Ready to 
Korsakovia mod is a mental deathtrap
Bobby Miller
September 25, 2009 5:43 PM ET in Gaming
Some have suggested that I may be a rabid fan of Half-Life 2. Those who say this are wrong.
I’m an obsessive maniac about everything Half-Life 2.
I love the game to death. I’ve played so many mods for the game that I lost count at around 70 (and that doesn’t include mods for Half-Life). The engine has become very familiar to me and many mods feel like more of the same. It takes a lot to impress me from the modding scene these days, and when something truly unique does come along, I sit up and take notice.
Korsakovia is a mod that takes the standard conventions and laughs in their faces. Sure, it uses the same assets of Half-Life 2, but where it dares to be different is in storytelling and presentation; and you all know that I loves me some storytelling.
Stacked clusters of floating furniture frequent this bizzare world
Korsakovia tells the story of Christopher, a man who has Korsakovia syndrome–essentially meaning he’s an amnesiac who has invented memories to replace all that he’s forgotten. You play his new memories as he explains it to his doctor. Throughout the entire game you hear a conversation between the doctor and her patient as she tries to help him remember who he was and explain what happened to him.
You learn about Christopher as you play. You quickly learn that Christopher is blind, and slowly but surely the horrific reason behind this is told though the conversation. As the game progresses, his mental state continues to decline, and the world around you reflects this.
How the memory world is presented to you is where this mod really shines. Many important pieces of sensory feedback are gone. There is no sound feeback when you strike an enemy, or when you pick up a health pack. The game is dark, and flashing screens serve to confuse you and stir the mood. Every moment of the game is tense due to audio cues and timed scare points. At the start of each level you are unarmed, and you stay in a constant state of high tension as you run away from the enemies that dash towards you (which exist only as floating spheres of smoke). The more your mind declines, the more the levels begin to be a mind trip. Floors slant in all directions, you start seeing repeating areas, and layouts become confusing. The developers did a great job of presenting Christopher’s twisted mind in a visual interactive format.
Oh, hello there.
If you’re looking for something totally fresh and new that requires a bit of thinking to play, then download Korsakovia now and get playing. Be sure to play all the way through, as the final levels are the most interesting and the plot has a delicious twist. This mod will screw with your mind, scare you, and confuse you. It plays with your perception and laughs at you. Play this at night with the lights turned down and the sound cranked up. If you’re playing with surround sound, you’re going to need balls of steel. If you’re playing with headphones, you may need a shoulder to cry on. This is your official warning.
Korsakovia can be downloaded at ModDB.com and requires Half-Life 2 Episode 2 installed to play.
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