She’s Leaving Review

Player(s): 1
Extra Features: N/A

She’s Leaving is a first person detective horror game developed by Blue Hat Studio. The game caught my attention mainly for its overall setting and detective gameplay. For those that are looking for an immersive experience, the game definitely has some great looking surroundings to explore. The game is short, but it’s overall decent for what it is.

You take control of Charles Dalton, who enters House Haywood to solve the disappearance of missing persons. He is armed with his detective tool and he has his friend Annabella over radio to offer advice. She’s Leaving has a fantastic graphics engine and overall atmosphere. From the beginning to the end, it’s a very immersive game thanks to its surroundings. The overall sound design is pretty good as well.

Charles has a detective tool that has a light on it that can be used to find blood hidden in the environment. Sadly, the blood collecting is only limited to the very beginning of the game and after that the light just serves as a flashlight for the most part. The majority of the game is spent exploring areas while avoiding a certain enemy called “the Stranger”. The Stranger is a type of Mr. X-like stalker enemy that will chase you and instant kill you if he touches you. Some areas feel a bit like Evil Nun thanks to the Stranger.

The detective tool doubles as a tazer. The tazer can be used to stun the Stranger for a limited amount of time to allow you to escape. The tazer also acts as a battery to charge electrical boxes in order to open certain doors. The game has a few puzzles here and there, but the majority of the time, you’ll be looking for keys to open doors. The game has a good amount of unique areas to explore. You’re constantly progressing into different areas of the mansion.

My biggest gripe with the game is that it just doesn’t have enough content. You barely even use the detective tool to examine blood on walls. You hardly ever truly investigate situations all that much. A good bit of the time is spend looking for items and avoiding the Stranger enemy. The game is also very short. There is even an achievement for finishing the game in under 60 minutes! It took me around 4-5 hours on my first time through and I definitely take my time when playing.

Overall, She’s Leaving is an interesting concept in a horror-themed detective game, but it just needs more to it. The game feels like it’s over way too quick and that it could have had much more variety in its gameplay. For Charles to be a detective, the game doesn’t give him much of a chance to use his detective skills. The best part about the game is its graphics and overall atmosphere, but that sort of falls flat when it keeps repeating exploration mixed with chase sequences instead of giving us much detective work.

The Good:
+ Very good overall graphics (backgrounds, weather effects, etc)
+ Interesting chase areas
+ Good atmosphere

The Bad:
- Not enough use of detective tools
- The overall game is too short
- The main enemy is very boring (the stranger)