So many people document their lives with photos, but what if the use of a camera could physically rewind something back to its original state?
TAPE is a narrative-driven horror game with time-related puzzle mechanics all throughout. Starting in your home, you find yourself alone after you had just woken up from a nap. You play as Iria, a young girl whose father disappeared not too long ago. After finding a mysterious tape your father recorded, you are transported to a hospital where the game truly begins.
The hospital is abandoned (naturally). Crawling and navigating around the winding hallways and discarded furniture, you’ll find this place to be a confusing snarl that seems to change as you walk around. Despite it looking abandoned, there is something crawling around with you, growling and snarling as it makes its way through the halls. The monster doesn’t seem to notice you at first, but you can catch glimpses of the strange, massive beast.
Eventually, in TAPE, you’ll make your way to your childhood bedroom, where you can find your dad’s old camera. This camera has changed in a way that it can now bring items forward and backwards in time, placing them at original locations or freezing them in mid air. This camera can be used to protect Iria as you can move furniture into the way of enemies or move objects to fling them across the room. This opens up a lot of new puzzle mechanics as you rewind and fast forward items to change positions and work your way through the game.
TAPE is currently in Alpha, but is quite polished. Everything is voice acted in Spanish with English subtitles, the visuals are striking, and the music feels good. The entire atmosphere of the game feels creepy even in little places that should feel like home.
An Alpha version of TAPE is currently available on itch.io.