''Gylt'' (stylized as ''GYLT'') is a

survival horror Survival horror is a subgenre of survival of the players as the game tries to frighten them with either horror graphics or scary ambience. Although combat can be part of the gameplay, the player is made to feel less in control than in typical ac ...

video game developed and published by

Tequila Works Tequila Works S.L. is a Spanish video game developer located in Madrid, founded in 2009 by Raúl Rubio and Luz Sancho. The company is best known for developing '' Deadlight'' and ''Rime''. History Tequila Works was founded in Madrid in 2009 ...

. It was released on November 19, 2019 for

Google Stadia Stadia is a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 2019. The service was to compete with Sony' ...

. It is notable for being one of the few Stadia-exclusive titles, causing it to be temporarily unavailable for sale upon that platform's shutdown in 2023. It is currently planned for a multiplatform re-release in 2023. ''GYLT'' received mixed reviews from critics, who called it enjoyable and praised the graphics, but said that it lacked excitement.

Plot

The game's main character is Sally, a young girl who is trying to find her missing cousin, Emily. After school

bullies A bully is someone responsible for bullying, using aggression to intimidate or dominate others. Bully may also refer to: Animals * American Bully, a breed of dog * Bull Terrier or bully, a breed of dog * '' Gobiomorphus'' or bully, an Australia ...

cause her to crash her bike, she enters a nightmare world with dark parallels to her bullying.

Gameplay

The gameplay revolves around sneaking past enemies while trying to escape the nightmare. Sally uses a

flashlight A flashlight ( US, Canada) or torch ( UK, Australia) is a portable hand-held electric lamp. Formerly, the light source typically was a miniature incandescent light bulb, but these have been displaced by light-emitting diodes (LEDs) since the ...

as a weapon, although she later acquires a

fire extinguisher A fire extinguisher is a handheld active fire protection device usually filled with a dry or wet chemical used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergencies. It is not intended for use on an out-of-control fire, such as one which ha ...

as well. The game includes light elements of puzzles and combat.

Reception

The game received an aggregate score of 68/100 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, indicating "mixed or average" reviews. Chris Carter of ''

Destructoid ''Destructoid'' is a website that was founded as a video game-focused blog in March 2006 by Yanier Gonzalez, a Cuban-American cartoonist and author. Enthusiast Gaming acquired the website in 2017, and sold it to Gamurs Group in 2022. History ' ...

'' rated the game 7/10 points, calling it short, but mostly engaging. He called the story a "slow burn", while comparing the stealth mechanic to ''

Metal Gear Solid is a series of techno-thriller stealth games created by Hideo Kojima. Developed and published by Konami, the first game, ''Metal Gear'', was released in 1987 for MSX home computers. The player often takes control of a special forces operat ...

'', and remarked that using the flashlight as a weapon was a "cool" way to avoid using guns. Chris Shive of ''Hardcore Gamer'' rated the game 3/5 points, calling it an "enjoyable" game with a "''

Silent Hill is a horror anthology media franchise centered on a series of survival horror games created by Keiichiro Toyama and published by Konami. The first four video games in the series, ''Silent Hill'', '' Silent Hill 2'', ''Silent Hill 3'' and '' ...

'' vibe", but not a

killer app In marketing terminology, a killer application (commonly shortened to killer app) is any computer program or software that is so necessary or desirable that it proves the core value of some larger technology, such as computer hardware, a video game ...

. He praised the "cartoonish" character designs and "unnerving" soundtrack. Vikki Blake of ''

Eurogamer ''Eurogamer'' is a British video game journalism website launched in 1999 and owned by alongside formed company Gamer Network. Its editor-in-chief is Martin Robinson. Since 2008, it is known for the formerly eponymous games trade fair EGX ...

'' called the game surprisingly scary for something she initially thought was made for kids, saying that the game ran well on Stadia besides one crash. However, she criticized the game as being "linear and predictable", with a "lazy, frustrating" final boss.

References

{{Reflist 2019 video games Indie video games Single-player video games Stadia games Survival horror video games Video games about children Video games developed in Spain Video games featuring female protagonists