Saw: Genesis is not scary. Call it an occupational hazard, but few asymmetrical horror games are these days. Texas Chain Saw Massacre is probably the most terrifying, lore-accurate depiction of the source movie’s tone and tension.

Meanwhile, Dead by Daylight’s Survivors-versus-Killers framework speaks for itself, hinging upon hooking or avoiding being hooked. It’s a simple structure, sometimes earning it accusations of being boring. But Saw: Genesis suffers the opposite problem. The success of a horror asym is tied to how well a game can sustain player engagement, and this one in its current state proves why a simple onboarding process is the best way to ensnare a player’s attention off the bat.

Jigsaw puzzle

I can totally see the vision here. As a precursor murder mastermind to Saw’s infamous Jigsaw killer, The Judge’s job is to punish captive victims by putting them through horrific trials, involving everything from self-mutilation to sacrificing a limb to save another. The victims’ job is to work together to solve the challenges before time runs out and your head explodes — and staying alive that long is challenging in itself. As it stands, there’s almost too much to do in the upcoming horror game to make it intuitive. Case in point: the skill entry level to playing as the Judge is so high, the developers insist we play our whole hands-on demo as Victims.

Loading into my first match, I realize too late that I’ve not got any perks equipped. No matter, I tell myself; I’m sure my sunken-eyed little boy character, fresh out of a Tim Burton movie, will have some kind of a trick up his sleeve?

Not quite. My other teammates’ characters are armed with bonesaws and bandages, perfect for inflicting and relieving pain in equal measure, and I am left defenceless against the Judge’s first devious set of traps and puzzles.

Challenges play out through various mini games. A series of quick time events, not dissimilar to Dead by Daylight’s skill checks, pop up as I try to disarm a trip wire. I’m ready and waiting for the same when I find another trap, but fail abysmally when a series of directional arrows appears on screen instead. The trap explodes in a cloud of noxious green gas, poisoning my character immediately.

This whole mishap demonstrates the high mental load placed upon the player from the get-go. Sure, it adds pressure to a situation and leaves me always on my toes, but not knowing which minigame will pop up when makes it all the harder to get invested in the experience — especially when I’m barking orders and taking them from my fellow demoists in a comically friendslop-adjacent way.

Saw Genesis feels like it wants to be the PvPvE answer to something like Outlast Trials, but right now, it lacks discipline and polish. Sure, it really is refreshing to have more to do in an asymmetrical horror game than smash gens and loop a killer around a pallet, but I do feel some iteration needs to take place before all of these systems and ideas feel truly fluid. Less is more, in my opinion, so I hope to see Broken Mirror reassess aspects of the game with approachability in mind over a high skill ceiling.

Looking for more future scares? Check out our roundup of all of the upcoming horror games that await you.