Sorry We’re Closed Review

Sorry We’re Closed tells the story of Michelle, a normal young woman working in a convenience store in London and is struggling from moving on from her last relationship. After a creepy nightmare of a demon who empathizes with her difficulties, she wakes up learning that she’s cursed by the Duchess. If Michelle doesn’t fall in love with the demon after three days, she will die.

Sorry We’re Closed is a third person action survival horror game that is a bit of an homage to classic survival horror games from PS1 era. However, to sum it up better, it feels like a cross between Killer7 and Silent Hill. Throughout the game, you’ll move between London where you can interact with your friends and fighting for your life in the Otherworld. As I’ll elaborate below, you might quickly understand the Killer7 comparison (if you’re familiar with this quirky title).

The game follows the typical formula of survival horrors; creepy settings, monstrosities to kill, navigating unknown areas, and solving puzzles. One of the main difference is Michelle’s Third Eye. It allows her to find passages and items otherwise hidden by the Otherworld. For example, you’ll see thorns standing on the ground, but using the Third Eye, they’ll disappear so you can safely go. But you can’t run with Third Eye enabled and it can be a tad annoying.

When it comes to combat, it’s something else and this is where it clearly feels inspired by Killer7. All combat is forcibly in first person, meaning you can’t move during combat. You’ll start off with an axe to defend yourself, but it also means you’re vulnerable for enemy attacks given you can’t move and block/defend. Things do get a bit more interesting with your trusty magical gun.

While you can shoot willy-nilly, using your Third Eye will (very) briefly stun the oncoming enemy, but also expose their weakpoint which is a heart. Depending on the enemy size, the number of bullets required will vary. Small enemies can be easily dispatched with or without the Third Eye. The difference being, with the Third Eye, a single bullet suffices; as long as you shoot the weakpoint.

But human size to bosses, they’ll have multiple weakpoints that you need to shoot consecutively so they die quicker. And hearts move, so you can’t just fire away on the same spot. After successfully hitting enemies’ weakpoints, you’ll charge the Heartbreaker meter. Once charged, after enabling Third eye, you’ll be able to press RB for a supercharge shot and do massive damage. Useful against bigger enemies, but vital in order to kill bosses.

Throughout your (mis)adventures through hell, you’ll come across unique items called Artifacts. Artifacts can be sold at a the shop in exchange for Yowza; the game’s currency. The Yowzas can then be used to purchase new upgrades for Michelle such extra slots for water bottles (refills your health), ammo, Third Eye stun duration; among other beneficial perks.

The game looks fine; it does have its unique PS1/N64 style visuals. It also mixes dark tones of its theme with colorful design in terms of enemies and NPCs. The camera work is far from perfect; lots of circumstances where the camera is overhead, meaning you can’t see enemies from afar, unless you constantly swap between first and third person views. The soundtrack is quirky score that’s reminiscent of KIller7 and parts of Shadows of the Damned. There’s no voiceover acting; but when characters interact, there’s some annoying grunts at times.

The game does suffer from two major issues. The first one is the constant top down camera view because it leads you open to enemy attacks with little to no time to react to avoid enemies; unless you have Third Eye enabled at all times. And the combat. It is incredibly clunky and feels somehow even more outdated than most PS1 action game. While true, you couldn’t move back in the day, at least in third person perspective, it was easier to evaluate distance with the enemy and freedom to do “hit and move” patterns.

Sorry We’re Closed is a decent, surprisingly little gem. Story is interesting, the visuals are a nice homage to classic PS1/N64 era of gaming, and Third Eye power is a a fun mechanic to mix things up a bit. This unique experience, however, is dumbed down by the clunky combat and questionable camera views makes this game more frustrating than it should be. If they improve the camera work and fine tune the combat, a sequel could even be more special. I can easily recommend this game, however it will take sometime to master the combat.