HomeNewsEchostasis
ECHOSTASIS’s curious and thoughtful horror doesn’t overlook the importance of an excellent shotgun[DOWNLOAD DEMO]
[DOWNLOAD DEMO]
Image credit:Enigma Studio
Image credit:Enigma Studio
ECHOSTASISis the third entry in Enigma’s Studio’shorrortrilogy, and it’s one of the more interesting games I’ve played this year. There’s a demoon Steam, and you should grab it if you’re interested, since everything I have to say about it is going to be a spoiler of some kind. I’ll attempt a brief description below, but a lot of the fun here is discovering how all its parts fit together, and how even its more prosaic game conventions are defamiliarised through a spooky, static-drenched ensorcellment.
[ECHOSTASIS] - Trailer #1Watch on YouTube
[ECHOSTASIS] - Trailer #1
That’s the vibes, and what vibes they are - there’s a depth and stark beauty to the image manipulation that elevates it far above the ‘we’ll bung some scanlines and RGB manipulation on it and call it a day” you sometimes get with retro homages. The game itself is part textadventure, partFPS, and part explorationpuzzler. You’ll quickly fall into a rhythm of discrete runs that have you trying to unlock shortcuts and other permanent progress points before your resolve runs dry.
Hey! It’s me! |Image credit:Enigma Studio/Rock Paper Shotgun
To begin with, you’re helplessly at the mercy of shambling pink ghouls and floating, orb-flinging phantasms, but progress far enough in a given stage, and you’ll usually find yourself a very nice shotgun. Kill enemies, get resolve bonuses. It feels like a joke, almost. To leave you grasping for something tangible amongst clattering sideshows of disparate images and haunted mazes, and then give you little ‘+5!’ time bonuses for gibbing bad dudes with a boomstick. But it also fits into the game’s whole personality: a disorientating nightmare infused with a sense of traditional adventure and optimism - and both a love letter to, and deconstruction of, familiar tropes.
It’s that hidden optimism - a pinprick-thin beam of natural light at the end of a twisting maze of simulacra and vaguelySOMA-ish sci-fi despair - that resonated most with me here. It’s absent the post-squared irony you might typically associate with the vaporwave beach loading screens and accompanying reverb-soaked elevator muzak. The writing feels open and authentic; the mysteries worth unraveling. This aside, there’s a palpable horror tension to the almost masocore, trial-and-terror game loop that props it all up very sturdily. Usually, horror games giving me a shotgun just make me scared for what’s about to pop out. Here, I’ve never been so happy to see one.
