FRIST_008 Get Even Review

Get Even is a diamond lost in time. It's amazing how the game slipped past all the news: nobody really knows anything about it, and it's fully worth its ten hours. At first the focus is on a detective story, with a noir voice commenting on what's going on. But right after the tutorial it turns out the game is about journeys through the mind, and it still keeps its detective notes. For immersion, the game has no interface at all: everything is in the hero's phone: the map, a UV lamp to see fingerprints and blood, a thermal imager and a scanner for unusual objects. You can hold the phone in both hands. You might think: you walk around, investigate, no action, it'll get boring over time. But the game has a rare thing: twists in the gameplay itself. Over time it surprises you not only with its story but also with its gameplay, which you really don't expect from it. The sound work is simply masterful. Gameplay is the weakest part of the game: most of the time it's dialogue telling one specific story. Stealth and shooting are completely optional here: you can play it Outlast-style, just running past enemies, and, surprisingly, that also affects the ending. And for one of the endings you have to be as detached a character as possible: without compassion and a pacifist at the same time. An unusual combo of conditions. The strongest side is the story. The game surprised me several times: it seems like you understand everything and the story is predictable, but in the end it's not that simple, and sometimes not what you thought at all. I'd describe the genre like this: thriller, detective, stealth, shooter.