Sorry We’re Closed - Let love change you
Sorry We’re Closed
About the Plot
The story is about Michelle, a girl that lives in a rented apartment in the middle of London. Michelle is going through a rough period in her life: three years ago her girlfriend, Leslie, decided to break up with her. Michelle still hasn’t recovered from the break, her life is now closed in an endless circle of mundanity while also trying to avoid pictures of her ex. Easier said than done considering Leslie has become the lead actress in a very popular Soap Opera.
One night she’ll receive a very unexpected visit. Attracted by her despair, Duchess, a demon, will cross the threshold of her house. The Duchess only asks one thing from Michelle, that she’ll give them all of her love and eternal passion. Michelle doesn’t have to decide right away though, but she does get an ultimatum: a curse that will kill her in a few days, unless she decides to accept the Duchess's proposal.
Michelle by her own admission, has no intention to yield to this blackmail, and it’s here that her friend Robyn steps in to offer a possible solution. Robyn is also a demon, and they’re aware of the immense power of the Duchess, but that same curse can also be used against them. Michelle, thanks to the curse, received a third eye and that’s exactly what they can use to her advantage.
Michelle is not the only person to have been cursed. During the last few days in London there’s been a spike in missing person cases. Thanks to Robyn’s help, Michelle can track down other curse victims, gather their third eye, and become strong enough to face off the Duchess and get rid of this burden.
During the course of the adventure we’ll meet these other victims of the Duchess’s game. All of them refused to be subjugated and thus got turned into demons. All of them had one thing in common: they were approached by the Duchess during the time of their lives when they were more vulnerable and fragile, in the hope that they would see them as a lifeline.
The Duchess, unfortunately, is the maker of their own disgrace. They’re searching for something that will make them complete again, and they feel that something is meant to be love. Thanks to their very aggressive approach none of the victims actually feel affection for them: each and every single one is instead trying to find a way towards safety: someone by anger, someone by bargaining. The end result is that the Duchess is never satisfied, because even when someone is throwing themselves at their feet, they feel there isn’t any love or devotion, just falsehood.
What makes Sorry We’re Closed so endearing are the characters and work done with them, combined with all the different ways Michelle can influence their life. Because in this little corner of London, Michelle is not the only one with relationship issues.
Robyn is in love with an angel called Benedict. The two are in love for millenia at this point, but Benedict cannot leave the church in which he lives, since he’s bound to be the guardian of a very particular door. While it has remained shut for all these years, there’s no telling when the first distraction might turn fatal, so he refuses to leave this place.
Darrel, the Duchess’s right hand man, is involved in a relationship with Oakley, a guy from the block that manages a diner. The two are in love, but Darrel has a very chaotic personality, mainly impulsive and selfish. All these elements only make sure that Oakley is even more reluctant about engaging in a long term relationship.
Finally there’s Chamuel, an angel of love enamoured with a demon and in complete crisis about their relationship, which is one step away from collapsing. The two clearly love each other, but fear keeps them away, the fear of what would happen if they end up following through with their relationship. An insufferable impasse that needs to find a solution.
In Michelle’s shoes is gonna be our job to intervene in these relationships, trying to push them into the right direction, helping them with finding the right solution so that their love can finally bloom and keep going strong. Alternatively, we could just sabotage them! After all, why would they deserve to be happy, when we are still suffering?
The choice is ours to make and these choices would be the ones that would open different endings depending on our actions with the characters and would lead us to a completely different Michelle.
The game constantly remarks how love is a transformative experience that can’t just leave you unchanged, an interior change has to bloom which influences both you and the person you’ve chosen to spend your life with. You both need to work and become better versions of yourselves, sometimes by sacrificing a lot, but it’s the price that you need to pay for that relationship to mature into something lasting and genuine.
Michelle’s own relationship fell apart because she herself wasn’t ready to open up and accept this change with Leslie. I really enjoyed how they took advantage of the soap opera Dying Petals, in which Leslie is the main lead, to not only show us the nature of the relationship between her and Michelle, but also to show us the changes Michelle will undertake in the various endings.
Michelle was insecure to a point of nullifying herself in order to please Leslie, and this in the long run ended up ruining their relationship. Because unless you’re a complete narcissist, nobody really wants to live with a carbon copy of themselves. Even three years after the end of their story, Michelle lives in some sort of stasis, letting herself coast by with no actual goal in the long run.
The entire message of the game is pushing Michelle to find a way of life which is her own, affirm herself in order to get out of this stalemate and start living again, get herself ready for a new relationship, or why not, rebuild something more real with Leslie.
Honorable mention to the presentation of this game: an exquisite low poly 3D which makes it look like a lost late Playstation 1 game, accompanied with strong color contrast between the vibrant characters and the dreary and decadent environments, which often gave me a lot of Silent Hill vibes.
The environments are never bare, there’s always a ton of details to analyze. C. Bedford especially, filled every corner with very suggestive paintings and the character designs are all extremely memorable, leaving a long lasting impression since the first minutes of the game.
Musically, the game has a dreary ambient soundtrack that goes perfectly with the horror atmosphere, but the best part for me is during the bosses, where the game pulls out some amazing rap pieces that do a very good job in talking about the story of the boss itself, and are also extremely catchy.
If you end up buying the game digitally on PC, consider also spending some extra bucks for the soundtrack and artbook, you won’t be disappointed.
About the Gameplay
Sorry We’re Closed, as mentioned before, is a Survival Horror. We have a section for dialogue with the characters which takes place in the city, which works as our central Hub, and we have sections which we’ll call “Dungeons”, where the action is gonna take place.
As Michelle, we’re going to explore said dungeons, where peaks of demonic energy have been detected, in order to find other carriers of the Third eye and use their power for ourselves. During the exploration we’re gonna experience some fragments of their story, how they came in contact with the Duchess and what was the price they ended up paying for their refusal.
Dungeons are divided into multiple rooms in which we have a fixed camera view in order to orient ourselves. The game doesn’t give us a map for these places, but the dungeons aren’t that expansive to begin with so trying to orient yourself shouldn’t be that much of an issue, even for a newbie.
Michelle is equipped with three weapons: an axe for close combat, a pistol and a shotgun. Ammunition for these weapons are going to be limited and found in the dungeons, so we have to be careful in our management. The good thing is that once the monsters in the dungeon are killed, they won’t respawn, so there’s a good incentive to kill everyone for those who don’t wanna be too stingy with their weapons.
Not all the demons can be easily killed with normal bullets, some of them will only end up getting stunned by them. In that case our trusty HeartBreaker will come to help us, a special bullet that will charge during combat and will help us get rid of these monsters in one or more shots, depending on their power.
The key element in this game is the third eye of the curse. This will allow us to see, in an area around the character, an alternative version of the place we’re exploring. This not only will be vital to move around and solve some puzzles, but it’s also a key feature of the combat.
The moment we’re going to attack, the game will switch into a first person view, in which we can shoot or attack with the axe. Depending on the weapon we’re using and the section of the enemy’s body we’re going to strike, we’re gonna do a set amount of damage. But everything changes once the third eye gets into play.
Monsters will appear as silhouettes, with a heart icon floating on the inside. The heart is their weak spot and only vulnerable spot of their body. It will also switch position after getting struck, so we’re gonna have to be quick in adjusting our aim.
The advantage of activating the third eye is that, in spite of the area of attack getting smaller, it’s actually quicker to get rid of enemies. Also the activation of the third eye, combined with striking the enemy’s weak points, will cause a temporary stagger to help us assess our aim. Defeating enemies with the third eye activated will make sure the Heartbreaker will charge a lot quicker, which is gonna be vital during boss fights.
The whole process is a bit clunky: we have to pay attention to three factors: positioning our character while moving in third person, switching to first person and then activating the third eye before shooting down enemies. After the first few hurdles, I got used to this process and quickly became second nature to me. Personally I can’t think of any particular reason to fight the enemies without using the third eye.
The only weapon I found to be kinda worthless was the axe. I understand its presence, giving us a weapon that doesn’t consume any ammo, but the range of attack was way too short for it to be comfortable to use. At normal difficulty I’ve only rarely used it, maybe its usage is more impactful in harder difficulties.
Exploration is a key component to these dungeons, not only to keep up with healing items and bullets, but also to find a lot of collectables. Of particular importance there’s the demon artifacts that can be sold in exchange for Yowzah, a currency which can be used to buy new upgrades for Michelle. There’s also items that are required for optional sidequest, so keep your eyes peeled and be thorough with exploring.
I found the dungeons to be really fun, with the right level of complexity, and a nice balance of both puzzles and combat. They all make good use of the third eye and, as the entire game, they’re all very stimulating visually, especially the final dungeon. Another fun aspect was taking advantage of the third eye during exploration in town, something that I suggest you do often, you can never tell what surprises await you.
Despite never really getting scared, I feel every dungeon in this game is really intriguing and charming, with scenery that was able to catch me off guard and leave me tense. If you’re a fan of classic survival horror games, I feel you’ll find yourself perfectly at home with this game.
In Conclusion
Sorry We’re Closed has been a very enjoyable experience! I loved the themes of the story and I feel they were represented very well with the characters. I adored Michelle and all her personal drama and I was curious to see how everything would’ve resolved depending on my choices.
After finishing it I was really satisfied and surprised by the experience, it’s a game that I highly recommend even to those who aren’t that passionate about the horror genre. I feel themes of relationships, accepting the change brought by love and finding the courage to face the future together, are themes we can all easily relate to.
The game is available everywhere at a very affordable price, and deserves every penny it asks for. We still don’t know if à la mode games will continue to produce videogames in the future, but I’m gonna anxiously wait to see what they’ll cook up next.
So what do you think? Have you heard of this game? Did you play it? What are your favourite characters? Which part was the most fun for you and which you disliked the most? What ending did you get as your first one? Let me know with a comment, for everyone else who already played it, let’s move to the…
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| The Duchess by OpheliacLily |
Let’s talk about the four endings available for this game.
Unfortunately we cannot get them all in one run, luckily though, the game has a clear point where we can choose which ending to go for, so if we are good at managing our save slots, it won’t be necessary to play the entire game four times.
The easier one to get is from Robyn. Their ending is the most normal, someone could even say, boring one. After the match with the Duchess, Michelle is finally free from the curse and can return to her everyday life. The best you can pull from this ending is that the experience gave her the push she needed to restart her whole life once again, even if this isn’t necessarily clear. A good ending but kinda stale.
Let’s talk about the two bad endings, firstly the one from Clarissa. Clarissa is a character that, unlike the others, doesn’t have any relationship problems, she’s just an angel that was sent on earth to kill demons, and she decided to do it as a stripper in the club managed by Darrel. After her latest show, the two got into a fight and Clarissa lost her job, so now she’s focused on only one thing, getting vengeance on Darrel.
To obtain her ending we just need to sabotage Darrel’s relationship, but I feel this ending goes very well with you deliberately ruining every single possible relationship in the game. Michelle will take Darrel’s place as the Duchess’s new right hand man, free from the curse. Unfortunately by doing so, she’ll become an egotistical and brash woman completely consumed by anger. Switching out from apathy to rage as a coping method for the end of her relationship, without ever really getting over it.
Then we have Lucy’s ending, a wonderfully diabolical ending! Lucy will appear to us at first as a very ordinary woman with a red cellphone and not really up for conversation. We’ll find out later that she’s really a demon with a very peculiar design, and maybe the most beautiful of them all. A body that’s split in half at the waist, with a female half with horns in her eyes and a shut mouth, and a male half with stunning appearance, seductive words and a serpentine tongue.
Lucy has a deal for us: we help her dispose of the Duchess and she’ll make sure that Leslie will return to us, the love of our life that we still can’t forget after three years. Certainly an enticing offer, but be wary of your wishes!
If we decide to follow Lucy in her takeover of the Duchess, Michelle will get a reward, becoming the new host body for Lucy. After all, it would be dumb to just let go of such a powerful body. And thus Michelle becomes the new Lucy, an empty shell of a body incapable of communicating an emotion, and it’s at that very moment that Lucy decided to be true to her word.
Michelle will end up meeting Leslie again, who is on the verge of moving to the United States and was hoping she could have one last chat with Michelle. Maybe Michelle can dissuade her and give her a reason to stay… Unfortunately, Michelle can’t speak! Lucy’s ending is absolutely cruel, a wonderfully handled deal with the devil and honestly one of the best endings in the game, because of this viciousness.
But which ending do I feel is the best one? The one where Michelle decides to follow the Duchess's request, just not in the way they expected her to do. Michelle will still have to fight for her freedom and break the curse, but she’s also inclined to give her and the Duchess a chance. They chased her so adamantly, maybe there’s something actually worth exploring there. Unfortunately, the Duchess isn’t entirely convinced.
They were able to feel Michelle’s determination and the price she was willing to pay while fighting for her independence, and they know how that determination can come out during their relationship as well, and it’s in that moment they’re caught by a horrible doubt. Maybe they won’t be able to carry that weight. So, the Duchess accepts defeat and lets Michelle go.
Two weeks later, a fateful encounter happens. During a normal day at work, a completely human Duchess enters Michelle’s store, and thus between the two of them there’s a chance to restart everything from the beginning. No curses, no blackmails, just two people at the same level, ready to put themselves in the game and find out if they’re meant for each other.
We won’t find out how their relationship continues, but I wanna believe that they were able to find together what they yearned for so long and managed to live a full life together.
This to me is the perfect ending, it follows the themes of the story of embracing change with your partner. It’s also nice to see these two people that for all this time have chased an ideal of love they didn’t have entirely clear, find the willingness to open themselves up and take this risk together.
I’ve also appreciated how there isn’t an ending where Michelle and Leslie get back together. As much as I’m personally convinced that do exist cases where two people can rekindle a previously failed relationship, these are more exceptions rather than a rule. For Michelle this was more a trying to turn back the clock, get back that comfort that was felt by being with Leslie. But without some actual change in her, all of this would’ve just led to the same result.
Especially since Leslie has her right to be able to live her life and make her own choices, and it’s her right for Michelle to not be part of it. Sometimes, two people aren’t meant to be together, and it’s good to learn that sometimes you have to just let go of the past so that you can go on your way without drowning. We have to find a way to start kicking and swimming for ourselves, so that when we’re ready, we can start a new journey with the right person on our side.
And you? What do you think the best ending is for Sorry We’re Closed? Let me know in the comments, do not hesitate!
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