The Coma: Recut is a game that eventually loops the same mechanic repeatedly, which can be tiring after some time. However, it can still provide some decent scares for those interested in this type of game.

The Coma is back, recut and remastered. Explore this horror-fest of the Korea indie cult classic with an all new visual upgrade and mechanics. 2D hand illustrated visuals. A unique infusion of Korean horror in the survival-adventure genre. This is the dark opening of The Coma: Recut, a Korean game that is inspired by the plight of the overworked Korean students at least according to the game blurb. What follows on from this point is a 2D, side scrolling survival horror game, where our hero, Youngho, must escape his nightmares after falling asleep in the middle of his final exams.

A different kind of school experience

The Coma: Recut is a Korean mystery/horror/survival game that focuses on exploration and collecting things to unravel the story behind a dark alternate world within the Sehwa Highschool, where a murderous predator is on the hunt.

The Story

The final exams of the year are approaching fast. Youngho, the main character, wakes up late after a heavy session of last minute studying. On his way to school, he meets an unknown girl with bandages around her arms and finds a pendant that belongs to his favorite homeroom teacher. Just as he reaches school, shocking news approaches. It seems somebody couldn’t handle the pressure and tried to kill himself. As shocking as it is, this kind of event isn’t enough to faze the school and stop the exams. Walking through the school and talking to his fellow students, it becomes clear that the exams are very important. Youngho’s circle of familiarity consists of a female childhood friend, a nerd buddy, a bully who harasses him, his buddy and even the suicide victim.

The most crucial time in the school year arrives and the exam starts. Unfortunately, he loses consciousness amidst the exam, only to wake up at night in the classroom, or so it looks like. Soon he discovers that the place isn’t just scary, but also deadly. A murderous lookalike of his favorite teacher is after his life, trying to slice and dice him. Now it’s up to him to find out what is happening and escape this nightmare.

It’s going to be a long night.

The story is presented in a series conversations between characters, event scenes, or notes you can find that add more background information about the school and its people. You can also make a few choices that will most likely change the ending you get.

Controls

A = Confirm, contextual button (hold to grab an item or unlock things)
B = Cancel
R = Flashlight
RZ = Run depletes stamina
L = Cower down and hold breath, only usable with flashlight off and depletes stamina
LZ = Dodge roll, invincible for the roll duration uses stamina

Controls are shown step by step in illustrations as tutorials.

D-Pad
Left = Mission hints
Up = Map
Right = Notes, story snippets you can find
Down = Items

The controls are simple enough, so getting used to it won’t take much time. Dodge rolling isn’t really necessary in the beginning, but will become a move that one should get familiar with for the later parts.

Input Bug?

Sometimes the game doesn’t react to my button presses, resulting in me not being able to dodge attacks or quickly enter things to escape. I don’t know if it’s on purpose or just a bug, my guess is most likely the latter.

Gameplay

Your goal is to find the next object/clue to push the story forward. Sometimes it’s marked on the map and other times you have to search for it. Backtracking is also part of this. The school is split into multiple parts and each part involves a load screen when moving in-between them. Outside of the main quest, you can take on optional quests that you have to locate by yourself and they are also part of the ending criteria.
Smooth sailing is not within the job description though, as there is a killer roaming the halls trying to kill you.

The flashlight is needed to bring items into sight. It takes a little bit of time to grab them.

While exploring the school, you only have limited sight due to the darkness. To find items that you can pick up requires the usage of the flashlight.
There are two gauges; One for life and one for stamina. The first one is rather self-evident, the latter gets depleted by running, holding your breath, rolling, or moving stairways up or down. Technically speaking it’s only important when you have to escape your pursuer. Once you run out of stamina, you’ll be close to helpless as your only option is to walk exhausted or use items to recover it quickly.

The Coma Recut Wiki

Don’t get caught by the killer, unless you want to get to know her knife.

The killer always announces it’s awareness of you by screaming and a change of music. If you are on the same floor you might even able to hear its steps before it notices you.

The very first thing you learn in the game is a kind of M.O. of how to escape:

1. Run away
2. Enter a room
3. Enter hiding place
4. Wait till it’s safe
5. Continue on

If it’s somehow in your way, you can try to roll through to avoid it hitting you. The other option would be running away far enough till it loses sight of you and then hold your breath to wait for it to walk past. You cannot fight it. Evasion is the only option. Its appearances seem to be mostly random and I haven’t noticed any specific logic or pattern, but there are likely some exceptions.

For example, after story related events it awaits you at fixed locations to hinder your progress. Deponia: the complete journey for mac. That’s not the only danger. At the later parts of the game, you will also have to watch out for traps that are only visible when using the flashlight. Be it either bleeding or poisoning traps, both are fatal status afflictions that reduce your life over time and can kill you the moment you run out of health.

As I mentioned before, there are also items/money you can pick up from exploring or use the money at vending machines to purchase items of your choice. Those range from health/status/stamina recovery to buffs like infinite stamina for a short time.

The Coma Recut Ps4 Trophies

Graphics

Sprites and backgrounds are showing their timeless prowess.

The graphics consist of sprites that look pretty good, including the drawn backgrounds. A few important story moments have full illustrations, emphasizing its importance. Being sprite-based gives it a timeless look that it will age well under most circumstances.

Sound

There aren’t a lot of music tracks, but they do well in supporting the atmosphere. Whether it’s sneaking around the eerie school, the panic after getting sighted and escaping or calm music within the cafeteria it fits well within the themes. Being able to hear the killer’s footsteps is also a nice touch.

The Coma Recut Mac

Verdict

Reviewers note: I’d like to mention that I’m not much of a horror fan. So there is a little bit of a target mismatch here. I was intrigued enough by the games look and premise. Therefore, it’s a case of me moving outside of my comfort zone.

Close to everything about the game works fine, my only real issue is just the gameplay. As I try to unravel the story, the frequent “one-trick-pony” loop of hide and seek starts to overstay its welcome. For example, after just escaping you are faced with the situation of meeting it again right away. It makes forward progress almost feel like a real time waster. The best analogy would be old JRPG random enemy encounters without payoffs. Furthermore, there are no notable changes to its gameplay as you get further, what you see within the first minutes is pretty much what you get throughout the whole game.

This game is a case of being specialized for a certain demographic. I don’t think it’s bad, but my personally perceived flaws hampered my time with it.
If you know what you are getting into and like what you are seeing, it’s probably going to be worth a try, especially at that budget price. Otherwise, you might want to wait for a sale.

The Coma: Recut is an independently produced survival-horror, where the high-school student Youngho must make his way through a nightmarish version of Sehwa High while avoiding murderous apparitions. The majority of Coma: Recut’s tension comes from simply trying to survive, with a lot of the impetus being on you learning the layout of the three buildings. The odds are always stacked against you, but never unfairly so. Careful item management and saving are key to making it out alive. Youngho’s quest to escape is what drives the main storyline, but along the way, you can uncover notes that uncover the school’s recent activities.

The Coma Game

The game’s description states that The Coma is inspired by, “the real world plight of Korea’s overworked high school students,” and players will be immediately introduced into this concept minutes into starting the game. A high school student is suspected to have attempted suicide due to the pressures of the exam period; the school proceeds with exams regardless of the incident. Throughout the story and notes you find along the way, you’ll discover that the Coma (the nightmare Sehwa High) wasn’t formed by a singular event, but a series of events. Everything from bullying, administrative abuses of power, and political play are revealed. Unlike other games in this genre, there are no gruesome deaths (unless you count the numerous game overs), but paging through all the happenings of Sehwa High as told by students and staff paint a disturbing picture of the school’s environment. This game has “multiple endings” depending on your actions, but in reality these endings are longer glimpses at the story’s conclusion.

The Coma Recut Review

The visuals of The Coma will age well due to the game’s artstyle. However, you will see most of what The Coma has to offer pretty quickly, and the horror aspect will fade into the background. What will really have you gripping the controller tightly is just trying to stay alive, the responsibility of which rests almost solely on your shoulders. There are no means to fight back against the apparition and other monstrosities, and the latter half of the game will leave you little to no room for error. The map is rudimentary, only showing rooms, so you’ll have to memorize where hiding spots, vending machines, and roadblocks are located in order to avoid being killed by “Ms. Song”. Four save slots keeps the difficulty manageable, and utilizing all of them is definitely recommended.

The Coma Recut Ps4

There are items that help you along the way by restoring your health, energy, or curing status ailments. As with many survival-horror games, these are limited, so you’ll be up a creek if you use them recklessly. Inventory is also limited to six slots, pressuring you even more to manage your stock carefully. You also don’t have to take items you find, so memorizing their locations for use later can be a good strategy. Again, The Coma: Recut puts it on you to make these critical decisions.

The Coma Recut Switch

Controls are a bit stiff, and control responses have a slight lag to them, with a few instances of losing my input. Often I found myself jamming on a button rather than merely pressing it, since failure to hide and dodge can result in a pretty swift death. Conversely, jamming on the button too much can also end with an axe in the back. On more than one occasion, I have accidentally jumped out of a closet or bathroom stall right in front of the ghoul. Since saving only happens on chalkboards in certain rooms, mistakes really set me back. Though only a few minutes, every set back felt like an eternity when trying to sneak down hallways.

Time slows down in every hallway, but the overall experience is fairly short and can be completed in a handful of gameplay sessions. The main story doesn’t overstay its welcome, but its conclusion, including the “true ending”, leaves something to be desired. Don’t let that sour you, though. The Coma: Recut is a fairly solid experience and is a fun edition for a survival-horror fan’s collection.