Shutter Story
Preview
Not quite Zak Bagans
EA SCOUT the last line of defense for buying on Steam's Early Access
by Jordan Helsley
previewed on PC
Ghost Hunting, IRL
When you're not staring at a virtual computer screen trying to find spectral evidence in photos, the overarching story takes place in the slightly cramped apartment of a friend of yours, Eli, who has enlisted your help and software to prove that something isn't right. Eli is insistent that events such as the human-shaped mold on the wall that spews worms are evidence enough of the paranormal, but his parents are less than convinced, and their laissez faire attitude naturally contrasts the rest of what you and Eli are seeing. There's potential for Eli's worrywort uncle, who is also staying there with his infant child, to become the voice of reason, but that remains to be seen.
Without giving it an outsized importance, but the preview doesn't actually suggest that, the "apartment stuff" is awkward. The models aren't high fidelity, detailed, or emotive, the writing is serviceable at best, and there's no voice acting, which leads me to wonder why this story couldn't have played out on the same computer screen as the photo analyzing. Thankfully, it does not appear to impede the main focus of the gameplay so far, but it's clear that the story is going to be a focus.
Ghost Hunting, Digitally
The core loop of scanning photos for anomalies in this custom software (complete with a Clippy-like tutorial) has potential. It boils down to adjusting exposure and contrast values, while occasionally using a negative or night vision filter (more options to come) but it's the photos themselves that make it potentially worthwhile. It should be mentioned that these photos do not appear to be the result of any generative AI, in fact some of them have a "rushed Photoshop" feel to them in a charming way. The selection of photos is slight for the preview, but they did a good job of hiding the spectral events "in plain sight" in a way that I actually enjoyed. Not everything manifests as a spooky face over someone's shoulder, too, which adds an extra layer of using your own judgement rather than simply searching for the obvious.
The amount of content on offer is something of a concern with Shutter Story. Either the demo offers a look that is just too small, or it's a large chunk of an overall experience that is going to feel too short. Either way, key elements do not present themselves by the time the demo wraps up. There is mention of being able to "redo" your choices between safe and unsafe, but that process wasn't shown. Neither is any punishment for getting something wrong, marking a haunted photo as safe or simply marking them all as haunted, outside of a slight screen glitch when you've made the wrong choice in the moment.
Wait and See
Shutter Story really is a bit like Travel Channel paranormal investigator Zak Bagans in that it's a bit awkward and trying a little too hard, and even though it's not without its charm, the preview didn't show enough of the passion required to reach that level of trashy(positive) and entertaining. The prospect of filling out this family tree, solving the mystery of what's going on, and, theoretically, doing a good enough job to convince the adults in the room is enticing, but that's still all it is after the demo is over. I think the most appropriate way I can sum it up is this: playing through the demo offered no additional information over simply viewing the trailers on the Steam page. It's going to just barely edge into the Watch category for now, because I know I’ll be keeping an eye on its progress (a metric which also might be dictated by the outcome of the Kickstarter campaign, which is also live now).
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Watch
The game has potential, but we're not ready to jump in with both feet. If the game interests you, look, but don't touch - yet.
