During the pandemic, I cleared up a lot of my series and movie-backlog. So once the opportunity presented itself for yet another interactive movie by Wales Interactive – I was happy and excited to give this one a go. I Saw Black Clouds is a dark psychological thriller with some supernatural elements for both PC & consoles. We tested it on the Nintendo Switch (like almost every one of their releases, except for Maid of Sker). Disclaimer; this is not a review for those with suicidal or depressed thoughts. I highly advise you to stay away from this review and game.
I’m not much of a psychological thriller fan – except for the Hannibal series (not the series, the original ones) or the books by Michael Crichton. Most of them tend to waver into fields I’m not that interested in or are too far-fetched. I Saw Black Clouds did the same thing, sadly enough.
Suicide
The movie starts with a warning about suicide and extreme violence appearing in it; the images can be a little … overwhelming, I give them that much. After the warning fades, the camera moves to a student-esque room, in which we see the hanging body of a teenage girl dangling from a noose. It’s after this unexpected death of a close friend that Kristina returns to her hometown looking for answers, only to unearth a string of dark secrets. The truth turns out to be far more harrowing than she could have imagined…
As I stated before, I Saw Black Clouds is an interactive psychological thriller with supernatural elements and branching storylines. How you connect with the characters and the moral choices you make along the way will affect what you discover, the journey you take, and the resolution you find at the end. Your decisions will not only change individual scenes but could present you with an entirely different storyline that can be discovered on multiple playthroughs. I went with how I would handle the situation presented and went full-on ‘Acceptance’ on the story. It took me on a wild ride, but not a good one, to be honest.
I Saw Black Clouds
For every decision you make, every interaction, your character’s decisions, personality, and relationships are being tracked. You are rewarded with a breakdown to evaluate how you are playing the game. Discover five dimensions of your own personality; honesty, strength, morality, tact, and introspection — whilst controlling how the character faces their challenges; denial, acceptance, or guilt. These values add a lot less to the story than in Wales Interactives’ other game about dating. And yes, different genres, other perspectives (tomato/tomato).
The story starts perfectly normal (and no, suicide is not the answer, if you need help, please address these problems to the suicide prevention of your country) but goes all over the place. With added elements of local folklore, weddings, kidnapping, psychological sessions, and abandoned buildings, the story left me with more questions than answers. Sure, it could be that my choices pushed me into a less cohesive story, but the ending I got was one of the four endings I Saw Black Clouds provides. On my first playthrough, I went through more than a third of the available scenes and made over 200 choices.
Exploring the options
Other entries of Wales Interactives’ games challenged me to work through the other options and learn more about the whole setting and different perspectives. I Saw Black Clouds did not. I’m going to spoil a bit – so don’t click the next part if you want to see it for yourself. How is it possible that Emily (the girl who killed herself) was suddenly alive at the end of my first playthrough, and my friend (Charlotte) was murdered by some guys that drugged me and her (even though I wanted no drinks and opted for the option to save her). The game just told me, ‘that’s not how it really went, did it…?’, and put me back on the previous checkpoint, with the death by abandonment as the only option. Oh, and Emily just called me out of the blue that she wanted to meet up – roll credits. Two hours well spent – not.
Conclusion
I tried to work my way through the other endings, in which you focus on other friends and other aspects of the game, but I lost interest quickly due to the disjointed story that left me with more questions than answers. It could be that it’s just the genre I Saw Black Clouds is based on, but it did not make my heart race. Even the appearance of movie buffs like Nicole O’Neill (Red Sparrow, Penny Dreadful, Beauty, and the Beast) and Rachel Jackson (Beats, Bunny Boiler, and Outlander) could not save the movie I was watching. The acting was on point and well played; it just did not click for the most part. Maybe you should try this one out for yourself instead of reading my thoughts about it. Or not, up to you (hey, just like in an interactive movie!).
