Chasing Static is a short horror story with the feel of an early 2000s low budget movie. Set in the Welsh countryside, you play as a man named Chris Sellwood. On his journey, Selwood discovers a small town with a big secret.
The game begins with Chris driving through a thunderstorm and deciding to park at a small cafe and wait out the weather.
Inside, he meets the only person working there, a young waitress, and asks about the destination. The lady told him he missed his turn but she was heading there after her shift so she didn’t have to worry. Chris waits for her while she finishes closing the cafe.
A few minutes after being able to explore the cafe and speak to the waitress, the power goes out. The waitress says this happens all the time and asks Chris to fix the fuse box in the back room of the cafe. there is. After completing this, Chris returns to the main seating area, but the lights go out again. To make matters worse, the waitress is being held by a dark figure with glowing eyes. Chris passes out from shock and wakes up alone in a cafe.
Chasing Static has a first person view and very basic controls for exploration. It begins in a wooded area where a scientist finds his only one remaining secret underground research facility. You communicate with her by radio and she explains that you are in danger of an energy field that can take over someone’s mind. I also know how. She said there are three places where you can find the containment device used to stop the energy field: the cafe shop, the nearby village, and also nearby Open Moor.
For the rest of the game, you play as Chris to retrieve this equipment and help save the research facility and the surrounding area. Chris finds a frequency displacement monitor to help him on his journey. FDMD is a technology that helps you find echoes around an area, visions that help you solve puzzles to find the equipment you need. They help clarify what happened to the research facility and why.
Chasing Static’s early 2000s visuals are certainly dated, but they add to the overall sense of unease in the game in a charming way. The game has a very spooky atmosphere as the whole game is mostly played outdoors in the dark where you can lose your mind. The music also helps with this and the anonymity of the enemy in the game, keeping the game scary as he is not 100% sure what is going on as the story is revealed bit by bit can. Even if you come up with an idea, there’s no real answer to whether it’s real or not.
I didn’t find any interface issues while playing, but I did get lost a few times or confused about what to do next. Because there are too many places and too few tasks to complete. There is too much time and distance between puzzles and events, and the player (and thus the game) gets lost. Chasing Static can still be completed in a few hours, so this is probably a good thing. Like a spooky horror movie, you can experience it in one night.
In fact, Chasing Static’s old-style visuals and gameplay make it feel like you’re watching a good psychological horror out of your parents’ boxed DVD. A short play, but definitely a fun one. The graphics and storyline are actually pretty cool, the voice acting is well done, and the game works frighteningly well, even beyond the jump scares.
