Trenches from Ratalaika Games and Steelkrill Studio is a first-person psychological horror experience on PlayStation set during the first World War. Check our Trenches review!

 

Trenches from Ratalaika Games and Steelkrill Studio is a first-person psychological horror experience on PlayStation set during the first World War. You must escape from the enemy trenches to be able to safely return to his family. You’ll be equipped with a trench whistle, which you can use to play a sound that you’ll then need to follow to find the next piece of information needed for your survival. Unfortunately, the sound can also be heard by the enemy, thus easily marking your current position. You must collect nine dolls around the trenches to be able to escape… because reasons.

You’re certainly not alone in these trenches, and you’ll need to pay attention to your actions, or else you’ll be done for. Break something, and it will make a very loud sound. The wood in the trenches will also make a creaking noise if you’re not careful! You can’t just run around each area and not expect to draw some attention… especially since there’s a supernatural creature roaming the trenches. You’ll know it’s getting closer, thanks to the sound of its footsteps. The good news is that even if it does spot you, you’ll still have a chance of surviving if you manage to reach one of the designated hiding spots.

 

Since this one is played from a first-person perspective, you can probably guess how you’ll control your character. The left analog stick will be used to make him walk around each area, with the right one being used to move the camera as needed to get a better look at things. You can run by pressing in on the left analog stick, but do remember this will also make a lot of noise. You can crouch with the Circle button to take things more slowly. The X button will blow the trench whistle.

You can zoom in with the L2 button. The Square button will be for examining objects, interacting, and reading messages. The L1 and R1 buttons can be used to peak around corners so that you can get a better look and avoid the monster when exploring each area. The touchpad on the DualSense can be used to open up your inventory to check what you’ve collected. One of the most important items will be a map that will allow you to see where you can try and find more dolls to escape from the madness.

 

To make it possible for as many gamers as possible to take the game for a spin, there’s also a No Jumpscare Mode, which, as the name suggests, removes most jumpscares from the game. Jumpscares are not everyone’s cup of tea, so this option will certainly be welcomed. The name is a bit misleading since there are still going to be jumpscares in the game – with a handful of them available in the first 20 minutes alone – so if you hate jumpscares, then this game is not for you.

Trenches has a full trophy list with a Platinum trophy. On top of this, since it’s a Cross-Buy title, if you own a PlayStation 5 console, you can work on adding two Platinum trophies to your collection because the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game feature separate trophy lists. Each list includes 11 Gold trophies, and none of them are missable. Some are tied to locating some tools along the way, while the rest are for progressing through the story and finding specific locations and interactions. If you want some extra help to speed things up, you can check out this Trenches Trophy Guide.

Trenches is a first-person psychological horror experience that is packed with jump scares, which means that the game is not going to be for everyone. Even though the game takes place in the German trenches of the first World War – and everything ends up looking and feeling the same – the game has some pop-in every now and then, as well as a bit of slowdown, which is weird to see in a game of this nature. Trenches is available for $9.99, and since it’s a Cross-Buy title, your purchase will give you both the PlayStation 4 and the PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost.

Disclaimer
This Trenches review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by Ratalaika Games.