Sorry We’re Closed Is A Stylish Survival Horror Game About Heartbreak

Looking good might not be your first priority when you’re battling the demonic hordes, but maybe it should be. That’s just one of the many lessons I’ve gotten from Sorry We’re Closed (along with “always carry a water bottle” and “don’t scratch at your third eye”). There’s plenty to recommend the recent survival horror game from à la mode games, but its incredible sense of style is probably the first you’ll notice.

You play as Michelle, who’s just having a terrible time, despite looking amazing. Not only is she stuck at her dead-end job and pining for her ex-girlfriend, but her former flame also happens to star in a soap opera that everyone in town is obsessed with, meaning Michelle has to see her face everywhere she goes. To make matters worse, one night after she returns from work to her crappy apartment — still bearing the signs of her ex’s presence — she’s accosted by what I can only describe as a horny neon demon, who opens Michelle’s third eye and marks her as the next object of their affection.

So Michelle does what any girl would do — throws on her hot pink overcoat, picks up a demonic revolver, and heads into the subway to track down the supernatural threats haunting her and the rest of her town. From there, Sorry We’re Closed settles into an easy rhythm with two distinct gameplay modes. Part of your time is spent stalking the demon realm to stop the lovestruck demon known as the Duchess, and part is spent in the human world where Michelle goes about her daily tasks and socializes with neighbors. It’s not unlike the structure of a Persona game, even if the dungeon crawling isn’t quite up to par in Sorry We’re Closed.

There’s a lot I like about the game’s take on survival horror. While dungeons are pretty linear, Sorry We’re Closed makes excellent use of its fixed camera angles to hide frightening sights and dangerous enemies from view until the last minute. And despite its puzzles being on the simple side, your exploration is often broken up by fascinating characters, ranging from Michelle’s human pals to the various messed-up denizens of the demon world.

Combat is the biggest strength and weakness of Sorry We’re Closed’s dungeons. While you’re in the demon world, you can open your third eye to peer back into the “real world,” which is often used to solve puzzles and navigate levels. In combat, opening your third eye also exposes nearby demons’ hearts, and striking them causes extra damage. The issue is that combat feels incredibly clunky. To attack, you need to first enter first-person view by pressing your right mouse button or controller’s shoulder bumper, then aim and attack.

This gives combat a tense, in-your-face quality, but it unfortunately feels clunky as all hell. Aiming in first person is less than ideal on a controller, and it’s extremely difficult to hit enemies’ hearts when they’re right up in your face. Combined with their often rapid attacks, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and knocked out before you even know what’s hit you. The game provides an infinitely refilling water bottle you can heal yourself with as an accessibility menu option, but it’s an inelegant solution to its often frustrating combat.

On the other hand, the rest of Sorry We’re Closed absolutely sings. It’s a well-written game through and through (aside from my personal gripe that newspaper articles you find strewn about are written in a style that’s not even close to journalism). When you’re in social mode, you’ll have plenty of time to chat with Michelle’s smoking hot but unstable neighbors, which provides hilarity and heartbreak in equal measure. Side quests in this part of the game give you more opportunities to grow close to them while learning more about the world, and your actions can shift your relationships with them in satisfying ways. Every time I felt myself getting too annoyed by the combat in Sorry We’re Closed, the prospect of chatting with my friends and seeing what antics we’d get up to next kept pushing me forward.

Sorry We’re Closed won’t go down as the best survival horror game ever made, but it’s certainly the most fashionable. Even for non-horror fans, its fantastic writing and intriguing characters are worth slogging through the game’s rougher bits. Playing with keyboard and mouse is probably the way to go here, but however you play, there’s no game that makes you look better while you’re mowing down demons by the truckload.

Sorry We’re Closed is available now on PC.