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Claustrophobia from Sentinel Studios is a fresh take on the dark horror game genre. It is their second project as developers/publishers. The game is set in a secret facility that has gone dark due to mysterious circumstances. It’s up to the players to figure out what went wrong and make sense of it all.
They’ll have to guide Evan through the facility and other areas while navigating past the horrors in the darkness, unlocking doors, exploring dark corridors, collecting research, and finally escaping the facility - preferably alive.
Claustrophobia is a claustrophobic experience personified
Staying true to its name, Claustrophobia tosses players into a dark facility with narrow corridors and no functioning lights for the most part. Judging by the appearance, the place has seen better days.
With no contact from the outside world, barring the game's announcer, players are left to figure things out for themselves from the moment they enter the area. Here's where things begin to take a scary turn, and "things that go bump in the night" is probably not the player's imagination.
Thankfully, armed with a trusty flashlight, the protagonist can begin making his way through the pitch-black with relative ease. The goal is simple: find and collect research notes, and escape the facility by all means necessary.
Unfortunately, this is no trivial task as the place is crawling with giant monsters who seemingly can't fit through doors. Between unlocking doors, running out of ammunition, getting lost in large areas, and trying to avoid being killed by mutated creatures - it is indeed a claustrophobic experience unlike any other.
Finding a way through the dark
The game is dark. Not in a proverbial sense, but quite literally. Without using the flashlight, getting around to the next objective is next to impossible. At times, just for laughs, I tried to navigate the narrow corridors without a flashlight. Barely a few steps away from the nearest light source, I was already lost in the darkness.
To add to this confusion, moving about without the help of a minimap makes things further difficult. However, all of this works in its favor, given the game's setting. The ambiance provides an added factor of stress.
While Claustrophobia may seem a little too dark for some, the level design and lightning do precisely as intended. Mixed in with guttural growls and screams, players will be left running to the nearest room and mashing "E" to close the door.
Research notes and dark backstory
Even though there's not much in terms of storytelling, hints are lying about that players can find. Based on these notes, it would seem that researchers stumbled upon a medical wonder and tried experimenting on it.
If there's anything we learned from the horror genre, it's that these experiments don't usually end well. Given the hoards of creatures running rampant in the facility and caves in-game, it's clear that the scientists didn't get the memo.
Nevertheless, for the most part, players are left to use their imagination and ponder upon the possibilities of what exactly happened. Without much to go on apart from the mention of "Source" and "Bacteria," everything is open to interpretation.
Locked doors and escape vents
As with most mysterious facilities that deal with biohazards and questionable experiments, many locked doors are to be expected. Claustrophobia doesn't disappoint on this front. Players have to go from pillar to post to find keys or switches to get them to open.
This task can soon become frustrating as, without a minimap, players will have to memorize their routes and watch out for monsters along the path. Make one wrong turn, and it's back to the last save point.
I often found myself lost and killed by the giant two-legged creature while trying to find the switch/key for a particular door. Thankfully, vents provide some respite and a means to bypass the creature completely if timed correctly.
Monsters and mayhem
Speaking of "things that go bump in the night," there are quite a few in Claustrophobia. The first creature the players will encounter will be a super-mutated human with freakishly large arms.
Based on some research notes, it would seem that the "Bacteria" or some other concoction of chemicals mutated the poor soul into an abomination. In addition to the lumbering beast, smaller in-game creatures cause quite a bit of a nuisance.
They are fast, mobile, have bulging eyeballs, and even pass through doorways. During the early game, the best idea is to bypass them. After the nailgun is unlocked, dealing with them should become more manageable. However, given that these eyeballs on legs and mini-mutations are found in large groups, success in combat is not guaranteed.
Performance and sound
Claustrophobia was reviewed on PC with the following specifications:
- Processor: Intel Core i7-8700
- RAM: 16 GB DDR4
- GPU: Nvidia GeForce RTX 2060
- Hard Drive Space: 2 TB
The majority of the game was played after the 1.4 update. There was no noticeable stuttering, lag, or framerate drop. However, it's left to be seen how it performs on PCs with lower specs. Given the graphics requirements on the official Steam page, the machine on which it was reviewed was slightly overkill.
In terms of sound design, the game does pretty well when delivering a creepy atmosphere. At times, after hearing sounds nearby, I found myself turning around in panic only to find darkness staring back at me.
Conclusion
While there were no noticeable bugs during gameplay, the game itself could use a bit of fixing. For instance, I got myself killed deep within the caves and respawned about ten minutes back in time at the last safe location.
Ammunition is also hard to come by, and a lot can get wasted given how fast the creatures move about. Nevertheless, keeping the shortcomings aside, the game lives up to its name. While it could use a bit of illumination in the proverbial sense, the rest truly delivers a panic-inducing horror gameplay experience.
Claustrophobia
Reviewed On: PC
Review code provided by: Sentinel Studios
Platform(s): PC
Developer and publisher: Sentinel Studios
Release Date: February 10, 2022
