Retro Review - Galerians

Can you imagine a game with touches of survival horror/psychological terror and also with a premise similar to Stranger Things? Well, this title is the closest thing to what a videogame with these characteristics could be. Being a survival horror this game has many similarities with Resident Evil, as well as many other games that tried to emulate the formula of success that had the famous zombie saga, however, despite certain similarities, the game I'm going to talk about below, is a really good title and stands out on other survival horror by its premise original and some features of the game.

Today's Retro Review is about: Galerians.

At the beginning of the game we go into the facilities of a hospital and see a young man who is undergoing some experiments, this young man, main character of the game, whose name is Rion, hears the voice of a girl from his head, at this time, the ties that had Rion trapped on the stretcher where they were performing experiments are broken, and our protagonist is ready to escape from that place, but before that must find out why his current situation and who the voice he had heard before.

Upon escaping from his bonds, Rion realizes that he has psychic powers, thus being able to open the door of the room where he was with the power of his mind, in addition to discovering that certain drugs have been used in him that endow him with abilities that we will use throughout the game. One of these abilities is mental control and psychic powers. Throughout our mission to find the answers that afflict our protagonist, we will discover the main reason for these experiments, the origin of our protagonist and that are the Galerians, being Rion, one of these Galerians and one of so many children who were subjected to these experiments.

Galerians is entirely a 3D game and also has the famous and used pre-rendered backgrounds that were seen in many Ps1 games.

This game has graphic similarities with games like Resident Evil, however the graphic quality of Galerians is a little below what we can see in the zombie saga, as it does not have a level of detail as high as other survival horror, but even so, due to its aesthetics and artistic style does not look bad, even if we compare it now, is not a game that has aged too graphically to not be played and enjoy, quite the opposite in fact.

The style artistic of Galerians is cyberpunk, as well as cinema classics like: Blade Runner or animes/manga classics like Battle Angel Alita or even the cult anime film: Akira, we will witness throughout the game many futuristic features of this art style, in addition to being a survival horror, this game presents dark colors and shaded highlighted in each of the scenarios.

The design of the characters are quite well, with good proportions, colors and designs quite close to the realistic, however the animations of the characters are quite rigid, especially that of our protagonist, because it does not have much fluidity of movement and variations, in this aspect is not so good. Although a point in favor of this game is that it has many cinematics and most of these are very well created and help to tell certain parts of the story, events and situations that we will live while we are playing.

The sound aspect is really quite good, with melodies according to the survival horror genre, that is, we are going to listen to melodies that were composed to adequately represent moments of tension, terror, suspense, creating an atmosphere according to the situation and the environment of the videogame. We will also be able to listen to battle melodies, but with the characteristic touch of low and gloomy tones. They really put together a good mix between action music but that doesn't stop having characteristics of the horror/suspense genre. In general it's pretty good, the sound effects are very well achieved and fit with all the futuristic aspect of the Galerians universe.

Video Author LAHKW Walkthrough Channel

In essence the gameplay of Galerians is very similar to the mechanics of the old games of the Resident Evil saga, we will have the uncomfortable and old-fashioned "tank control" that at that time was part of the immersion to the game itself, because having little control in the mobility of our character increases tension in a certain way and in this type of games is very important, but this is an aspect that is not used today and is a type of motion control quite uncomfortable and frustrating.

For the rest we will have to make the typical actions like: to look for objects that allow us to open some door, to obtain information, so much of some person, as of some object as: notes or some book that helps us in such a case, besides being able to find objects that can help us throughout the game, in general, Galerians maintains many of the classic characteristics of the games of the Survival Horror genre of the time, which, in spite of being exactly the same mechanics, does not stop being entertaining to do and this is due to all the plot that is formed as we advance in history.

But unlike other Survival Horror, which confront our enemies with a knife or a firearm, the central axis of Galerians is the use of the psychic abilities of our main protagonist. Because there have been many experiments with Rion, all of these through the use of drugs, he has obtained this type of powers and will be able to obtain more as we get more drugs.

Rion, thanks to his mental powers will be able to push any enemy we have in front, also with the use of the right drug we can burn our enemies and raise them in the air and then hit them against the ground, really the use of Rion's skills is very graphic and violent. One of the most useful skills of the game are the visions that can have our protagonist before certain objects, as is known in this type of games (and as mentioned earlier) many times we must look for some object that allows us to open a door, is something quite common and in some cases is a little frustrating not being able to find the right object, but in the case of this game, Rion may have visions about the location of the particular object we need to open the door, however, the visions are not entirely clear and in many of them we must think well what is really showing us, but are very helpful.

And well, could not miss the most used resource both in movies and in series where some character has psychic powers, because the excessive use of these powers will impact on our protagonist, using much of his powers, Rion will enter a phase of great tension so he will not have control over the use of their skills in such a way that will cause the death of their enemies in the most graphic and violent way possible: he will make their heads explode exploiting them and he will not only do it in an enemy, but also in all those who are in the "psychic zone" of our protagonist. And perhaps many would think that this is Rion's best skill and it may be, but it is also dangerous for him, since our protagonist's health bar will be affected, he won't be able to use other skills and will slow down while he is in this phase. That's why it's important to get some medicine that will help Rion get out of this phase of tension and mental decontrol.

Galerians is an excellent game, a bit forgotten over the years even though when in terms of video games the Survival Horror genre is concerned, it is a title that stands out quite due to its interesting plot and mechanics of quite good and well thought out games.