Splodey Boi Routine Review

What a masterclass of horror gaming. I was genuinely terrified most of the time. A great indie game, despite its numerous shortcomings. A quick synopsis: You're a software engineer that wakes up on an abandoned space station and have to piece together what has happened to everyone and what has caused the station lockdown. The game plays a lot like Outlast 1 and 2 with a bit more interactivity, though not to the extent of Alien Isolation. The similarities here is the gorgeous retro-futuristic aesthetic, with in-world UI elements and fantastic sound design, all working together really well to immerse you into this world. Heck... the audio is perhaps some of the best I've experienced in a horror game... definitely play with good headphones! The main gameplay involves moving around the station reading notes/letters/emails, solving puzzles and interacting with terminals while avoiding a few stalker-type enemies. You're equipped with a tool that can help you with puzzles and doors, but against enemies it is fairly useless. Best to just run and hide like those other games. This is where the audio shines, as you can use it to quite accurately keep track of where enemies are via the creepy noises they make. Some of the monster design is also absolutely ingenious.. created to make you completely **** yourself and with a few very clever jump scares to boot! The only issues I had with the game is that your helmet light can't be manually switched on and off. It comes on by itself sometimes but this only happened once or twice. I don't know why games still do this. Sometimes I had to just walk through pitch black hallways. You can use the tool for some light, but it's not ideal. My second gripe was interacting with terminals using a controller. The game was defintely designed for mouse and keyboard and using a thumbstick to navigate emails and control panels was quite laborious. Lastly, the game really needed a map. Some of the areas look very similar and it's hard to keep track of what is where. And since there is some backtracking in the game, a map would've been welcome. This is even more frustrating when you are trying to solve puzzles in these maze-like areas while being hunted by a stalker enemy. Issues aside, I still enjoyed this game a lot and was absolutely terrified. Not a very long game but well worth the long wait.