Halloween has come and gone but if you’re still in the mood to play some spooky games then Sunshine Manor might be for you. Published by Hound Picked Games and developed by Fossil Games, this retro horror adventure game is available across all the major platforms currently. Here is my review of the PlayStation 4 version.
Sunshine Manor’s story sees some children visiting a spooky house but things take a bad turn upon arriving. The house is called Sunshine Manor and in the past was the home of a TV show host named Aitken. Aitken’s show faced declining ratings and in order to keep things afloat he made the poor choice of making a deal with a fortune teller. In return for his fame to continue, Aitken had to pay with blood which led to killings at his home and ultimately, his arrest. Several years later, we pick things up with our playable character Ada and two of her friends who decide to try and spend a night in Sunshine Manor. Not long after entering though, Ada’s two friends are whisked away by a spirit but Ada is saved by a mysterious power from within.
From there you’ll set out to explore the house, discover what is going on, and attempt to save your friends. A friendly spirit will meet up with Ada and request her help to save other friendly spirits around the house. The game plays lot of a lot of top-down adventure games in that you’ll move from room to room, interact with objects, read dialog boxes, and so on. There are puzzles to solve but they are usually pretty easy to figure out and helping the various spirits mainly boils down to finding something for them and returning it to them. The game doesn’t overstay its welcome either lasting only a few hours which makes it perfect to knock out in a single night.
Outside of exploring the house there is a demon realm you will also venture into at times that has enemies and a boss you have to beat. This realm is where the creepy factor gets dialed up with the monsters roaming about, blood and bones all over the place, and other grotesque scenery. I liked that the game switched up and had this though as just exploring the house wouldn’t have been interesting enough. The game makes good use of audio too between the two settings with the house being more silent and the demon realm dialing up the music and beats. Sound effects are used to good measure to especially in some jump scare moments.
When I think over my few hours spent with Sunshine Manor, I can’t think of a lot I didn’t like about it. It has a great retro presentation that makes good use of creepy imagery, the sound design is well done, and solving the puzzles never was frustrating. Some may wish it was longer or more challenging but if you just want a spooky adventure to last you a night this is one worth going on.
*Sunshine Manor is available now on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC. PlayStation 4 version reviewed. Review copy provided by the publisher for this review.
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