I’ve been to haunted mansions, lonely space stations, dark forests, and just about everywhere in the horror games I’ve played over the years, but I’ve never once been underwater. I love being scared in new places, so I’m really excited for any news I hear about Narcosis, a game about an industrial diver in a rough situation deep beneath the Pacific Ocean.
Drowning is a pretty scary idea all on its own, and the devs have run with that, as many of the aspects of the game play around with your oxygen levels. If you find yourself in stressful situations or exert yourself, you use more of your oxygen and bring yourself closer to suffocating. Besides death, there are other fun issues that come from a lack of oxygen such as blurred vision, distorted sight, and strain on your sanity. The latter one interests me the most as a fan of Eternal Darkness, as it’s been a long time since I played a game that had strange effects show up when I was going crazy.
What sort of effects are the devs planning for the game? We don’t have much to go on besides the trailer they put out, and that doesn’t show a whole lot besides the environments and some creatures flitting by. The ocean has some weird stuff in it to begin with, so I’m not exactly sure if something supernatural is going on since sea life can get pretty wild. Watch a special on it if you don’t believe me. Still, that shadow at the end of the trailer could mean that something creepy is going on in this place. Then again, is it just the effects of an oxygen-starved brain? How much of the story will be all in your head as you fight to get back to the surface?
I’m dying to know, and can’t wait for more details to surface after their appearance at GDC this month.
