Hey PXTers! Everybody knows October is by far the scariest month of the year (what with Halloween and all), so I figured why not spotlight a bunch of scary games all throughout the month? Games have an incredible capacity to fighten, startle, and all around jibbly-ify their players, even more so than movies when done correctly, so really the best way to scare the poop out of yourself this Halloween season than playing a bunch of Spooky Games of Scary Terror? I'm going to try to focus on some lesser known games too, because nobody needs to read about Silent Hill for the thousandth time. I'm going to assume you've already played (or know about) Silent Hill... or Resident Evil, or whatever mainstream horror games are out there. Rule #2 is no Slender Man. Seriously, I'm sick of that guy. Well let's get to the meat of this thing, shall we?
Are your lights turned off? What was that noise? Maybe a spooky skeleton? Maybe it's right behind you? AHHH! Ok, just trying to set the mood for this volume of Spooky Games of Scary Terror. Maybe it would help if you listen to this the while reading the article. Got it set up? Good. BOOOO! Sorry.
Anyways, you know when you wake up on a space station all alone? Sucks right? Well, that's exactly what happens to you in the white chamber by Studio Trophis. You wake up from slumber in a glowing coffin without any memories of who you are and how you got there. That's not all though, as further exploration of your surroundings reveals that something has gone horribly wrong here, something you may or may not be responsible for.
I don't want to give the plot away because it's really pretty good, and uncovering the situation of our amnesiac protagonist is what keeps the game interesting. The game itself is a point and click adventure with some pretty solid puzzles but nothing too obtuse (although I have to confess that I did consult a walkthrough a couple of times). I love the art style of this game actually, the dark anime look of the characters and dark neon, almost Invader Zim-like quality of the backdrops is fabulous. There's even fully animated intros and endings! From a presentation standpoint, the white chamber is aces.
When you're making a horror game, presentation is like 90% of what makes it work. the white chamber carries with it this wonderful sense of mystery and dread throught the whole adventure that alone makes it worthy of the title of Spooky Game of Scary Terror. It's just well written, and doesn't feel the need to explain every little detail to the player. This layer of ambiguity is what makes the game work and seem appropriately spooky. It's not terribly long either, so it's perfect for one good night of space-based scares then you can pack it away for next Halloween, like that foam faux pumpkin you carved.
the white chamber isn't without its faults though, and the main one is the voice acting, specifically the heroine. It's terrible! She never sounds truly frightened of anything, hell, even all the gross stuff only manages to rile up what seems like a mild disgust from her. I appreciate the effort in having a fully voiced free indie adventure game, but I honestly think this game would be better without it...or at least with anybody else in the roll. The character is played by that "Rina-chan" girl that does every female character voice on every Newgrounds Flash animation ever (or at least used to). No offense to her, I'm sure her voice is fine for like, regular anime stuff, but in the dark world of the white chamber her saccharine high pitched "anime girl" voice doesn't work. At all. So when you play the game, either turn off the VA or ignore it, because to be bluntly honest, it sucks. Luckily the writing, game/puzzle design, and art make up for it.
Go pick up the white chamber from Studio Trophis here! Enjoy the spookytimes and leave some feedback in the comments! I'll be back soon with another Spooky Game of Scary Terror to keep you pants-fillingly terrified throughout the rest of October!
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