Transference - The Water Test Impressions

Today, Ubisoft gave gamers a taste of what they can expect from Transference. Revealed back at E3 2018 the psychological thriller has interested a lot of gamers thanks to its unsettling atmosphere. The prequel demo called The Water Test gives players the chance to experience Transference by providing a short walkthrough through the mind of a soldier with PTSD named Walter. Despite only being 10 minutes long by the end Transference will leave you in awe. 

The demo is straightforward at the beginning. Players are dumped into the mind of a person named Walter who suffers from PTSD. Despite being assured by that nothing can harm you his pause says otherwise. The beginning of your journey involves reliving his fractured memories by jumping between 2 periods within his life, childhood, and adulthood.

The puzzles within the game are pretty simple and require you collecting the right items and performing specific actions. The pace is notably slow and you cannot change the view axis if you prefer inverse. Regardless, Transference sucks you in thanks to the gripping atmosphere.

Those who've played games like Dead Space and Alan Wake will definitely feel at home here. With memories flicking in and out of reality as the venture moves through. Much of the shock value comes from failure where death is instant and horrifying. Once it happened I made extra effort to avoid the situation altogether.

The story itself is predictable but the voice-acting and fear of death help sell the narrative. It was uncomfortable to hear the visions speak about their horrible life and fear of their safety.

The demo provides a good introduction of what players can expect from Transference. It's a slow pace thrill that focuses on atmosphere and building tension. The story is a bit stale but the voice-acting gives it enough flare that I was interested until the end. If you enjoy tense experiences than you should try Transference.

Adam Siddiqui, NoobFeed
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