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Threshold review: put in the shift and you shall be… rewardedYour country needs you!
Your country needs you!
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Critical Reflex
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Critical Reflex
My time withThresholdhas been fraught with pain. Five times. Five times I had to restart this psychologicalhorror gamebecause of some game-breaking bug. And yet, I persevered, booting it back up and returning to my government-mandated shift atop a quiet mountain.
Much in the same vein as myMouthwashing review, I’ll preface this one with a simple message that I’ll now deliver to you via an imaginary printer embedded in a grey, dingy wall. There’s a leaf of paper that judders out of it, with a “zzt, zzt, zzt”. A speaker in one corner of the room crackles to life and catches you off guard. It says, “I will refrain from talking about the story, because that would ruin things for you. Sign the agreement first and you may read ahead.”
Running and jumping use more oxygen, so you’ll need to bear this in mind when moving around the border post. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Critical Reflex
The thing is, you’ve just forced a load of air out of your lungs and you’re now on the brink of death - oh. Mo remains calm and hands you an air capsule shaped like a tube. You’re to bite down on it to inhale some sweet, sweet O2. What he doesn’t tell you is the tube is made of fragile glass and it shatters in your mouth, causing you to hack blood onto the dirt below. “We get used to it,” he says.
Right at the start of the game you can choose between two difficulty levels. One provides minimal assistance (less “Oh I think I should check this out” thoughts) and the other, more helpful thoughts more regularly. I opted for minimal and found it was mostly fine, as the border post is small and rummaging often leads to fairly clear cues. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Critical Reflex
Next, he shows you where to grab tickets and how to redeem them at a little outbuilding. Pop the tickets in the machine and it’ll spit out air capsules, butonlywhen the train is running at the expected pace. He then leaves you to keep the train running, confident in your abilities. He doesn’t mention building two, which you walked past earlier and is conspicuously locked. He doesn’t mention the suspicious mound of dirt next to the ticket machine. Or the blood stains behind the big box. He doesn’t mention what’sinthe train.
From here on out, Threshold is a semi-linear story in the sense that you discover things (horrors) about the bitesize border post as you explore. And depending on what you discover and how you interact with these things, you’ll fulfil certain conditions that mean you’ll trigger the next bit of the story, and so on. I’ve only discovered one ending and I’m told that there’s a true one and a bad one, too.
Getting your job wrong means running out of air, though, and if that happens: you’ll die. Keel over and you’ll need to restart your shift from scratch, but if you’ve secured a rare checkpoint you can start from around midway through the game. Although if you do re-load from a checkpoint, it can be difficult to know exactly where you’re at when it comes to the conditions you’ve fulfilled previously and what you’re meant to do next.
It’s all presented with these blocky PSX visuals, which grants the border post an unsettling atmosphere. And the lack of music means you’re forever focused on the sounds of the train and the siren and the general rhythm of your work. |Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/Critical Reflex
As the horrors unfold and you learn more about the post, Threshold’s commentary becomes clearer. It’s about wilful ignorance and excess and preservation at all costs. And about how one’s work can feel vitally important, even if you know something’s up and your place within it disposable. Of all the horror games I’ve played, I think this one will stick in my memory as short, to the point, and wickedly immersive. So yeah, if you’re happy to take over my shift, I’d urge you to. I’ll actually be off now. Call me if you need anything, and keep the pace!
