GYLT Review – A Not-so-Subtle Anti-Bullying Campaign

Horror video games have allowed players to experience the more subtle intricacies of their inner turmoil. Silent Hill 2, for example, was an excellent character story in which a murderer is portrayed as a complicated person instead of your usual good or bad guy. The genre itself has been used to tell stories you wouldn’t find in usual media through subtlety and symbolism. With that said, GYLT delivers its message with the subtlety of a freight train crashing into a wall.

I won’t mince words for the introduction here. I’m not too fond of how the message is delivered in the game. However, I still was intrigued about how things were going to go despite how early the game delivered its twist. After all, even with a loud message as this, we could still get a very good message about bullying and a portrayal that leads players to search their inner demons.

Before we start the review of GYLT, I should point out that I am a victim of bullying myself. I am well over what happened back then, but the experiences impacted me. GYLT focuses on the effects of bullying from the victim’s perspective. In some aspects, the game does its job fantastically. In others, it feels a little bit tone-deaf and downright pretentious. So, without any further ado, let’s talk about what makes GYLT good and bad.

GYLT starts off with the protagonist Sally Kauffman, a teenager who is desperately looking for her cousin Emily. Emily has been missing for quite a long time, and the town essentially gave up in its search. As time goes on, the only one showing any semblance of interest in finding Emily ends up being Sally. Unfortunately, Sally ends up being chased by some bullies into a cable car which sets off a journey into the paranormal as her town completely changes and is filled with monsters.

Now, the monsters themselves are not very subtle representations of bullies. A lot of them show aggressive attitudes, don’t hesitate to gang up on Sally, and, more often than not, taunt her by saying stuff like, “You think you’re invisible?” This, coupled with the atmosphere filled with whispers and more blatant demonstrations that Sally is not welcome in this warped version of the town. However, she still ventures on as Emily is there, and she must chase her through several areas of the town.

The game does pretty well in its representation. However, much like the enemies, it doesn’t leave much open for interpretation. Granted, I don’t know if a subtle message about bullying would be delivered well in this current day and age, with edgy people trying to justify their own traumatic experiences by saying, “It builds character.” I still feel we could have a bit more of a subtle approach to how the victim takes the abuse.

Unfortunately, you’ll figure out the obvious twist because of the unsubtle way the game presents itself. I still won’t spoil it to do right by Tequila’s design, but I was rolling my eyes the moment I figured out who Sally really was and what the journey was about. When a game like GYLT is this blatant with its messaging and character moments (especially since Sally cannot keep her mouth shut and constantly talks about the current turn of events), the game can end up being less about the horrifying problems that caused by bullying and more a preachy message that thinks the audience is not intelligent enough to understand it.

Players can definitely see the Stephen King inspiration in GYLT: the mining town, the way you kill enemies by flashing your light on them like in Alan Wake, and the focus on the effects of the bullying rather than on why it’s caused. I see that the developers had fun with what they’ve got and I think they did pretty well by having enough references that won’t be that noticeable to the average Joe.

Luckily, this game is also fun to play. Now that it doesn’t have the innate delay brought by Google Stadia (GYLT originally launched there in late 2019), playing the game is much more bearable. GYLT is a semi-open exploration game in which players have to look for clues throughout the world and also scavenge for resources like health and battery refills. Much like in Alan Wake, combat involves having to shine a flashlight on enemies to make them dissipate.

The enemy variety is decent. At least you have more than just your usual creatures and have to deal with invisible enemies, boss enemies that require you to sneak around them, and other threats. Every enemy has an obvious counter, but you can easily fight it off with your flashlight or fire extinguisher. It makes me sad that the game didn’t have much variety beyond those two combat options, but eh, I guess I wished for too much.

Sally will also have to solve a variety of puzzles that won’t make you rack your neurons. They’re pretty easy to solve so long as you pay attention to the environment. The real meat and potatoes of this open world are the collectibles which there are plenty of. From notes that explain the origin of this twisted world to innocent souls that need to be freed, to bird statuettes that in some way relate to Emily, you’ll be exploring the town to find these collectibles to achieve the best ending of the game.

While that sounds neat, my journey ended up becoming a clean-up session later on in which I had to traverse several of the areas I already explored just to get the items I need to get the best ending. Even then, the ending really isn’t worth going out of your way getting because it feels like a copout in which everybody survives and lives happily ever after. So, in my honest opinion, players should just stick to one run where they collect whatever they see and then do another run to gather every leftover pickup to get every item and inspect every nook and cranny.

GYLT is a game that I would recommend if players crave a new horror title. It certainly isn’t going to break any grounds like Amnesia: The Bunker or the recent Resident Evil 4 and Dead Space remake did. But at the very least, it’s a pleasing experience for players looking to play a game with a nice message about how victims of bullying can be affected.

The game is still subtle enough with other parts of itself to at least warrant a thorough playthrough. After all, the player has to discover the origins of this mysterious world and the entities inside it, and the only way to find out is through multiple playthroughs. Overall, this experience is decent, and I’m thoroughly satisfied with what I’ve got.

Reviewed on PC (code provided by the publisher).

GYLT

GYLT is a pleasant experience with a serviceable anti-bullying message that could use a bit more subtlety in its delivery. While the game doesn’t break any new grounds in terms of horror design brought by its peers that were released this year, it still is a worthwhile experience for most players looking for a thrill in a mysterious world filled with monsters.