Madison (2022)

Madison is a brutal first person horror puzzle game, where you play an amnesiac son trying to uncover the dark satanic history embedded in your grandparents house. It’s extremely high quality, with an unabashedly grotesque presentation and some creative puzzles to keep you invested until the end.

I didn’t really click when I had first tried it, but having been in the mood for this type of game lately I thought I would see if it hit me differently. And it did. It’s not a walking sim at all, it’s very dense with puzzles and also occasionally hide and seek gameplay. But the presentation is far above most games in this vein.

It’s just genuinely unnerving and a disgusting visual treat. Some puzzles had me stumped (and I think there’s a few red herrings that I didn’t appreciate), but mostly I just felt dumb when I couldn’t figure out something. I had a very good time with it and would recommend for fellow horror / puzzle fans,

This review is for PS5.

Madison is my first attempt at a serious indie horror game. Although I always watched playthroughs of indie horror, I decided to give this one a try, since it was on consoles right at the launch date.

I must admit that I was a horrible player during the first half of the game. I was way too scared to play and would stop all the time. I even missed jump scares because I was too scared to look, haha! I had to tell my partner to be with me while I played so I could make some progress... I know...sorry...

The next day, I finished the rest of the game in one sitting (on my own), and it was pretty fluid. I got the hang of it.

The game has an amazing ambiance. Nothing had happened in the game (no ghosts, demons, monsters, whatever...) and I was totally scared. But then again, apparently I'm a scaredy cat. I started playing with headphones on, and the sound was amazing. I could hear everything. Then I got too scared and continued playing with the TV sound.

The gameplay had a good combination of elements that I've seen in other indie horror games, with the difference that it actually worked in this game. The camera feature is really good, although I wish I could take multiple pictures at once, instead of waiting for each one to develop before being able to take the next one. The puzzles were perfect. I usually have to look online for solving puzzles, and I didn't have to do that in this game. Exquisite! One thing I didn't like was the head bobbing motion when the character was walking. It was weird, although I got used to it later on.

I have very little complaints of this game, one of them being that sometimes a section would extend too much (the tunnels section...annoying). And at some point, they used jump scares too often, and they started to lose the effect.

Some things in the story didn't make sense...like... what does Blue Knees have to do with anything? If anyone knows, please tell me. Also, I think my game glitched at the end, and I couldn't see the credits...

In conclusion, I feel that this team put a lot of time and effort in this game. It is very polished: good sound, graphics, gameplay. I didn't experience any bugs, except at the very end. Good job, I enjoyed it! (or did I? Is being scared enjoyable?)