Not a bad liminal space type of exploration game. Wish there was a bit more puzzle interactions instead of just finding keys, but got good mileage from it. If you want more liminal or dream like type of exploration games then I would recommend to play the developer's previous work as I felt it was much better than this one.
Wander around liminal spaces with a camera, taking photos before moving onto a new area. There's a constant, subtle creepy atmosphere, but you're never in any real danger, except in the secret alien level where you shoot 65 cryptids to death.
As is often the case with exploration based games, what you get out of the game's environments will decide if you like this game or not. Personally, I enjoyed Hypnagogia 無限の夢 Boundless Dreams more, a game by the same developer.
As is often the case with exploration based games, what you get out of the game's environments will decide if you like this game or not. Personally, I enjoyed Hypnagogia 無限の夢 Boundless Dreams more, a game by the same developer.
I'm a SodaRaptor head through through. Loved Hypnagogia a lot but Interior Worlds really connected with me. Old abandoned nostalgic liminal spaces, the kind of places that only exist in your memories. Felt really special to explore these worlds and helped me examine my own nostalgia for places long past. Really great stuff.
There’s a subtle beauty to being able to capture a moment, framed forever in the language of film. As if frozen in time, the camera, aimed true by a master of the craft, can share an eternity within a single instant, halting the flow of time itself to center the universe on a single moment. In some sense, even hallways, bathrooms, the spaces we find ourselves flowing through to more important things, take on a kind of artistry, when viewed through the camera's lens.
I suppose that idea of captured liminality is at the heart of Interior Worlds, as much as it has a heart. The pulse flowing under the surface only makes the reality of the game hurt that extra bit more; Interior Worlds isn’t a photography game, not to a degree of allowing any real expression to the player, nor in giving you all that much of interest to look at it. No, here we have a work entirely fueled by a desire to copy creepy liminal space memes you’d see on Twitter.
There isn’t much to say about it, frankly. Gamified exploration of drab environments, viewable through a camera that drains all saturation, letting you capture that perfect spoopy-spirit with grainy, over-blown photos… There’s no real expression available to the player, so it’s kind of a bad photography game on principle.
Also, how is the 10-minute Vinesauce fangame hidden here so much more soulful than anything in the actual paid game-jam project they’re pushing? It feels like such a weird mix-up of priorities.
I suppose that idea of captured liminality is at the heart of Interior Worlds, as much as it has a heart. The pulse flowing under the surface only makes the reality of the game hurt that extra bit more; Interior Worlds isn’t a photography game, not to a degree of allowing any real expression to the player, nor in giving you all that much of interest to look at it. No, here we have a work entirely fueled by a desire to copy creepy liminal space memes you’d see on Twitter.
There isn’t much to say about it, frankly. Gamified exploration of drab environments, viewable through a camera that drains all saturation, letting you capture that perfect spoopy-spirit with grainy, over-blown photos… There’s no real expression available to the player, so it’s kind of a bad photography game on principle.
Also, how is the 10-minute Vinesauce fangame hidden here so much more soulful than anything in the actual paid game-jam project they’re pushing? It feels like such a weird mix-up of priorities.
kinda cool and very relaxing experience. the shadow men were a bit too on the nose for me, same issue i have with most liminal space/backrooms adjacent projects - the horror is in the space not in the creepy shadow man watching you.
the best moment of the game by far was in the hotel - the completely silent dining room/ballroom was genuinely a little scary to walk through, and then when you return back through it all the chairs are arranged differently. wish there were more moments like this throughout
the best moment of the game by far was in the hotel - the completely silent dining room/ballroom was genuinely a little scary to walk through, and then when you return back through it all the chairs are arranged differently. wish there were more moments like this throughout
comfy walking sim photography game, empty parking lots still aren't scary
Although its main focus is exploration and atmosphere, Interior Worlds plays like a much more tactile horror experience than similar games, like Anemoiapolis – a game that plays with its liminal spaces and only sometimes dips into outright horror.
In a lot of ways, Anemoiapolis is more of a journey through the void; traversing arbitrary, dreamlike spaces; alien, empty architecture that is only formally human in lack of intent and/or purpose. Interior Worlds instead feels like a haunted house. Its environments take inspiration from popular “liminal space” images, although there is a presence lurking within these corridors that imbues these worlds with a dark undercurrent.
Both games are comparable in length, although the most significant difference is the “entity” that inhabits each. Players will encounter the shadowy “entity” of Interior Worlds frequently, either stalking from a distance, scuttling into the many tunnels it leaves behind, or remaining idle before vanishing into thin air. Interior Worlds nails its atmosphere; in contrast to Anemoiapolis’ alien spaces, Interior Worlds’ levels feel as if they’re real, lived-in places. The absence of life feels much more threatening. It’s as if everyone had disappeared suddenly. There are clues, moments of environmental storytelling, but never a complete picture.
There’s only one instance in Anemoiapolis where the player is implicitly threatened – a brief chase sequence through a bathroom maze – but we never see what’s chasing us. We’re only running from what we assume might be there. We catch glimpses of a shadowy entity in the sprawling, underground malls thereafter, but rarely. Its presence is much less apparent, which makes its brief appearances all the more unsettling.
Interior Worlds has an objective. Its shadow monster man has a quota. Anemoiapolis is a lot more confusing and mazelike, letting players get lost in the myriad spaces (and even waste time in neverending mini-golf). It’s apples and oranges. The only connective tissue is that original promise of exploring virtually-rendered, 3D liminal spaces. Both succeed in different ways, but neither captures the soul of exploring these alien spaces between worlds.
In a lot of ways, Anemoiapolis is more of a journey through the void; traversing arbitrary, dreamlike spaces; alien, empty architecture that is only formally human in lack of intent and/or purpose. Interior Worlds instead feels like a haunted house. Its environments take inspiration from popular “liminal space” images, although there is a presence lurking within these corridors that imbues these worlds with a dark undercurrent.
Both games are comparable in length, although the most significant difference is the “entity” that inhabits each. Players will encounter the shadowy “entity” of Interior Worlds frequently, either stalking from a distance, scuttling into the many tunnels it leaves behind, or remaining idle before vanishing into thin air. Interior Worlds nails its atmosphere; in contrast to Anemoiapolis’ alien spaces, Interior Worlds’ levels feel as if they’re real, lived-in places. The absence of life feels much more threatening. It’s as if everyone had disappeared suddenly. There are clues, moments of environmental storytelling, but never a complete picture.
There’s only one instance in Anemoiapolis where the player is implicitly threatened – a brief chase sequence through a bathroom maze – but we never see what’s chasing us. We’re only running from what we assume might be there. We catch glimpses of a shadowy entity in the sprawling, underground malls thereafter, but rarely. Its presence is much less apparent, which makes its brief appearances all the more unsettling.
Interior Worlds has an objective. Its shadow monster man has a quota. Anemoiapolis is a lot more confusing and mazelike, letting players get lost in the myriad spaces (and even waste time in neverending mini-golf). It’s apples and oranges. The only connective tissue is that original promise of exploring virtually-rendered, 3D liminal spaces. Both succeed in different ways, but neither captures the soul of exploring these alien spaces between worlds.
beautiful game with a balance of creepiness and relax that little games can achieve.