Todd Heller has always tried hard to control his fears. Afraid of a boring life, he escapes to the one place where he and his friends can make a difference. A place where he can fight his fears and pit his survival skills against the best. A place called Digital Shadows.
Digital Shadows is the latest craze in Virtual Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing games. The game is based in a virtual world of horror, mystery, secret societies, monsters and shadowy nightmares.
Todd has dreamed of this game since its first introduction. An avid fan of the horror genre, Todd and his friends take the plunge to explore the dark world and fight the terrors within.
But when a glitch effects Todd's ability to log out, the player soon discovers there is something more then a simple game simulation running. Sinister forces converge on the player, eager to claim him for their dark designs and it is up to Todd and his friends to survive the nights ahead of them.
My Opinion: Digital Shadows does take a different path than many other LitRPG stories. Instead of being based on fantasy or Sci fi games, it is based on survival horror rpg games like Silent Hill and Resident Evil. It mixes those type of game mechanics with with some LoveCraftian elements and it does it well.
Now your measurement for good horror may be different than mine. I don’t watch a lot of horror movies and play Resident Evil with the lights on. Hower, I think Digital Shadows weaves a narrative that is faithful to its genre. When the characters are in the game, there is a palatable sense of suspense. The monsters in the game are appropriately creepy and horrifying. There were even a few times I had to stop reading, and turn on a light to continue with the story. Specifically, any scene with a creepy slasher clown.
While there are a few spelling and grammar errors, it’s nothing that pulls away from the enjoyment of the story. Additionally, I enjoyed the how the author didn’t stop to explain every game mechanic. Instead he just showed you how it worked within the story.
This story was written for those people that love a creepy, fear inducing atmosphere. If you’re a fan of survival horror games you’ll probably like the book. If you’re not, then you may not.
Score: 7 out of 10