Rise of Nightmares is a survival horror game built for Kinect, and it wants to scare you while you stand still. Sega developed and published it for Xbox 360, and it was shown off at the 2010 Tokyo Game Show. It is also the first M-rated Kinect game ever put out.
Trailer, via GameSpot.
Josh and Kate
Josh is the hero you play as. He is on holiday in Romania with his wife, Kate, trying to save their marriage. He drinks too much, and that habit threatens the whole thing. Kate gets angry when she catches him with a hip flask after he promised to stop drinking, and she storms away. That leads to the whole game.
Kate is kidnapped by Ernst at the behest of Viktor, a deranged mad scientist. Josh spends most of the game looking for her, and the search drives the story forward. The game keeps you chasing her until the very end.
Viktor and Ernst
Viktor is the villain. He is interested in states of life and death, and he has Kate locked up for his own purposes. He is behind almost every death and transformation in the mansion, and he has plans for both Josh and Kate that are very personal.
Ernst is his servant. He wears a mask and was once a prisoner in the mansion himself. He failed to escape and became one of Viktor’s most powerful experiments instead. He is the one who takes Kate and derails the train.
The Train Ride
The game opens with a couple of prisoners trying to get out of their cell. They find a locked door and pull a lever, which unlocks the door but also lets creatures loose from the dungeon. The prisoners run toward a door that turns out to be locked, and the wall closes in on them, killing both of them.
Then the story shifts to Josh and Kate on a train full of other tourists. Kate is about to tell Josh something when she finds the hip flask. She walks out and goes to the dining car. Josh meets a Romanian man who gives him a letter from Kate, asking him to meet her there.
The Mansion
Josh and Yeli, a fortune teller, follow the kidnapper and catch a glimpse of a strange man laughing wildly. Then the train derails, and Josh is knocked unconscious.
The rest of the game takes place in the mansion.
What Works and What Doesn’t
The story moves fast and holds together better than many games of this kind manage. Josh’s drinking problem gives his search for Kate a real weight.
The Kinect controls are the weak point. Moving through the world feels awkward, and the game breaks up the flow of play with long stretches of cutscenes. The pacing suffers from long stretches of walking and waiting between scares.
The voice acting is solid, and the settings are well detailed.
By the Numbers
| Element | Strengths | Weaknesses |
|---|---|---|
| Story | Strong pacing, clear stakes | Long stretches of filler |
| Kinect controls | Novel approach | Awkward motion detection |
Rise of Nightmares is a game that aims for something new, and it mostly succeeds on its own terms. The Kinect controls are a gamble, and it does not pay off fully. But the story and the villains hold the game together.
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