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By Spencer Ellsworth Nick Roche got his start as a comics artist at IDW Publishing, illustrating and soon writing the company’s incarnation of
Posted in: Games, Movies, Video Games | Tagged: entertainment, Monstrum 3, Steam, video games
Terror Onboard – Experience Monstrum Early Access
By Phil Harris
Trapped in the twisted maze of a rusty ship, miles out in the ocean and hunted by unexpected and unspeakable horrors may seem to many like a terrible holiday plan but for Team JunkFish it is the crux of their new survival horror game Monstrum. The game already scaring the bravest of us in its early access version available on Steam. The game already feels like a classic and could realistically reformat the way survival horror games are developed in the future with its unique design.
[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YJoOfRd12g[/youtube]
The crux of this is the procedurally generated nature of the game. As you fight to escape, or more often hide, terrified and hoping the dangers will pass, you are faced with the labyrinthine bowels of the ship with its tight corridors and dimly lit corners only adding to the claustrophobia that being trapped on a ship already creates. This would be bad enough without a monster pursuing you, but it is there stalking and as you desperately try and escape your hellish incarceration it lurks, ready to rend you limb from limb because… well just because it can.
Think you have the game worked out, think you can beat the horror? Perhaps, but then returning to play again it has all changed and what had become familiar merges with the new in a stunning nightmare as the player second guesses their actions at each turn as they try to remember the routes they think have established belong to this game or a past encounter. This particularly works because the monster lurking in the vessel isn't the only danger you can face and the ship itself seems to be working against you with only the sharpest mind will be able to deal to outwit both.
Whilst the ship has a certain familiarity in feel this does not reflect in the art and appearance of the game as the ship is divided into a number of sections which each have their own feel. The rich textures which surround your prison walls only add to the feeling of entrapment and seeds the tension which runs down your neck to your slightly sweaty fingers controlling your character. Flip the lighter on to peek more clearly at your surroundings and the flickering light causes shadows to occur which do nothing to ease you. Which brings us to the monster itself, or the two versions available in early access, meaning each hunts you in a different way making previous tactics obsolete as the walls close in on you and madness takes hold.
To escape this hell you need to solve the challenges each of three escape routes provides, with tools supplied to aid you or distract the monster because there is simply no way to defeat the creature otherwise. This is a game of cat and mouse where you are definitely made to feel like the rodent and you can almost feel some greater force over you, analysing your every move.
It is worthy of note that in its early access state Monstrum does not represent the final product Team JunkFish will release and a third unique monster, new ship sections and environmental traps and hazards, which are sure to catch out the unwary as they desperately cling onto the last vestiges of hope. Add to that Occulus Rift support and you can make your terror a full 360 degrees, if you really want.
Monstrum makes many past outings in the survival horror genre look like Scooby-Doo and even Alien Isolation is made to look dated and slow (personally I found the Artificial Intelligence of the alien predictable). Whilst Resident Evil 4, Silent Hill 2 and Fatal Frame (aka Project Zero) are still worthy of our respect it is unlikely that 2015 will go by without Monstrum's name appearing again and again, and rightfully so. Team JunkFish don't simply want to scare the pants off you, they want you to have to go out and buy new pants because you were so scared.
You can experience the game yourself by downloading it from these sources and start those water cooler discussions about how you died:
Phil Harris (@PhilipGHarris) is a games developer and writer currently working with One Thumb Mobile on their MMORPG Celtic Heroes. He also created Zentorii, helped design Nevistech's Pet Roulette for Android devices and is the story writer for Blazing Griffin's new space strategy game Distant Star: Revenant Fleet. To read more about Phil check out his profile on Indie Teamup.
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