The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication is a game of dread and puzzles.
The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication is a survival horror game where players are to take control of four in-game characters in first-person view during Wen Hua University’s ‘Carnival of Horror’ and survive the terror of ghosts, both in the sense of confrontation and evasion. The game was developed by SOFTSTAR and published by both Gamera Games and PQube.
The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication is a stand-alone sequel to The Bridge Curse: Road to Salvation and is also a reimagined adaptation of the thriller film, The Bridge Curse 2: Ritual. Starting, The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication, the players will be given fair warning as to what the game may contain and advised that those with heart diseases and other physical conditions to be cautious when it comes to this survival horror.
Aside from The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication warnings to those with physical health conditions, it also warns of plots that include religious imagery, diseases, violence, and self-mutilation, along with other mature subjects you’d expect from a horror game of this nature. It also makes it very clear that it is not intended for younger players starting, as it can trigger sensitive players.
The next phase of getting started would be to set your brightness, along with the assistance settings. Turning off this setting will make the game difficulty go up, and this affects the player’s game in the sense of removing the ability to determine if a creep is able to hear or see you, or if the ghost has started to chase the player.
Once you have made your choice in The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication, you will be introduced to a cutscene which depicts a horror movie trailer from the students of the university. Finishing up after the cutscene, the player is introduced to the first character in the game to be played, a young woman who seems to be working for a news agency. Sue Lian, being super interested in the new video, goes to investigate.
After a phone call with someone named Mrs Wong, you will be given the first of your controls for moving about, running, and crouching. Just a side note: the game starts with the jump scares and tension building from the get-go, so be ready, as the game leaves little room for a self-help pep talk. Along with the controls to move around and the like, the players will also be shown the key button for opening the item bar, in which there will be a mysterious letter and an employee ID for the well-known media outlet, United News.
On the second bar of the items page will be the information page, which will have revealed items on it such as the Film Club trailer. This page will be for the rewatchable content found within the game.
Once the player has checked everything else, they can get back to the building tension and mildly freaky encounters, which get worse as the game progresses. Once the player has made it inside the building, new features will become available to the player, such as quickly turning on their heels or accessing the character’s phone.
Opening the phone, the player will be able to view the call logs, one of which we already know is Mrs Wong. However, the other number in the call log is unknown. The player will receive a very ominous caller on the other end from an unknown number claiming to have struggled to get you the mysterious letter.
Aside from making calls or receiving them, the player will also be able to interact with the messaging function on the phone to get more perspective into Sue’s personal life, such as messages with her dad, a person named Bobby, and a group chat for Wen Hua which talks mostly about the stories about the building you seem to be exploring.
Making your way through the building, your next objective will be to make it to the military and investigate the area. This is also where the player will locate the first puzzle – puzzles start pretty easy and increase in difficulty as the player progresses. After getting caught by the security guard and being hilariously scared the character, the character strikes up a conversation to find some information about the place.
After making it to the next floor and completing the needed tasks, you will be given the next item for use, and this is where things get spooky. So, why not give the character an old, creepy lantern to light the way? The next item is titled the Anima Lantern; this item can reveal the unseen detail that is hidden throughout the game.
Aside from revealing key details, when the symbols on the lantern are fully lit up, it can protect the player from one lethal ghost attack. However, this will need to be recharged to avoid the next attack. This lantern has two main functions: Revealing the unseen and protecting the carrier. Alongside protection, the lamp will also be able to clear and cleanse dark energy that may block your way.
Once all the creepy things have happened and the game gets on a roll, the horror factor shoots up. The game’s graphics are beautifully designed when it comes to cutscenes and interactions. The graphics bloom when it comes to the ghost encounter. The ghost with the broken neck really put goosebumps on my skin when I first encountered her. As for the ghost, the best way to avoid an encounter will be to stay crouched when she is roaming.
Aside from her creepy look and seriously gruesome outward appearance, her detailed movement (walking backward) and wriggling with violent head thrashing, really set the creep factor to the max. The details and effort put into the game really show in the environments of the school, the posters, and even pictures/posters that encompass the school’s wall, and during encounters with characters, some of the photos look really real.
The level of detail that went into The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication’s ghosts and the game’s mechanics is awesomely worked out, while showing the dedication the developer had put into the game is quite remarkable.
The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication‘s atmospheric building is what you would expect from a ghost game such as this, doing its job perfectly, building tension, and putting the player on edge around every corner. Although, besides setting the scary mood, the sound engineering also slightly warns players of the coming scenes or encounters with the slight changes in tune, not to mention the lantern starts to rattle when there is a shift in Yin-Yang energy.
The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication‘s voice acting was phenomenal, really giving life to the character, and ghost players can tell the voice actors really put their all into the game, making it as realistic as it possibly could get for a horror game. In the end, I had tons of fun playing the game, from the atmosphere to the ghosts and the general story, the game is beautifully built, and the level of detail is truly impressive.
The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication scares are definitely scary, although it would be wise to take a break now and then, as constant playing can make things quite stressful. The game is really worth giving a chance; the tension, the story, and the character details, along with the voice acting, really set The Bridge Curse 2: The Extrication up there with other horror masterpieces.
