I wish I liked Iron Lung more. So much of what it attempts, and what it does well, are horror themes and practices that I tend to love/scare me. Isolation, weird alien deepest lore that you aren't really meant to understand,, and general creeping dread of the unknown. I really like how it puts you in the shoes of this poor sod laboured with this creep-ass submarine, and I like the aesthetic and hook of having to take increasingly creepy pictures of a hellscape, bound to go wrong, to navigate it.
So, why don't I love this? It seems like an easy slam dunk, and yes - for the most part - it's executed quite well. There's some spookiness to the navigation, and the game does have one very, very good scare.
And I think a lot of my problem is with Iron Lung's contrivance. The Sub is such a perfect horror location idea that it kind of feels fake in it's own way. It is probably just me, but the whole layout of everything feels artificial, designed around horror factor, perfectly claustrophobic, perfectly making you wait for the picture, perfectly putting the controls on the other side of the sub. Considering you spend the whole game in it, I do think this takes a lot of out of the experience - for me, there's always this feeling that I am ultimately in a safe, controlled environment which I just can't shake.
I also think the pacing is just a tad too slow. The game only comes out about an hour long, but I think there's just a bit too much dead air in that time, and the navigation is sadly mostly just annoying, which again is one of those things that can take you out of the horror elements easily.
Outside of it's one big setpiece, I just don't think Iron Lung is scary. A lot of the subtle stuff just feels a bit off, and the frustration overtakes the horror for me.
What's most frustrating perhaps is that David Szymanski's Squirrel Stapler, despite it's silliness and surrealism, is a far, far scarier game than Iron Lung, that's better paced, has a frankly incredible final setpiece. Seeing the same dev just make a few mistakes with a premise that could have turned out something far better is the saddest part of the endeavour.
So, why don't I love this? It seems like an easy slam dunk, and yes - for the most part - it's executed quite well. There's some spookiness to the navigation, and the game does have one very, very good scare.
And I think a lot of my problem is with Iron Lung's contrivance. The Sub is such a perfect horror location idea that it kind of feels fake in it's own way. It is probably just me, but the whole layout of everything feels artificial, designed around horror factor, perfectly claustrophobic, perfectly making you wait for the picture, perfectly putting the controls on the other side of the sub. Considering you spend the whole game in it, I do think this takes a lot of out of the experience - for me, there's always this feeling that I am ultimately in a safe, controlled environment which I just can't shake.
I also think the pacing is just a tad too slow. The game only comes out about an hour long, but I think there's just a bit too much dead air in that time, and the navigation is sadly mostly just annoying, which again is one of those things that can take you out of the horror elements easily.
Outside of it's one big setpiece, I just don't think Iron Lung is scary. A lot of the subtle stuff just feels a bit off, and the frustration overtakes the horror for me.
What's most frustrating perhaps is that David Szymanski's Squirrel Stapler, despite it's silliness and surrealism, is a far, far scarier game than Iron Lung, that's better paced, has a frankly incredible final setpiece. Seeing the same dev just make a few mistakes with a premise that could have turned out something far better is the saddest part of the endeavour.