-hunting glock and head into the dungeons. Each night brings you to a new location to explore, packed with dangerous demons and environmental hazards to overcome. This is where your Third Eye comes in handy, uncovering new pathways and even serving as a source of light in the darkness. It is especially here that Sorry We’re Closed rides the line between nostalgia and modernity; paying tribute to classic survival horror games with its fixed-camera angles, while infusing their own flavour through arcade-style first-person shooting.
While I ended up loving its fresh take on combat, the game takes a big risk by forcing its players into first-person perspective each time they want to deal damage. Even after hours of gameplay, it always feels a little disorienting to manually zoom from top-down into first-person perspective, but there is a definite satisfaction in mastering the camera swap and landing each blow without missing a beat. Simply put, it’s either something you come to love, or something that will drive you absolutely bonkers.
Personally, I’ve always enjoyed a little friction in my survival horror games, and mastering the mechanics on controller adds a satisfying rhythm to its combat. The first time you land that camera swap, Third Eye stun, and perfect gunshot combo, you’ll never go back. And when you manage to pull it off perfectly in a boss fight with electronic hip-hop thumping in your ears? There is simply nothing cooler.
Sorry We’re Closed has a comprehensive accessibility menu to make up for its steeper-than-average learning curve, including remappable controls, aim assist, no-hold button toggles, infinite healing, and the option to change your difficulty at any point in the game. While the game generally provides you with enough resources like healing water and ammo, it doesn’t leave you enough room to be careless about resource management. I found infinite healing to be especially useful in the third act when difficulty began to spike.
The game also has a permanent upgrade system which you can adjust to your playstyle. Any upgrades that added extra ammo rounds or healing water slots were the most useful for me, but perhaps you’re more of a damage-stacking fiend who prefers to hit hard. Either way, you’ll need to be pretty thorough with map exploration in order to find all the artifacts and max out your upgrades. But considering the excellent level design in the combat stages, this is hardly a chore.
All in all, it’s hard to say whether Sorry We’re Closed is going to be your kind of game. But this adrenaline-inducing, thought-provoking, blood-splattered, neon fantasy is way too good to leave it up to chance. Check out the demo for yourself and take it from there.
Verdict: We’re Open!
Sorry We’re Closed is the kind of game that is way cooler than I could ever hope to be. Every ounce of this narrative-driven survival horror game is dripping with style, from its PS2 era low-poly art direction, to its blood-soaked neon punk aesthetics. While the first-person shooter combat is not everyone’s cup of tea, those who manage to get over its learning curve is going to be in for one helluva ride.
