‘The Flayed Man’ Is a Bite-Sized Freebie With a Lot of Meat on Its Bones [Review]
It ought to go without saying, but you cannot grade all video games on the same bell curve.
What’s acceptable for a modestly budgeted indie, for instance, might not pass muster in the AAA arena. Meanwhile, those working on lucrative franchise IPs —beholden to micromanaging financiers and the whims of shareholders who’ve never once picked up a controller in their lives — aren’t always afforded the creative autonomy that a solo developer enjoys when toiling away on a pet project in their kitchen. Of course, blockbuster productions do conversely benefit from being far better resourced, far better staffed and far better promoted. So, there are pros and cons!
Price point is another thing that often factors into the equation and should absolutely be taken into account if you’re hoping to give new releases a fair shake. After all, it’d be silly to pit a $70 Naughty Dog extravaganza against something that’s going for just a couple of bucks on Steam and then expect them to be of a comparable standard.
That’s not to say that cheap titles can’t be as good as the latest Sony-backed megahit (quite the opposite, in fact, as the indie market is saturated with all kinds of creative and zeitgeisty stuff) but you’ve got to be realistic about how far their budgets will stretch. And that goes double for any game that’s being given away at no cost whatsoever.
“I Am in Hell. Help Me”
To be clear, freebies shouldn’t get an automatic pass for being terrible, but we’d be lying if we said that we’re not inclined to go at least a little bit easier on them. I mean, it’s hard to feel short-changed when you literally haven’t paid a cent for something; regardless of how rough around the edges it ends up being.
Fortunately, we needn’t worry about handling The Flayed Man with such kid gloves, because it turns out that Snoring Dog Games’ new point-and-click adventure is pretty great. It may only be bite-sized (clocking in at just under an hour), but what it lacks in scale it more than makes up for in quality. And that’s impressive for something that doesn’t want a dime off gamers!
Opening in medias res, the title has you controlling a condemned sinner — the nature of whose transgression is withheld from the player — who finds themselves trapped in a hellscape that’s equal parts Dante Alighieri and Clive Barker. Bathed in the infernal light of a blood moon, it’s essentially a metaphysical holding area for those who have yet to atone for their past misdeeds; with its Saint Peter figure taking the form of a rotund demon that has absorbed the souls of the damned into its belly.
When you approach this terrifying gatekeeper, it explains that your every thought and action to date has been “scored and tallied” by unseen forces, and that this calculation will ultimately determine the manner of your afterlife. Before he can render said judgement, though, you’ll first have to pass a few intellectual and spiritual tests to prove your “discipline”.
That’s about as specific as the demon’s instructions ever get by the way. So, you’ll end up spending most of your purgatorial sojourn trying to decipher what this malevolent being with piss-poor communication skills actually wants [insert relatable joke about working a corporate 9-5 here].
Oh, and to make matters worse, you’ve also been deprived of everything that once made you human. That includes your thoughts, your memories, your voice and even your skin.
That’s right, this game ain’t called The Flayed Man for nothing! Indeed, the titular character has been stripped down to his musculature, with the odd patch of bone showing through in grisly detail. His body is falling to pieces, he can barely hold himself upright and we’re assured that every step he takes is the most exquisite agony [insert relatable joke about getting out of bed in your early 30s here].
No Skin, But Ample Brains
It’s against this narrative backdrop that you embark on a quest to pass through limbo and meet whatever fate is deemed most befitting of your version of The Flayed Man. From a gameplay perspective, this translates to you ordering him around using traditional point-and-click mechanics, conversing with select NPCs, and solving some tricky escape-room puzzles.
What’s interesting is that the challenge posed by the latter part of the game can — to a certain extent — be tailored. This is all thanks to an optional hint system that players are free to consult at their leisure. Should you choose to activate it, then a simple press of the “H” key will give you a nudge in the right direction whenever you get stumped by a brainteaser. Yet it crucially won’t spoon-feed you the answer either. It’s an elegant feature that allows you to decide how much help you do or do not want to receive, and can be a real sanity-preserver in those instances where you are thinking along the right lines but have just overlooked something minor.
While these clues are useful lifelines, however, I would maintain that playing with minimal assistance is still the best way to experience The Flayed Man. After all, its riddles are supremely enjoyable and you’ll derive far more satisfaction from tackling them on your own if you can. Not to mention, there are only so many variables to consider anyway (the entire title takes place within just four rooms and there’s a meagre handful of objects to interact with), so it hardly takes a Mensa calibre IQ to get to the bottom of things!
Beyond how cleverly thought out and well-balanced they are, the absolute best thing about the puzzles is the ingenious way that they integrate with the wider narrative. You’re not just going through the usual motions of cracking safe combinations or repairing ordinary fuse boxes (as you’ve no doubt done in countless other titles). Instead, everything Snoring Dog throws at you here somehow ties into the key themes of eternal damnation & punishment.
Basically, just imagine the kind of classic headscratchers you’d encounter in Monkey Island if they were masterminded by John Doe from Se7en. Case in point, you’ll have to intuit the grim purpose of a tied noose, while also figuring out how a shard of glass, a cat o’ nine tails and a buried grave are all supposed to fit together.
You’ll even have to pass a trial at one point to reclaim your avatar’s missing tongue so that he can, in turn, properly inspect objects and give the traditional commentary you’d expect from an adventure game protagonist. It’s a fun wrinkle that stops you from getting ahead of yourself in the early stages of the story, while also just being another deliciously dark way of putting The Flayed Man through the wringer.
Judge Not, Lest Ye Be Judged
On that note, our antihero’s torment isn’t limited only to the physical. On the contrary, he is given quite a psychological grilling too, most notably in the downtime between puzzles.
You see, after solving each conundrum, there will be an interlude wherein you have to stop by a confessional booth. Not to discuss your own indiscretions, as you might logically assume, but rather to pass judgement on other lost souls who are caught in this strange realm too. From the other side of the partition, they will lay bare their entire life stories, answer any questions you may have about the nature of their wrongdoings, and then accept whatever decision you arrive at.
The related dialogue trees aren’t super expansive, yet they nevertheless lead to thought-provoking quandaries that raise some interesting ideas about the nature of contrition. You’ll of course have to weigh up the severity of each crime, alongside other considerations like: the guilty party’s true intent; whether they seem to be genuinely remorseful; if they have done anything to atone; and any external factors that might have influenced their actions. For example, there’s a compelling philosophical debate early on about whether the relative trivialness of apple theft can be excused when it’s done for no reason other than to commit evil for evil’s sake.
Hovering in the back of your mind throughout these proceedings is the dreadful knowledge that The Flayed Man himself is also being evaluated (for an offence that could feasibly be much worse than any of those he’s jurying) and that your choices will ultimately determine how much mercy he is granted when the hourglass runs out. Indeed, there are three possible endings on the cards here, ranging in tone from the bleak to the extremely bleak. 
It’s a really intriguing mechanic, and one that I could see being expanded upon to great effect in a prospective follow-up if that’s what Snoring Dog Games wanted to do. In fact, you can envision almost everything promising about The Flayed Man being (ironically enough) fleshed out in a future project that has a little more money behind it. There are tons of ideas here that are explored well— within the limitations of a freebie offering — but you can see the potential to take them even further.
As it stands, this is still a terrific calling card debut that knows exactly what it wants to be, without ever overreaching, and it certainly bodes well for whatever the developers do try their hand at next. And, to reiterate, it’s completely free so you have no reason to miss out!
Better yet, if you can afford to support the team by kicking a couple of bucks their way over on itch.io or buy the Supporter Pack on Steam, then you might just help them build upon these auspicious foundations and deliver something truly special in the future.
The Flayed Man is available now on Steam and itch.io. Review code provided by developer.
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