Each monster has a different tactic for tracking and chasing you as well, which I won’t spoil. As you’d imagine, that can be a bit stressful, which again, I appreciate in a horror game. You have to manually open that sucker, walk in, and shut the door, usually while being chased. This design didn’t feel artificial, and I appreciated that the monster can and will be anywhere.įurthermore, there is no “instant hidey hole” escape button when you’re near a locker. I appreciate this, especially after being seemingly attached at the hip with a xenomorph in 2014. What’s more, the monster appears to explore the ship slowly and systematically, which means you can play half of a game and just not see it, or you can step out, take five steps, and be face-to-face with it. Then you’re greeted with a hilariously lame death still, and the option to play again.Įach time you play, you’ll encounter a different layout, a different escape route, and one of two monsters. I tripped on a gnarly bit of floorboard and didn’t get up in time to escape my gruesome death. I gazed into its translucent face, it (presumably) looked back, screeched, and gave chase. That’s usually when you let out a big sigh of relief, turn around, and spot a nameless Eldritch horror. As you discover plot-sensitive items, your amnesiac self will jot down tools necessary to escape your watery tomb. Some items, however, are purely to distract and slow down would-be monster murderers. Some items are mission critical, such as a fuse, duct tape, or a bolt cutter. If you’re anything like me, you’ll be initially confused, stumbling down corridors, popping in rooms, and grabbing every glowing thing in sight. You venture forth with a cryptic note and flashlight in trembling hands. You’ll wake up in a randomly generated boat suffering from video game amnesia. You, however you’re alone in the middle of the ocean, save for one unwanted stowaway. The doors are heavy, the lights flicker and dim, pipes shoot hot steam… and those are in the best of conditions. Labyrinthine and cramped in design, their bowels groan and creak without warning, as if they are alive. And I would argue that boats are chock-a-block with atmosphere, much more than what we give them credit for. We’ve been chased on star ships, space stations, strange planets, in forests and spooky houses, but very seldom on boats. It’s a trivial yet critical alteration to the formula. Enter Monstrum, a new IP with a refreshing concept: monsters are chasing you… on a frickin’ boat. As such, the quality has plummeted faster than Hans Gruber at the end of Die Hard. Developers are churning horror titles out at record speed in light of certain mainstream and indie successes. Horror is hard, and I say this knowing full well the porn parody implications of such a statement. Quibbles aside, this is a great start for first-person horror rogue-lites in 2015. All done? The reason I put you through that is because Monstrum for Early Access strives for this Frankenstein’s monster-game concept, and it succeeds. Are you done simultaneously vomiting and crying? Because I can wait. Imagine, if you will, the nerve-wracking survivor mode of Alien: Isolation the thrilling, tense, finales of L4D and the creature variety of Evolve, all spinning in some sort of sci-fi amalgamator.
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