Perception

This adventure tries to be something different with a blind protagonist, but there's too many hiccups that ruin the atmospheric experience. Perhaps the most interesting part of Perception is that since you're blind, you navigate the world through sonar by tapping a cane -- the result of which is a ripple of silhouettes illuminating the darkness you'd see otherwise. Some might take issue with a handicap being exploited for a game mechanic, but there's no denying it being both unusual and a surefire way to ratchet up the suspense.

Ultimately, that's where Perception falls down: As a game intended to be tense and unpredictable, screwing up is both not really possible and at worst a minor inconvenience. When you get deeper into the game, the mansion's ghost will stalk you -- the more noise you make (which you have to do, in order to see and walk around), the more on your heels the ghost will be. You can hide only in certain locations, like closets, but even when you get caught, you're brought back to the foyer and pick up where you left off. On top of this, right out of the gate you have the ability to triangulate or "see" where you're supposed to go at any given moment via a sixth sense -- your next destination will glow and the camera will shift to point you in the right direction. The end result is, even though the game tries to disempower you as a blind person, you always know where to go and can keep plodding forward regardless of what happens. The rest in between is fairly mundane (poking around for items that have lock combinations written on them), essentially turning into a non-scary stroll through a dark house.