Indie Horror Game Stifled Hits Steam Greenlight
Ted Hentschke
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As a quintessential completion whore, gaming has become an expensive hobby. I got into this profession to try to weasel as much free shit as I could out of PR companies, but getting hardware is tough. For many, the VR craze is an exciting trend that they hope will push the boundaries of gaming and immerse us like never before. For me, its another several thousand dollar hole I have to dig myself in the pursuit of having everything.
It makes me sad, because I really enjoy experimentation, and VR games are nothing if not experimental. Fortunately, it seems like not all the greatest creative minds have been drawn into the realm of VR. The people at Gattai Games have instead chosen to focus on a different piece of peripheral hardware: your microphone. Using the power of your voice for echolocation, Stifled asks you to find your way through a dark and dangerous labyrinth. Check out the trailer:
So as you can see, sound waves will be your “eyes” in Stifled. Vision is brief, so you’ll need to make constant sound to keep the environment visible. This is not always advisable, however. The twisted corridors of Stifled are inhabited with similarly sightless and dangerous monsters. Make a sound, and they will dash towards that location. Their piercing cries also illuminate the environment, but in a reddish hue depicting their echolocation area. During these tense moments of pursuit, its best to try to memorize your environment as quickly as you can, and spare your sounds for key moments. For what’s basically a game of Marco Polo with outlines in the dark, the effect is tense and terrifying.
“Oh hey, is this that game by those people that made BioShock?” No, that’s Perception. I got to ask Justin Ng, one of the designers at Gattai Games, about the comparison, and he just chuckled and shrugged. “We had the idea years ago,” he said, “we’re a small team with an idea we really loved. Suddenly, a year after starting the game, they announce something with the same concept. What were we going to do, shut down?” For an indie dev, I can’t imagine what that must feel like. Kudos to them for seeing it through.
That being said, having played Stifled, it’s a game that is far deeper than the gimmick. What could easily have been a glorified tech demo, Stifled is an excellent example of minimalist storytelling and evocative settings. The level I played started with a car crash, where you are given a number of notes as to what the backstory might be. It’s worth mentioning that the actual character isn’t blind, creating a differentiation between the brighter, narrative zones, and the darker puzzle/exploration zones.
Setting off into the dark, a number of sounds tip you off to your setting. The rustling of leaves and branches reveals trees, and rushing water a stream. In the distance, a mechanical whir serves as a waypoint, leading you into what appears to be some kind of sewage plant. You quickly find that things are not as they seem, as the narrow corridors become far too long and winding and metal pipes too numerous and illogical. It has a Silent Hill feel, where a familiar setting is distorted into an uncanny version of itself. By the time you get to the end of the demo, you realize that you’ve just seen the tip of this nightmare world.
The game is officially launching on Steam Greenlight today, and I highly encourage all of you to go give it a look. I don’t expect this one to have any trouble passing, but horror fans will really want to follow it. For the sake of more good horror games, show Stifled some love. I’ll have more information for you about it as it develops.
Categorized:Horror Gaming News
