Chasing Static

I'm honestly extremely impressed with Chasing Static. I'm pretty sure I grabbed this during a random sale after finding the premise pretty intriguing. At it's core it is a walking simulator with horror elements, but it works really well and I didn't find any part boring or tedious. You are also not stuck walking at a snails pace!!! You can sprint in this.
I personally found the story really interesting and quickly became invested in what was going on. The mechanic of using a device to find echoes of the past to reveal more of the story felt pretty fresh.
Audio wise, the game had great music, good voice acting and solid environmental sound. Graphics wise, the game looked great! It's not got AAA graphics or anything, but it's a charming art style that I really liked.
I also loved the little nods to other classic horror games like RE and SH2, and found that to be a really nice touch.
The game is quite short and can be beaten in around 2 hours (my current playtime was going AFK for much longer than expected) I find it well paced though and think two hours works perfectly for something like this. It doesn't overstay it's welcome or keep repeating the same story beats over and over for extended playtime.
There are multiple endings which means there's some replayability to get those two.
If you're looking for a short little horror title, Chasing Static is a great one to pick up.

Played through to prep for Hollowbody.
Nice little walky narrative game with some light survival horror puzzling and excellent, tense sound design (you get a device that hones in on special radio frequencies that completely alters the soundscape)

Chasing Static is a good horror game for those seeking a casual experience. I picked it up in anticipation of Hollow Body and I haven't been disappointed. There isn't any real combat and no way to "die" other than a secret ending. There are several ending outcomes leaving you with some replay value for an otherwise short game. If you know exactly what you're doing you can finish Chasing Static in around an hour or less. Chasing Static has some collectible related achievements and it can provide some fun for fans of horror games, walking sims, and achievement hunting. It's short but fun and worth picking up. I'd give Chasing Static a 3/5.

very interesting game .. parts of it don't really work for me, but a lot of it does. having trouble putting more words together for it yet.

TL; DR Chasing Static is the only walking simulator I have actually finished, so either it does something right, or it does something very wrong, nevertheless, I enjoyed my time with it, primarily due of its soundscape, so I will recommend it.
Chris just lost his father, but he is not too bothered about it because they were not close, I wonder why, however, his dad did leave something behind… a book containing a bit of a confession, so in the end he did have many regrets, but not, the institute, whatever that is.
There are only so many things that can be said about a walking simulator before you start spoiling the entire experience, so I will keep things concise. I enjoyed Chasing Static, it sets up and builds on its mysteries in a good way to create a short but gloomy story. It is never scary, but it has atmosphere and tension, and that is often just as good, to me.
While this is due in part to some competent, and quite interesting writing—the opening monologue in particular—it is mostly thanks to the sound, the incessant drizzling rain, the muffled spectral voices, the um, static, and more!
It was the soundscape that immersed me, that together with the, and I think it is fair to say, retro-graphics puts you in a state of mind that the game can play off of, I found it easy to see myself in his shoes in those abandoned Welsh woods, though, as stated, it is not scary, but it did manage to produce some chilling moments. These moments only gave me chills because of the immersion, and that is a testament to the quality of the presentation.
On a similar note, there is the voice acting, again, the writing is quite competent on its own, and the same can be said for the voicework, however, there is a lack of gravitas, they can pull off the casual conversation convincingly, but when they fear for their lives, I do not really buy it.
So, take Chris, honestly pretty great voice acting work, but not when he is supposed to be distressed, I can feel the conflicted emotions when he talks about his father, but not when he is trapped alone out in the woods, sure, there is the attempt, but it is not convincing and that is a bit of a problem. Luckily a lot of dialogue is unaffected by this issue, but unfortunately a large portion is affected, not just Chris but also a lot of the echoes you find scattered throughout.
Since the puzzles are mostly bringing item A to place B there is not much else to talk about, so to close I will say that the main menu is very cool, the looping clips looks like found footage and is evocative of some sort of ARG, that makes a good first impression and helps put you in the correct mood, ready to enjoy a short story.

Eh I don't think i'll dive into this one too much but it was a decent game. One day Valve will give us a neutral rating for these types of games. While the atmosphere and music set this game up for success, the actual gameplay leaves more to be desired. It's an alright walking sim that I would probably only get during some time of sale. Don't think you're missing much if you skip it but can easily knock it out in a session.
100 Backlog Games of 2025: 49/100

A short chilling adventure that leaves the player wanting to dive back in after the credits roll. Worth the purchase and kept me on my toes until the end of the game.