Paranoid Review – A Real Nightmare

Wow. That single word encapsulates my immediate reaction after completing Paranoid. It’s the most unique horror game I’ve ever encountered, offering an experience that’s unlikely to be captured again in the future.

That isn’t to say the game was great, and it certainly wasn’t the best horror game I’ve ever played. Paranoid is riddled with flaws, contributing to the experience’s uniqueness. Mixed in alongside those flaws is a wealth of originality that kept me hooked despite these issues, absolutely enraptured in the creepy, atmospheric, and, above all else, strange experience that was Paranoid.

Let’s begin by discussing the story or what of it there is.

The game centers around Patrick Calman, a 31-year-old paranoid schizophrenic confined to his apartment for years. Interestingly, the game embeds commentary on lockdowns and pandemics despite its 1980s American setting. There are a few jabs at what appears to blatantly be the Covid pandemic, including a strange little piece of text describing face masks as “a symbol of oppression.”

I digress. Patrick lost both of his parents and, I believe, a child, though that isn’t made totally clear. The only surviving member of his family is his sister, who disappeared ten years ago. After suddenly receiving a phone call from what seems to be his lost sister, Patrick leaves his apartment to get his medication. Paranoid implies he’s also looking for his sister, but it never actually explores this aspect.

That’s the introduction to the game’s plot, and it really is the only story I managed to put together. When I say that, understand that I completed one of the game’s two branching paths, the other having little to nothing to do with that setup. Chances are, you’ll be just as much in the dark as I was when you play.

Part of that is due to the game’s poor translation quality. I believe a Polish team worked on the Paranoid, and the poor localization is evident in the awkward or confusing dialogue. That being said, while it certainly didn’t help, it is hardly the main reason you’ll find yourself confused as to what’s going on.

Paranoid, and I am not exaggerating, is the most detailed, weird, and downright disturbing depiction of a paranoid schizophrenic perspective I have ever seen in media. Though games and movies often illustrate hallucinations from the camera’s POV (point of view), nothing does it like Paranoid, which is an absolute assault on the senses in all of the best ways.

Tentacles will drag you into washing machines. Shadow people will attack you. Conversations with people you thought were there will lead to you waking up in abandoned buildings. The sky will rain cockroaches, and more than anything else, a set of disturbing, hostile voices will whisper in your ear through the whole game.

And I mean throughout the entire game. All of it. These voices never stop speaking to you, once, with what must have been thousands of words of dialogue, all portraying the mean little voices in your head. It is incredibly disorienting, which, when paired with the game’s other interpretations of hallucinations, makes for one seriously disturbing experience.

The creators of this game have filled it with an astonishing amount of creativity. This is honestly probably the only game where I can tell you that you won’t expect what’s coming next at any point. It is an utterly unpredictable piece of madness, and I absolutely recommend it for that.

That being said, the game is not without its issues, and as much as I love the creativity of the developers, it would be irresponsible for me not to mention them.

Besides the poor localization, the game is riddled with little bugs that hinder the experience. Unfortunately, I am not talking about the many cockroaches raining down from the heavens.

One notable example would be the inventory and quick slot system. Your weapons, which include hammers, pipes, and pieces of wood, will sometimes randomly unequip themselves. This is frustrating, especially in combat, which is simple to a fault. I would describe the combat in this game as a flailing, button-mashing nightmare, sort of like an unpolished version of Dead Island or Skyrim. There are, however, some really satisfying feeling-heavy attacks.

By the way, you can use healing items in this game and have an inventory you can open with the I key. It might seem strange that I’m telling you this, but these things are not at all explained in the quick and awkward tutorial as you begin.

On the technical side, Paranoid faces performance challenges. Instances of game freezes and texture loading issues were frequent during my playthrough. When running on the powerful but sometimes unstable Unreal Engine 5, players will likely have to turn the default Ultra Graphics down to get the game to load.

I had to turn the gamma way up as the game was too dark to see the shadow enemies or find things around my apartment. I found out later you have a flashlight, which also wasn’t shown in the tutorial.

Despite its flaws, Paranoid’s rich blend of creativity and eerie moments maintained my engagement throughout its relatively short runtime. It took me about 90 minutes to reach the end of the game’s first branching path, though a good majority of that time was spent exploring the game’s crazy world. At the time of writing, I’m unsure about the price point, but for what it is, the game is definitely worth at least one or two playthroughs, bugs included.

Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Paranoid is available on Steam.