First Impressions: Korsakovia
Intrigued by yesterday’s Rock, Paper, Shotgun writeup of two highly unique mods for Half-Life 2, I scampered over to ModDB to get them for myself. The first, Dear Esther, didn’t work correctly on my computer, so I set it aside until I have time for troubleshooting.
The second, Korsakovia, it worked fine. I kinda wish it hadn’t, because despite the fact that 30 minutes with this mod had me gelatinized with fear, I have a feeling I’ll be revisiting the world of Korsakovia again tonight. Oh, sweet-natured and sunny Scribblenauts, oh, unapologetically silly Majesty 2, why can’t I spend my time with you two instead of this, a game that might go down in the annals as one of the most chilling pieces of interactive horror ever?
Christopher, do You Know why You are Blind?
Korsakovia isn’t a game in the classic sense. It was created by The Chinese Room, a research project by Dan Pinchbeck, professor at the University of Portsmouth in the UK. Pinchbeck’s focus of study is character and affectors in first person gaming experiences, and he’s taken to developing extremely esoteric Half-Life 2 mods to test his theories. Korsakovia’s goal was to develop a first-person experience with significant ambiguity, and with the player’s normal anthropomorphic cues removed.
The result is a game that – for the first 45 minutes or so, at least – moves relatively slowly, building a sense of terror and dread through the protagonist’s absolute solitude and the disembodied voices of the narrative.
Korsakovia is the story of a man who has gone mad. Specifically, he suffers from Korsakoff’s Syndrome, a rare mental illness that erases memory and prevents the subject from easily forming new ones, while simultaneously producing delusions, confabulation, and psychosis. Unable to relate to this world through memory, a sufferer spends every waking moment trying to determine what is real and what is not, with no way of validating his theories.
Christopher believes the world has ended; that he is alone in an empty and derelict hospital. Strange posters line the walls, incongruous imagery alongside germ-phobic PSAs. Also on the walls are messages to yourself: the eyes are the enemy Christopher wake up Christopher wake up now. You hear voices – a doctor seems to be reciting her notes and playing recordings from therapy sessions with Christopher. From these clues, all of which may or may not be real, you discern the story of Korsakovia. One of the first things you learn is that when they came to collect him, the paramedics were unable to find Christopher’s eyes… and have reason to suspect he may have eaten them. Korsakovia is loaded with disturbing concepts like this (remember the straight-razor-through-the-eye scene in Un Chien Andalou?), and you are constantly reminded that what you see is only what Christopher sees, and Christopher is crazy and has no eyes, which means none of it may be real at all. Or maybe it is. Maybe the world really has ended.
Korsakovia is survival horror with heavy focus on horror; there is combat, against nebulous and terrifying foes, but this game is chiefly about not knowing what is real. Reality becomes more and more difficult to discern the longer you play, but me, I couldn’t play long. Too scary. Next time I visit that creepy hospital, I’m leaving a light on.
You’ll need Half-Life 2: Episode Two to run Korsakovia properly; it takes advantage of various Source Engine updates from the latest episode. Check it out if you dare… Pinchbeck’s pioneering work may never appear on store shelves, but this academic seems committed to developing games that demonstrate the medium’s ability to do more than space operas and Nazi zombie invasions.
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About Steerpike:
Tap-Repeatedly Overlord Steerpike is a games industry journalist and consultant. His earliest memories are of video games, and hopes his last memories will be of them as well. He’s a featured monthly columnist with the International Game Developers Association, and is internationally published in an assortment of dull e-Learning texts and less dull gaming publications. He also lectures on games at various universities.
22 Responses to “First Impressions: Korsakovia”
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I am just finishing Episode 2, so this comes at a good time. I like horror, though this sounds quite disturbing and I’m not sure I’ll like it. The file size is small, so I’ll have no problem downloading and it sounds like it would be worth a look. I wonder how this works with Steam.
Pokey, it works great with Steam. Just unzip the file into your SourceMods folder (it’s in \Steam\Steamapps\, so the final string will look like \Steam\Steamapps\Sourcemods\Kosakovia\). Then exit Steam and restart it. Korsakovia will appear in your My Games list.
It is extremely disturbing, and I found it very scary, so approach with caution.
Thanks, Steerpike. I had no idea what to do with it.
Gotta try this. Downloading now.
Scout, you’re one of our brave experts in horror, so I hope to see big reactions from you.
Scared the bejeezus out of me.
I’m loving it so far. I really did get a kind of Silent Hill/SS2 vibe off it immediately. I just made it to the basement. It’s really insidious, the way the game uses uncertainty and ambiguity. I love how the developer builds on slippery reality, using the Half Life gameplay. This one is sucking me in fast.
I love/hate a good horror game and this sounds very interesting – thanks for the links Steerpike.
Have any of you played either of the first Penumbra games?
No, Gregg, I never got a chance to play Penumbra. I think they’re both on GameTap, or maybe available as Steam bargains, so perhaps I’ll check them out. Horror games scare me, though; I generally avoid them.
I played the demo and enjoyed it but refused to buy it because it was so scary. Then I saw the Penumbra collection for sale on Steam for £4.50. My partner said she’d hold my hand while we played so I bought it.
The collection’s for sale on Direct2Drive at the moment for about £5/$5. Snap it up if you’re interested.
I finished Episode 2 today and started up Korsakovia in the evening. After wandering around the dimly lit wards for a while, I decided maybe waiting until tomorrow might be a good idea.
I’m in the basement and the electricity is off but haven’t found a way forward yet. It’s also very dark and things are happening. I can’t play this for very long stretches. It just gets too tense.
I’m in the basement and the electricity is off but haven’t found a way forward yet. It’s also very dark and things are happening. I can’t play this for very long stretches. It just gets too tense.
Gregg, I played the first two Penumbra games and enjoyed them but they are much tamer than Korsakovia.
Bloody hell. Thanks Pokey. I’ve got to play it now. I’ve not played the Penumbra games through but what I did play really unsettled me. I think horror games – especially first person – have a real edge over their linear media counterparts just because you’re inherently more involved. You’ve got to go down that dark corridor with a dodgy torch, you’ve got to investigate, you’ve got to open that door. I can’t wait to try this. I think.
Gregg, for some reason I have to approve your comments before they appear, even though you should have long since gotten past the minimum number for that. Are you registered with the site? If not, try joining – I don’t want to accidentally miss something you post.
Sorry Steerpike, wasn’t aware you could register. You shall not be pestered any more!
This is as freaky a game as I ever have played. I mean, back to Realms of the Haunting. And that…what was that text game called? The Lurking Horror?
I have found that horror games are tough to handle, much tougher than movies. Though even those these days are tough for me (something about really having something to lose, now that Ben is here (i.e., I finally have something truly to fear in life)). Anyhow, though even horror movies are tough these days, being the one exploring, the one at risk, is just immersively terrifying.
“The collectors are here for me, doctor. They’ve come for me again.” And then the door creaks open. Just FRIGHTENING.
Oh, I’m right there with you, Ernest. I’m not a huge fan of scary movies either (I’m a well-rounded coward), but I’ll take one of them over a horror game any day. I’m having great difficulty playing this game because it’s simply so unnerving. I’m constantly looking over my shoulder. Maybe 5.1 sound isn’t a good thing after all…
Having only read the introduction to your article because I want a “virginal” experience, I’m really, really looking forward to trying this out. The last game to really scare me was Fatal Frame 2–here’s hoping.
I’ve not read much of Steerpikes text either for fear of spoiling something! I’m that busy with things at the moment though that I’m not sure when I’ll get round to playing this. I hope soon.
Oh, what a slippery slope this RPG stuff is. First Fallout 3. Then the add-ons. Then the DLC to finish off the story (which I haven’t done yet, but will.) Then I read about some very interesting adventure-type mods for F3. I’m hooked. I’m a goner.
Now as I prepare to load up on all that is Half-Life 2, again with a base game, then add-ons, then DLC, this article from last year crosses my horizon. Once more into the breach.
Thanks, Steerpike – I think.
Now as I prepare to load up on all that is Half-Life 2
@Spike – so am I
Welcome, Horror Blog. I hope to finish Portal this weekend. Then I have to choose between HL2 and Penumbra.
If you want to start a thread in the Bollocks forum you may find that someone else is playing as well. If not you will at least find more than a few that have already played HL2 and will be glad to help/hand hold if you like. Others who haven’t played will read and comment anyway, because that’s what we’re good at here – reading, commenting and thread-hijacking. We’re a fun and strange lot. We don’t stand on ceremony and we most decidedly DO NOT have hall monitors. You remember those annoying, love-to-tattle kids from grade school.