Buried review

Buried is a game best played in the dark - ideally in the middle of the night. I should know. I played it for a little while during daylight hours and it was a fairly appealing tale then. However, when I returned to it during a sleepless night, it became so much more unnerving and intense.

It’s a text adventure, essentially, with branching choices. Not unlike Telltale Games’s The Walking Dead series, each decision is remembered and shared amongst others, meaning at the end of each chapter you know what conclusions other people made along the way.

The story is reasonably simple, but it can be horrific at times. You’re a logger who gets caught up in some fairly awful scientific experiments. Along the way, you can choose to be as ruthless or as kind hearted as you want, with your choices changing what unfolds.

It’s a sci-fi horror at heart with mankind responsible for much of the horror that’s unleashed

Atmosphere is steadily built not only from the storytelling but from the sound effects and the occasional smattering of gory visuals.

That’s also why it works so well in the dark, making you feel much more a part of things.

Buried isn’t the longest of titles - though your mileage with it will vary depending on your reading speed - but it offers some opportunities for replayability.

Given the importance of some of the decisions you make, you’ll have an immediate urge to see what could have happened if you'd changed your mind.

Buried only has the one save file so you'll have to find out after completing the game, but that helps to keep the game immersive. It’s a title that will stick in your mind for a while to come.