Being a nurse can be hard
The Caregiver | 終焉介護 is a creepy adventure video game wherein you play as a caregiver to a mysterious old man whose family has strangely gone missing. Developed by Chilla’s Art, this 3D photo-realistic game is an atmospheric psychological Japanese horror game.
Similar to the developer’s other games—like The Convenience Store | 夜勤事件—The Caregiver | 終焉介護 features a VHS film aesthetic on top of the photo-realistic assets. It also gives a slow build-up of tension rather than some jumpscares. However, like other Chilla’s Art games, it mostly plays out like a walking simulator with some puzzles.
For the sake of your patient
In The Caregiver | 終焉介護, you play as a nurse in charge of taking care of a mute old man in a wheelchair. For some reason, his family is nowhere to be found when you get to his home. You start off as one character but eventually switch to playing as her co-worker as a dark curse starts haunting you the longer you spend time with your charge.
Similar to the other games from this particular developer, the gameplay mostly consists of you walking around and exploring to solve simple puzzles and errands to progress the story. It’s fairly linear as most of the paths you can take actually block you from entering them. However, this means it can get pretty tedious to go back if you want the hidden collectibles—even with the autosaves.
Story-wise, the atmosphere is definitely unnerving and doesn’t outright just throw in jumpscares. It can feel lacking compared to the other games but the VHS style—complete with the tape noise and jitter of the screen—adds to its charm and helps intensify its horror elements once you encounter them. The protagonist’s internal monologue here isn’t voiced, though, which is a shame since that’s become a trademark of Chilla’s Art.
Still a solid title
All in all, The Caregiver | 終焉介護 is all about the tension and the atmosphere as you solve the mystery behind the old man’s plight. While the gameplay can be too rigid, the horror is just right and doesn’t really detract from what you have to do to get to the ending. If you want more of this style of Japanese psychological horror, you can try out Stigmatized Property | 事故物件 and Okaeri.
