Horror is something we all know is subjective – what works to send chills down your spine may be nothing but a slight tickle to me and vice versa. While The Gap isn’t an outright horror release, it does play with two of my greatest fears; losing my marbles and losing my family. Having lived through both of my maternal grandparents degrading due to Dementia and other mental issues, I’ve seen the pain that it causes not to just those who suffer from it, but those who have to see the person they love lose pieces of themselves at a steady pace. This is pain that could only be exceeded by losing my wife or son, and these fears made it easy to step into the shoes of Joshua, our protagonist.

Joshua is a neurologist who is suffering from a degenerative disease that has been passed down through his lineage, which means his daughter is likely going to suffer from it as well, so the need for a cure is twofold here. Josh has reached the point that he’s agreed to take on an experimental procedure as well as go as far as to dig into the thought of the Multiverse to save himself and likely his child. He’s found a way to transport himself through three timeframes in his life, interacting with key objects that unlock new memories that you the player will use to piece together the bigger picture. It’s an interesting narrative that kept taking me back to my initial viewing of the outstanding indie sci-fi film The Mandela Effect. 

The Gap is largely a walking sim that focuses primarily on exploration and storytelling as its main selling points. I spent most of the three hours I spent within the game bouncing between believing Joshua’s plight is all within his head, thanks to the state of disarray his home is in post-separation from his family and coming across as someone who isn’t all there in the head, and then actually buying into the idea that the Multiverse is real. With this being said, it’s hard to tell if Joshua is a trustworthy narrator or not.

There are a few puzzles to solve within the world as well, some of which are as simple as figuring out a password for a phone or PC, but others are a little more subtle and sadly, lacking in player direction. One specific case of this that stands out is a segment where I was cooking a dinner while multitasking on the phone with a friend – if I didn’t complete the actions in a specific order, the game would boot me back to where I was before I entered the memory with no explanation as to why I failed. Realistically, I don’t see why I need to cut up the veggies for the burger before cooking it, but I am no Gordon Ramsay so maybe I’ve been doing things wrong all of my adult life. There are a few other trial-and-error-based tasks, such as attempting to pass a neuro exam while he’s in college, but most of the others are much more forgiving than the dinner challenge. These puzzles shouldn’t deter you from jumping into this narrative, since 100% completion is not required, although it is recommended to really see everything the game has to offer.

The world you’ll explore feels fully fleshed out and has a superb amount of detail, especially in Joshua’s home as he is dealing with depression. You can’t help but find little details that really showcase his mental state and sell the fact that he’s on a downward spiral and needs to sort out his issues before they become the end of him. The knife in the fridge, the handgun sitting out just begging to be used on yourself, the painted (I hope it’s not blood on the wall) messages that made me question who was leaving them and what exactly they were trying to tell me all made it very clear, no matter what the reasons were, not everything was on the up and up. I also really loved how some of the memories were fuzzy here and there, only giving us the key details with background characters being shadows blurring into the backdrop, speaking to how our memories only focus on the key aspects of the event and less on the surroundings.

It’s been a little over a day since I finished The Gap and I am still processing everything that I experienced within the walls of Joshua’s mind, and if you choose to enter it, it will likely draw you in akin to the way What Remains of Edith Finch or your favorite narrative based walking sim would. Despite suffering due to a lack of direction on a few of the puzzles, it’s a game that you won’t forget.

9 out of 10

Pros

• Outstanding Visuals
• Intriguing Narrative
• Ability to Skip Some Puzzles If They Prove to be Too Difficult

Cons

• Some Puzzles Lack Proper Direction

The Gap was developed by Label This and published by Crunching Koalas. It launched on PC, PS4, PS5, X1 and XSX. The game was provided to us for review on PS5. If you’d like to see more of The Gap, check out the official site.

 

Here at GBG we use a rating method that you are more than likely familiar with – a scale of 1 to 10. For clarification, we intend on using the entire scale: 1-4 is something you should probably avoid paying for; 5-7 is something that is worth playing, but probably not at full price; 8-10 is a great title that you can feel confident about buying. If you have any questions or comments about how we rate a game, please let us know.

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