So I played Fingerbones recently - having no idea where it came from, it was just in my Steam Library unplayed for 6 years or so. I was unimpressed by the game itself, but I give it credit for atmosphere - then I noticed other reviews saying that Fingerbones was only the first game by this David Szymanski fellow, and that his later games were better? Sure, I'll check them out!

So here I am, today, and notice that Iron Lung is his most recent game, and... wait Markiplier is involved in a movie being made based on this, and this news was announced just a few days ago? Quite the coincidence so maybe this should be the next David Szymanski game to check out and see what's going on!

.... and it's about 40 minutes to a jumpscare. Let's cut to it. The gameplay is overwhelmingly boring to the point of almost feeling insulting. David Szymanski sure does enjoy his slow moving characters that just go back and forth to places while minor things change, huh?

There is quite a bit of backstory available to you if you want to force your way through the computer logs, and apparently there are other things to take pictures of that may be of interest, but I genuinely can't get past just how damn long it takes to do much of anything in what might be the most boring gameplay I've ever experienced.

The atmosphere just oozes through the game and makes for an incredible feeling experience, but I think it's safe for me to say that David Szymanski's games are just not my cup of tea.

I'll give it 2 stars because I genuinely don't like how much I dislike this game - I think it's safe to say I won't be checking out any more by this developer (no point in coming by just to tell other people that a thing they enjoyed was bad when I'm well aware I don't enjoy their style.)

I will see a movie about it, though! That genuinely could be pretty cool.


Update. A couple of days later and I can't stop thinking about this game. It obviously did SOMETHING right, so I'm changing my rating to 3 stars. You win this time, Mr. Szymanski