Can you survive the experiment? The Subject is a Sci-Fi horror game from DarkStone Digital. Play as a prisoner sold off to a deep-space testing facility. Navigate the maze-like complex and solve various puzzles while a strange creature hunts the next subject forced into its halls. You.
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Spaceship ✓
Hellish layout ✓
Vague puzzles ✓
Wandering enemy you can't fight ✓
It's an indie horror baby!
Seriously though, I quite liked most of this. It's easy to write off the ship's layout as bad, but it makes perfect sense why it's that way when you consider the story. It also has a casual mode without the monster, which I understand if people want an easier time, but as much as I tend to hate the standard thing of an enemy you can't hurt but one-shots you so must be hidden from, the tension would all be gone without it. If I had played on casual then the exploration would have had no dread. The thought of doing stuff quickly and moving on in case it started coming down this corridor kept me on my toes. It also ties in with the collar mechanic/save system that means every now and then you need to go hit an update terminal or the collar will execute you. This can be great for tension if you're in the middle of a puzzle, and might mean a quick 180 in a corridor when you hear the dude coming, forcing you to scramble to another terminal.
I say annoying puzzles, but that's because I am a damn fool. A large idiot child. Messing around at random rather than trying to figure anything out, then only realising what I'm doing 2 moves from the solution and parading around the room in my Massive Genuis hat.
The ship is cool. The style is nice. I think I enjoyed this more than the stars or some of my words suggest, but that looks right to me.
Hellish layout ✓
Vague puzzles ✓
Wandering enemy you can't fight ✓
It's an indie horror baby!
Seriously though, I quite liked most of this. It's easy to write off the ship's layout as bad, but it makes perfect sense why it's that way when you consider the story. It also has a casual mode without the monster, which I understand if people want an easier time, but as much as I tend to hate the standard thing of an enemy you can't hurt but one-shots you so must be hidden from, the tension would all be gone without it. If I had played on casual then the exploration would have had no dread. The thought of doing stuff quickly and moving on in case it started coming down this corridor kept me on my toes. It also ties in with the collar mechanic/save system that means every now and then you need to go hit an update terminal or the collar will execute you. This can be great for tension if you're in the middle of a puzzle, and might mean a quick 180 in a corridor when you hear the dude coming, forcing you to scramble to another terminal.
I say annoying puzzles, but that's because I am a damn fool. A large idiot child. Messing around at random rather than trying to figure anything out, then only realising what I'm doing 2 moves from the solution and parading around the room in my Massive Genuis hat.
The ship is cool. The style is nice. I think I enjoyed this more than the stars or some of my words suggest, but that looks right to me.