Review: Sorry We’re Closed Confronts Love and Heartbreak Head On

Some say that to be loved is to be changed. There are few things as scary in life as fully opening yourself to someone else and the possibility of love changing your very own self. Even worse, possibly losing the person that caused such a potent metamorphosis. The fear of heartbreak is at the core of Sorry We’re Closed, a hybrid third person and first-person survival horror full of style.

The plot of Sorry We’re Closed follows Michelle, a stylish Londoner that has been grieving the end of her last relationship for the past few years. Between her day job at a convenience store and hanging out with her friends, Michelle’s life has fallen in a comfortable, monotonous rut. That is until the archdemon known as the Duchess chooses her as her next victim. Forced to fall in love with the Duchess or suffer the consequences of rejecting her, Michelle now has to use her cursed third eye to navigate the mundane human world and the divine world. She can even choose to intervene in the complex romantic lives of her friends and closed ones, as well as an angel or two, if she so chooses.

The first thing you will notice when booting up the game is how incredibly stylish everything is. The art and character designs by C. Bedford are beyond divine, with the character portraits and various of the in-game portraits in particular offering very lush, avant-garde, and sensual visuals. The cursed eye mechanic allows every level of the game to mix bold, bright colors and the decay of rust and blood. The soundtrack puts a nice ribbon on top of the package with a moody blend of hip hop and electronic music in its tunes. It compliments the visuals and the setting perfectly. A small detail I really enjoyed was the music having a distorted, otherworldly feel when using the Third Eye.

But Sorry We’re Closed is not just stylish, as there’s plenty of substance in here too. The game is divided between intermissions in town and more action-focused levels. During the first ones, Michelle interacts with characters, learns about their stories and troubles, helps them navigate their lives, and receives advice from them on her particular demonic situation. Meanwhile, the various action-focused levels of the game are slow paced exploration in an abandoned location in the city of London. They usually revolve around places where other victims of the Duchess’ curse met their demise and offer context to the curse that threatens Michelle. Each level gets progressively bigger and more elaborate, and while navigating them might not be tense in the way other horror games are, in this case it still felt alluring and dangerous. Additionally, there is no map to keep track of your location, but I never found the need for one, as the levels are pretty well connected.

Exploration is done in third person with fixed camera angles. The fixed camera offered very deliberate and beautiful angles that emphasize the brilliant art of the game, and I really loved this aspect of I’m Sorry We’re Closed. Combat only happens during the levels, and it shifts to a fixed first-person perspective where the player can’t move and only pivot the camera. The game can be played with either controller or keyboard and mouse. While I was more comfortable exploring and moving with controller, I quickly found that aiming and shooting your guns felt better and more fluid with a mouse. The game offers three weapons: a hatchet, pistol, and shotgun.

While the firearms are effective at dealing damage from far away, Michelle’s third eye reveals enemy weak points, and can only be damaged while inside the range of the cursed eye. Because of this, I opted for a riskier playstyle in which I let demons get closer to me so that I could exploit their weaknesses. However, headshots outside of third eye can deal even more damage, so considering every scenario will be vital for survival. While the shotgun was a nice upgrade from the pistol, I wish that it had been a bit more distinct from it. During my time with the game, I felt like the shotgun was a more powerful version of the pistol with a slower fire rate, and I would have liked seeing some sort of variety or distinguishing mechanic. There’s plenty of enemy variety for the length of the game, with some standouts like the armors that can only be fought using Third Eye and only move when it’s active. Bosses are the real challenge, with them acting as a sort of combat puzzles.

There are a few puzzles in the game and they help break the pace of combat. However, the best ones happen in the very last level of the game and they involve creative combat scenarios where you have to do things in a certain order and a certain way to survive. I found that these took full advantage of the combat system and were very cool. On the other side, I didn’t enjoy the caged eyes that lock you from using your Third Eye and appear in the earlier levels, but I understand that they are supposed to be that annoying. They made me feel powerless against enemies, even though I could have faced them regardless of revealing their weak points.

During the intermissions, you can make decisions as Michelle that lead to different outcomes for the characters, as well as different endings. Various characters will offer or request their help with the promise of either ridding you of the Duchess’ curse, allowing you to learn how to love it, denying anything and reclaiming your lost, unrequited love, or even other more dangerous avenues. Michelle navigates these different vignettes of love and heartbreak with the help of her friend Robyn. I found that the game takes a little bit to really kick into gear, but once it does, I was really captivated by both its storytelling and the way it delivers it. I got to see two of the endings of the game, both of which I really enjoyed, and I will definitely go back to get the rest when I get the chance.

The Duchess is, without a doubt, the most interesting character in the game. Developers à la mode games completely nailed both their design and the tone of allure in the dialogue and backstory of the character, as well as the contrast between their beautiful “false” and real demonic appearances. Their relationship to Michelle and the ambiguity in their interactions, curious, tempted, and scared of each other’s different promises of love easily carries the narrative of the game by itself. However, my standout characters were both Chamuel and the Dream Eater, their stories both serving as a fascinating foil to the central conflict.

Sorry We’re Closed enticed me with a bold and striking art style with no paragon and kept me hooked with a story about heartbreak and finding out our reasons for loving. The combat and Third Eye system are very interesting, and I wish it could have seen them expanded in some way, especially with puzzles or more environment interaction. Regardless, Sorry We’re Closed is a beautiful and impressive game, especially considering that this is the debut title of studio à la mode games.

Sorry We’re Closed is readily available for Windows PC.