Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo

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Over the past few years, I’ve been slowly catching up on Alfred Hitchcock’s library of classics, with 1958’s Vertigo being one of my favorites. So when I learned a video game was being made that’s based off the film, I knew I had to check it out. Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo from Pendulo Studios and published by Microids may not follow the film as much as a fan would like, but it’s clearly a mindscrew tale worthy of the famed director for sure.

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Originally released for PC late last year, this title has made its way to consoles with me receiving a review code for the PlayStation 5. The story follows the life of writer Ed Miller, who has somehow escaped from a horrible car crash without injury. While he’s clearly seen alone in the crash, he swears his wife and daughter were with him and tries to find them.

Shaken and traumatized by the crash and not being able to find his family, he starts to suffer from severe vertigo that’s so intense, he can’t get out of bed without the world spinning on him. He soon begins therapy sessions with psychiatrist Dr Julia Lomas, who uses hypnosis to help Ed get to the source of his trauma and vertigo.

It’s during these sessions where things really start to take a dark turn, as you’ll guide Ed through some of his experiences, both mundane and tragic to help him get to what really happened that day of the crash. Anyone familiar with games such as Telltale’s The Walking Dead and their many other titles will feel right at home here, as you guide Ed around with third person gameplay along with item and character interactions and quick time events spread throughout the experience.

You’ll also get to control Ed when he was a child, and some other characters to piece together everything that happened. I’ll be honest and admit that the game tends to drag here and there as you’ll find yourself doing mundane tasks like putting groceries away at one moment, only to have things take a dark turn the next. Just a warning, there are some dark moments in this game that feature suicide, drugging up someone, torture and more that won’t be for the feint of heart, especially since you’ll be controlling the character as they do so.

As long as you can handle the slow and disturbing moments, and love mystery thriller games, you’ll want to check out Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo. It does a pretty good job making you feel as though you’re in a twisted Hitchcock-like universe, complete with intense music at just the right moments that will make your world spin.