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wiptw · 4 years

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Sagebrush: Exploring a Cult Compound

Sagebrush

PC – Redact Games – 2018

Narratively driven exploration games, or ‘walking simulators’ as some corners of the internet will call them, are a fairly subjective branch of the classic Adventure Game genre. There’s a larger focus on the story being told, usually chopping out things like game mechanics and NPCs to focus entirely on guiding players through the story via notes, flashbacks, or other storytelling devices. In other words, if a game like Super Mario Bros. is like a carnival shooting gallery, this is like the carnival dark ride; an on rails experience that only changes slightly (if at all) on repeat rides.

Sagebrush is one such game, focusing on a mysterious player character exploring the abandoned “Black Sage Ranch”; a former cult compound based out of Arizona that recruited a number of people looking for meaning in their lives. Throughout the game you’ll explore the dirty, rotting remains of a compound looking for clues as to who was living here, what happened in the final days of the cult, and of course why you’re there in the first place.

Creepy colors lend to the creepy atmosphere

Over the course of the game, you’ll find notes and tape recorders to learn more about the history and people who lived here; but more importantly they’ll let you know whether or not you’re in the right place.

Sagebrush focuses heavily on realism and grounded logic in order to immerse the player and make later twists in the game more shocking (which won’t be spoiled here). So of course, this means no magic map marker but also that you need a light source to read or examine most objects in the dark. For the most part, this works decently enough with an ambient soundtrack only ever occasionally interrupted by a musical sting or sound effect. Crickets chirping in the evening, wooden floors creaking and clunking beneath your feet, and your own sighs and breathing create a world that feels real, but empty.

Day to Night transitions help lend a bit of realism to the setting

Adding to this, the notes are written from the perspective of various cultists. These notes act as worldbuilding, but also point you in the direction for finding the next bit of major narrative; which is usually delivered through an audio recording.

Through these notes, you’ll learn secrets like the combination to the compound’s rectory, and where to find the items you’ll need to full explore Black Sage Ranch; but you’ll also discover the answer to questions you’ll likely have while exploring. Questions like “why is there a bunch of cereal locked up in the farm shed” and “Whose pregnancy test is sticking out of the toilet?”

The audio logs function similarly, providing you details while also pointing you to the next clue; but they also act as checkpoints. Listening to an audio log locks you into a black and white version of whatever room you’re in, and saves your game after you’ve finished listening. They’re less frequent than the notes, 12 audio logs in total are scattered throughout the ranch, but it’s clear that there was a lot of care put into the messages these logs delivered.

That’s why it’s a shame I have to admit of the two, I preferred the notes. The audio logs often felt intrusive, although an end game spoiler explains that fairly decently, and all but a few of them are from the same point of view; which is delivered by someone with a very flat line delivery. Not all of them were terrible, but there were at least three or four tapes where the director should’ve definitely asked for a different take.

Aside from the story though, the other main draw of this game and many others like it is the environment you’re exploring. Black Sage Ranch is a large, empty, and menacing place that does an excellent job of building tension through looks alone. From the rusty trailers everyone (except of course the cult leader) lives in, to the bloodstained exterior of the cleansing room, the ranch is painted in this sort of realistic horror; the kind where being there is less ‘creepy’ and more ‘uncomfortable’.

The game uses pseudo-playstation graphics to give the game a retro vibe, but it doesn’t usually diminish from the surroundings. Objects, textures, and videos in game might be a little muddy as a result, but you’ll never have any trouble knowing what’s what or what you’re supposed to be looking at, which means you’ll probably also not have any trouble with any of the games two puzzles.

In most games of this type, the walking simulator variety, there’s usually very little else outside of walking and listening. Games like Gone Home and Stanley Parable are known for making this sort of game more mainstream, and had very minimal mechanics attached to them; but in Sagebrush you’ll need to solve a number of small puzzles

These puzzles all work the same, except for one; find the object you need to advance, then use said object. So, for instance, you need to find a generator key in the first area to be able to use the light switches in the community building. You find the key, find the generator, then turn on the generator and the puzzle is done. It never gets more advanced than this, and the only other puzzle involves simply finding the padlock combination on two different locks.

I don’t begrudge the devs for recycling a basic puzzle structure, I want to make that perfectly clear. Game design is hard, and puzzle design is even harder, but after seeing the first few puzzles in the game it felt less like puzzles and more like chores before the game would let me have more story. I don’t see a chained-up door and think “Oh, I wonder what I’ll use to get that open” or “Wow, I wonder what could possibly be in there”, I end up thinking “Oh, great. I wonder when I’ll be allowed to go in there”.

Not helping is the fact most of the items are keys

Even if you stumble on a puzzle or two though, it’s a very short game. I beat the entire game in around an hour and a half; and most of that time was spent listening to audio logs. It’s not the best narratively driven adventure you’ll play this year, and it’s not even the best from the year it was released, but at the very least it’s a fun distraction for an hour or two when you’ve got nothing better going on. You can find copies on Steam and Itch.io, and as of writing this you can also get it as part of itch.io ‘s $5 game bundle; which I’d recommend since you get over a thousand other games and because the money will go towards a cause that really needs it at the moment.

Overall: 6/10

Sound: 8/10

Graphics: 7/10

Memorable Moments: Finding the audio log in the chapel, and the cutscene that occurs during it

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