I Can Hear You

Once upon a time much to my (and Heiner’s) regret “I CAN HEAR YOU”, the first game from the creators of Demise of the Gricers, closed its doors. I am sure many enthusiasts have experienced a dreadful sense of urgency when an awarded/recommended game announces it will close and the frustration that follows if you don’t manage to play it.

Fortunately, not all closures are permanent and sometimes there are second chances or paraphrasing something from a different company, sometimes the end is not the end, but just a new beginning.

As anyone knowing Heiner can imagine, it is not surprising that the day the pre-sale opened he “coerced” me into buying a pre-sale ticket and it is equally unsurprising that we were the first group playing in English.

Of course, after such a long wait, expectations can only be high, and at the same time I was also curious how a game that was originally conceived a long time ago (for this type of games) would fare nowadays.

I am sure you are also expecting something, so I will stop beating around the bush and simply say that I really loved the experience.

I think it is important to highlight the term experience so that people know what to expect, as this is not a typical horror escape room with puzzle solving combined with jump scares and/or cinematics. This game belongs rather in the category of games like Stay in the Dark, obviously Demise of the Gricers, and Don’t take a breath (otherwise he can hear you).

Given how popular these games have ranked in the past among escape room players, I am quite confident that if you had a fun time playing those games you are very likely to enjoy “I can hear you” too (and by extension the opposite probably applies as well).

Like in the games mentioned above, the acting is key and I really enjoyed the job our actor did and even when I am not someone getting easily scared, it was the superb acting that got me into survival mode, much to Fran’s despair when I disappeared in some dark corner.

Another aspect I would like to mention and this is not a spoiler as it is quite explicitly mentioned in the information you receive after booking (and some of this also on the website) is that it is a game without a hint system and in which reading is key. I know many players that hate reading in games (*cough sound, Heiner) and that will make your life more difficult (*cough sound again), so this might be a tricky aspect in the way you experience the game. As a lover of the narrative I enjoyed the thorough reading of whatever we would find and this was also something I really liked about this game.

In some horror games you find letters or diary pages with a progressing story, which in many cases tend to be boring as you know already the end (and most of the plot) in advance and I know that when I read it aloud nobody is listening. In this game however there is no linearity in the information, it has more depth and it is far more engaging. While some reading is essential to progress you can also choose to read less, which in my view is a pity, but a valid choice if you are just there for the adrenaline. That being said, if you read so far, you’ll be fine.

For me it was one of the highlights of our weekend trip and if people love this game as much as I did, I would expect to see the free slots diminishing rapidly, so if you are planning your next visit to Belgium do not slack. Hopefully we will have another red eye case to solve in the (not so distant) future. After the official opening it turned out that most groups were running over time, so Entered decided to extend the experience from 120 to 135 minutes – a very welcome piece of news.