Bedlam asks players to believe in a programmer named Heather Quinn who walks out of a virtual world she built and into a vast realm of connected game worlds. That premise is ambitious. The execution is not.
Developed by RedBedlam and published by KISS ltd., Bedlam is a first-person shooter based on a novel of the same name by award-winning British author Christopher Brookmyre. It launched on PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, and Xbox One in 2014. Players take on the role of Heather Quinn, also known as Athena, a programmer at Neurosphere, a medical scanning developer. She finds herself transported into Starfire, a nineties FPS she remembers from her teen years, and sets out to find an explanation and a way back home.
The game’s central idea is a vast realm of interconnected game worlds documenting the evolution of the FPS genre and of video games in general. That is a promising concept. The delivery falls short of it.
Trailer, via RedBedlamVideo.
Heather Quinn’s Escape
Heather Quinn, or Athena, is a programmer at Neurosphere, a medical scanning developer. She finds herself transported into Starfire, a nineties FPS she remembers from her teen years. Her goal is simple: find an explanation and a way back home.
The setup is a clever inversion of the usual sci-fi premise. Instead of a person being pulled into a virtual world, Heather Quinn walks out of one. The game sets up the shift between Starfire and the real world, and the narrative momentum falters around the middle of the game.
Heather Quinn walks out of a virtual world she built and into a vast realm of connected game worlds.
The Realm of Connected Worlds
The realm Heather Quinn discovers is supposed to document the evolution of the FPS genre and of video games in general. The game presents a vast network of interconnected game worlds, each tied to a moment in gaming history.
The concept is strong on paper. In practice, the presentation is thin. The game fails to deliver on its promise of a deep exploration of gaming history. Instead, it leans heavily on references and nods that feel shallow rather than illuminating.
Combat and the FPS Formula
Bedlam is a shooter, and shooters demand precision. The game’s combat mechanics are serviceable but unremarkable. The controls respond adequately, but there is little sense of weight or impact behind the shots fired.
The game also includes elements of adventure. Players move through the asylum by typing simple instructions using a verb-noun command such as, “go north” or “get the key.” That text-adventure structure is a nod to the original Bedlam, a TRS-80 text adventure game from 1982. The original game was written for the TRS-80 by Robert Arnstein and released by Tandy Corporation. It was later ported to the TRS-80 Color Computer.
The comparison is telling. The original Bedlam was a text-only adventure where players escaped a lunatic asylum by solving puzzles and issuing commands. The 2014 game borrows the name and the escape motif.
The Nineties FPS Nostalgia
Starfire is the game Heather Quinn remembers from her teen years. The game leans on nostalgia for the nineties FPS era, drawing on familiar tropes and settings from that period.
The nostalgia is genuine. The execution is uneven. Some levels feel like faithful homages to classic shooters. Others feel like hollow facsimiles, built to trigger recognition rather than offer genuine gameplay innovation.
Technical Performance
Bedlam runs on multiple platforms, including PlayStation 4, PC, Mac, and Xbox One. The technical performance is adequate across all four. Load times are reasonable, and the frame rate holds steady during combat sequences.
There are occasional hitches, especially during transitions between worlds. These moments pull players out of the experience just when the game is trying to build momentum.
Where Bedlam Falls Short
The problems accumulate over time. Here is a ranked list of the game’s biggest issues:
- The pacing sags in the middle of the game, where Heather Quinn’s search for an explanation and a way home loses urgency.
- The text-adventure nods are thin and feel tacked on rather than integrated into the gameplay.
- The shooter mechanics are competent but lack the polish found in other titles in the genre.
- The realm of connected worlds is underdeveloped, offering more spectacle than substance.
- The nineties nostalgia leans on surface similarities rather than genuine homage.
These are not minor complaints. They are structural problems that undercut the game’s central premise.
A Promising Premise, A Shallow Delivery
Bedlam has a premise that could have supported a rich, rewarding experience. A programmer walking out of a virtual world she created, exploring a realm of connected game worlds, and confronting the evolution of the FPS genre sounds like the foundation of a great game.
The execution falls short of that promise. The pacing drags, the text-adventure nods feel thin, and the shooter mechanics are competent but uninspired. The realm of connected worlds is more spectacle than substance.
Bedlam is a game of missed opportunities. It takes a premise with real potential and delivers something that feels half-finished. The final score reflects that assessment.
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