The urban legend of Bloody Mary is a tale as old as time. We’ve all heard the story growing up and have been challenged by our friends to speak that name three times in the mirror.
Some of us tried it, while some of us were too afraid to do it. But one way or another, it’s undeniably scary to attempt such a thing in front of mirrors with lights turned off. Especially since how easy it is for our brain to hallucinate seeing things in such a situation.
As we grow older, we become less prone to being scared off by mere stories and need something more engaging to feel immersed again.
And that’s what the developers of Bloody Mary Origins had in mind, as they developed a point-and-click survival horror video game that is inspired by the urban legend of the Bloody Mary ghost.
The game puts you in the shoes of two detectives that deal with paranormal abnormalities in their city. And as they are hired to investigate the mysterious disappearance of a girl named Mary, they encounter the supernatural, solve puzzles, explore dangerous environments, and find clues that put the entire story together.
So, is this a game that will remind you what it was like to be scared of the classic urban legend? Let’s grab our notebooks and dig into the Bloody Mary Origins Review to find out!
The Gameplay
The controls of Bloody Mary Origins are very straightforward, just like most other point-and-click adventures. Players can tap anywhere on the screen to interact with things and to collect items.
Some items can only be interacted with under specific conditions. For example, you need to have your flashlight equipped if you want to touch certain things. And sometimes they don’t respond to your touch unless you’re holding a specific item too – so a lot of the time the player has to recheck previous things after collecting something new.
As soon as the gameplay begins, the player is given very little information on what they need to do. It’s one of those games that the player can finish in 20 minutes if they have all of the information already – so half the battle is to figure out what must be done.
You might see a statue that seems suspicious, but tapping on it will do nothing. Then, at a later point, you might find a random item that has no clues attached to it. If you go back to the statue and press on it again, it might react this time around due to the item you found.
So, most of the time you’ll be exploring your surroundings and figuring out what you can collect. And once you collect it, you have to check out everything that you couldn’t interact with properly before and then you might unlock new scenarios.
The same goes for puzzles, as they are mostly not the type that you can just figure out by yourselves. You usually need to find an item that can help you out with it. And sometimes, you’re missing notes that you find later on that can help you understand your surroundings.
Lastly, there is a Walkthrough that players can access too which has a guide for everything that you need to do in the game. It is separated by chapters, so you can read only what you’re stuck on and still figure out everything by yourself aside from that.
When it comes to how good Bloody Mary Origins is as a game – it’s hard to give a simple opinion. First of all, a good point-and-click game needs to have a perfect balance between not being too easy and still being accessible enough to the point that it does not feel unfairly difficult.
Secondly, when the horror aspect is thrown into the mix – the game needs to be scary too. And since the point-and-click genre is not as visually expressive as something like a first-person 3D game, it’s harder to create a genuinely scary atmosphere that scares players.
Bloody Mary Origins unfortunately fails to find a balance between not being easy and being too difficult. As mentioned previously in the review, the player has to constantly explore every bit of the map back and forth because they might have found an item that unlocks a new interaction in the environment.
The game offers very few clues as to what is going to help you do what, and the player has to figure everything out as if they are real-life investigators.
Even certain technical things about the gameplay are a bit more difficult than they should be. For example, the flashlight has a very small area of coverage so you have to constantly press on the screen to see certain things.
And tapping on things is not as smooth as it should be, so sometimes you’ll need to tap twice even though it should have worked the first time.
On the other hand, the horror aspect of the game is a mixed bag too. I certainly admit that the game’s atmosphere is appropriately creepy and you never know what you’ll encounter next.
But the jumpscares in the game will only work on the faint of heart – and that too if they are playing at night and using headphones. If you’re not completely immersed in the game, or are someone who can generally handle scares, then you won’t find the game scary at all because it only has random jumpscares that show a screaming ghost or two every now and then.
So, to put it simply – the game is too difficult for the average gamer and only those who are experts in the genre will be able to enjoy it without being stuck every few minutes. And only those who are easily scared will find the game creepy, since the scares are too generic to cause a reaction in the hearts of horror buffs.
If you do fall under the category of gamers who can enjoy this game – then it’s certainly one of the better point-and-click horror games on the platform. It has a good atmosphere, the secrets and puzzles are challenging, and the pacing is pretty good too if you know what you’re doing.
It’s a fairly entertaining game that has an immersion horror atmosphere that is fun to explore. The Walkthrough does exist for those who aren’t as good at solving everything themselves – but if you have to use it too many times, it just eliminates the fun out of the experience.
The Graphics
The graphics of Bloody Mary Origins are pretty decent. Objects look crisp and the environments have a decent amount of detail. The game avoids aesthetic repetition as different parts of it look visually different to each other.
Admittedly, all of this is standard stuff and nothing particularly special in 2022. But a part of the charm of point-and-click games is the simplicity, because oversaturation makes it difficult to interact with the environment.
So, the game has a good balance between looking neat and still having enough detail to not feel empty.
The Story
The story of the game is very straightforward. You have to investigate the disappearance of a child and very quickly learn that she is now a ghost. Then, the point of your investigation is to learn why she was murdered.
There’s not much depth in the story and the dialogue can feel a bit poorly written at times. But since its purpose is to just point the player into the right direction and provide an excuse for the scares – it’s not a big deal that it’s not a particularly well written tale.
Sound Design
One of the first things that you see when you launch the game is that you should use headphones to play it, alongside turning lights off and whatnot. So, it makes you expect good sound design before you even begin your adventure.
Similarly to the graphics, the sound design of the game is pretty standard and nothing special. If you take it away, it does make the game feel less atmospheric since it does make things feel slightly more eerie.
But it’s just not unique enough to be memorable. So, does the job and not much else.
Technical Polish
The UI of Bloody Mary Origins is very simple, which is not a bad thing. It could have felt a bit better, but it’s not confusing to navigate even if it’s a bit of an eyesore.
The polish of the game leaves much to be desired too, because the game does not run as smoothly as it should. Which does not take away from the experience and is just a minor hiccup.
But since the game does not have the type of graphics or textures that could slow your phone down, it’s a bit of a bummer that it does not run more fluidly when it should. Especially since it gets updated regularly.
The Verdict
7/10 – Enjoyably average
Bloody Mary Origins is a game that is advertised with a lot of claims. A great story, lots of scares, and gameplay with incredible depth. With so many promises made, even a somewhat decent game can end up disappointing the player if it’s not amazing.
But if you ignore those claims and enjoy this game for what it is – it’s a fairly entertaining puzzle game that will keep you busy for a couple of hours. Casual players will not enjoy its overly challenging game design that much. But those who are willing to put their entire brain to the task and solve all the mysteries will find a lot to like about the game and its shortcomings can be easily ignored.
