''Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo'' is an

adventure video game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an Interactive storytelling, interactive story, driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus ...

developed by the Spanish company

Pendulo Studios Pendulo Studios S.L. is a Madrid-based video game developer founded in 1993 by Ramón Hernáez, Felipe Gómez Pinilla, Rafael Latiegui and Miguel Angel Ramos. Since the company's 1994 debut project, ''Igor: Objective Uikokahonia'', it has specia ...

and published by

Microids Microids (formerly Microïds) is a French video game developer and publisher based in Paris. Founded in 1985 by Elliot Grassiano, it attained early success with games published through Loriciel in France and other partners (including Activision ...

. It is loosely based on the films of

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

, particularly ''

Vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

'' (1958). The story follows a man named Ed Miller, who enters therapy to cope with the mysterious after-effects of a car crash. Pendulo and Microids announced ''Vertigo'' in early 2018, during the development of their game '' Blacksad: Under the Skin''. It was first shown at the Guerrilla Collective Showcase in June 2021. The game was released for Windows via

Steam Steam is water vapor, often mixed with air or an aerosol of liquid water droplets. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization. Saturated or superheated steam is inv ...

Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of t ...

, and GOG in December 2021, and was for

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

, and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

in September and October 2022.

Gameplay

''Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo'' is an

adventure game An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based m ...

that takes place in a three-dimensional game world. The player controls three characters, with a focus on solving mysteries tied to flashbacks.

Plot

''Vertigo'' tells the story of Ed Miller, a writer whose life is changed by a car wreck. Although he is left mysteriously uninjured, he claims that his wife and daughter, both missing, were in the car with him. Traumatized and experiencing intense

vertigo Vertigo is a condition in which a person has the sensation that they are moving, or that objects around them are moving, when they are not. Often it feels like a spinning or swaying movement. It may be associated with nausea, vomiting, perspira ...

, he enters therapy in an effort to learn what happened.

Development

Publisher

and developer

first announced ''Vertigo'' in March 2018, during the production of '' Blacksad: Under the Skin''. ''

Rock, Paper, Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' ...

'' reported that Microids had licensed director

's "name and likeness", and Microids revealed that the game would be "loosely" inspired by his film ''

'', primarily in aesthetic and theme. Pendulo disclosed in November 2020 that development of ''Vertigo'' was already "quite advanced". The game was first shown at the Guerrilla Collective Showcase at E3 in June 2021, under the name ''Alfred Hitchcock – Vertigo''. At the time, narrative designer Josué Monchan called the game "freely inspired" by Hitchcock's ''Vertigo'', but noted that the film was "not our only frame of reference". He also cited the director's '' Spellbound'', ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' and '' Psycho'' as influences, among others. ''

/Film ''/Film'', also spelled ''SlashFilm'', is a blog that covers movie news, reviews, interviews, and trailers. It was founded by Peter Sciretta in August 2005. The site's reviews appear on Rotten Tomatoes, and as of 2024, two of its leading film cr ...

'' reported that the team "studied Hitchcock's camerawork (including the famous ''Vertigo'' shot,' or

dolly zoom A dolly zoom (also known as a Hitchcock shot, ''Vertigo'' shot, ''Jaws'' effect, or Zolly shot) is an in-camera effect that appears to undermine normal visual perception. The effect is achieved by Zooming (filmmaking), zooming a zoom lens to a ...

) and tried to lean on the aesthetic of film mysteries and thrillers". Initially, ''Vertigo'' was set to launch across Windows and

game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location conne ...

s in the fourth quarter of 2021. The Windows version was released on December 16, 2021. The console versions were subsequently delayed to 2022, and were launched for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on September 27, 2022 in Europe and October 4, 2022 in North America.

Reception

Pre-release coverage

Reacting to ''Vertigo''s announcement at the Guerrilla Collective Showcase, '' Jeuxvideo.com'' named it one of the "10 indie games that caught our attention" during E3 2021. In ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'', columnist Stuart Heritage wrote that ''Vertigo'' "excited" him because it is a non-literal adaptation of Hitchcock's work, pointing the way to film-adapted games drawn from "a director's aesthetic rather than simply aping the nuts-and-bolts narrative".

Critical reception

''Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo'' received "mixed or average" reviews according to

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews and ratings of products and services, such as films, books, video games, music, software, hardware, or cars. This system then stores the reviews to be used for supporting a website where user ...

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

. In ''

Rock Paper Shotgun ''Rock Paper Shotgun'' is a British video game journalism website. It was launched in July 2007 to focus on PC game, PC games and was acquired by Gamer Network, a network of sites led by ''Eurogamer'', in May 2017. History ''Rock Paper S ...

'', Kim Armstrong wrote that ''Vertigo'' is not "a bad game", but argued that it "doesn't quite stick the landing". ''

Ouest-France ''Ouest-France'' ( ; French for "West-France") is a daily French newspaper known for its emphasis on both local and national news. The paper is produced in 47 different editions covering events in different French départements within the régi ...

'' was more negative, calling the game "a heartbreak" and faulting it for pacing issues,

pixel hunting Since the origin of video games in the early 1970s, the video game industry, the gamer, players, and video game culture, surrounding culture have spawned a wide range of technical and slang terms. 0–9 ...

and poor use of

quick time events In video games, a quick time event (QTE) is a method of context-sensitive gameplay in which the player performs actions on the control device shortly after the appearance of an on-screen instruction/prompt. It allows for limited control of the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alfred Hitchcock - Vertigo 2021 video games Alfred Hitchcock Microïds games Nintendo Switch games PlayStation 4 games PlayStation 5 games Pendulo Studios games Adventure games Video games based on films Video games developed in Spain Video games with cel-shaded animation Windows games Works about Alfred Hitchcock Xbox One games Xbox Series X and Series S games Single-player video games