The 18th Attic is a psychological horror game where you play as a man trapped in the attic with your cat companion, armed only with a camera. Hunt down paranormal anomalies by taking their pictures and detecting their presence to unravel secrets of your past. Each photo unlocks a new memory.
Developed by: Steelkrill Studio
Played on: Steam
A review key was provided by Steelkrill Studio.
The indie horror game scene has found itself a new trend. The game genre has evolved significantly and streamlined into its own sub-genre, by taking a simple task which we are all familiar with, ‘spot-the-difference’, and turned it into the core game mechanic of this genre.
Synonymously known as anomaly hunting, players find themselves in an eerie and uncanny atmosphere whilst trying to identify something peculiar or odd. From watching through security cameras, exploring endless corridors, and now Steelkrill Studio’s The 18th Attic has contributed itself into this sub-genre. Although the game does not revolutionize the sub-genre, the game manages to indulge the players in the creepy and dusty filled attic with questionable novelties.
Since the birth and popularity of Silent Hills P.T., The 18th Attic takes the player in a classic loop, whereby climbing up the ladder to the attic begins the loop each time. This game tells an environmental narrative, in which the players inspect the objects in the attic to uncovers a story, particularly about the protagonist and his partner, Emily. The 18th Attic is a psychological horror game, so the story that pieces together entails some tragedy that occurred to them.
There is a mix in The 18th Attic’s gameplay. Yes, it is a typical endless loop and ‘anomaly hunting’ game but the mechanics to spot these anomalies comes in the form of a polaroid camera with limited film. It allows the players to manage the use of the camera wisely in capturing the anomalies by snapping a picture of them. This game mechanic creates a sense of paranoia (if poor memory skill) because if the players capture an ordinary object, a cartridge is wasted, and when the players run out of film and cannot take any pictures to identify anomalies, the players are practically sitting ducks.
So what is the penalty for missing out anomalies? Well, as the players climb up the ladder to progress the game, it harshly deducts their health (and can lead to death) to indicate an anomaly has failed to be identified. Not to worry though, the game is kind enough to set auto checkpoints and scatter supplies for replenishing films and health. So, there is a sense of relief when climbing up the stairs because it gives a sense of validation for the players if they spot the anomalies well or if there aren’t any. Like any ‘anomaly hunting’ games, the satisfaction comes when the players become familiar with the game’s tricks.
The 18th Attic has two game modes: Story and Chase. Both gameplays share the same gameplay loop but Chase has an active threat that stalks and hunts the player, depleting sanity faster than usual, and some unique anomalies to encounter. To put it simply, Story offers an atmospheric and immersive experience to uncover the tale. On the other hand, Chase amplifies the intensity and suspense of the gameplay.
Another cool mechanic in this game is the sanity meter, which drains down as the player is exposed to anomalies. The sanity drain affects the screen distortions and bugs crawling on the player’s vision. To remedy this, the game provides the best feature of all: the player’s cat. By petting the customizable feline companion, it restores the sanity meter. Having this feline companion definitely adds an eccentric feature to this horror game.
Steelkrill Studio did a pretty good job in balancing the appearance frequency of anomalies and scares. Their appearances were a good mixture of subtle to obvious scares when encountering them. But The 18th Attic would be what I consider a short horror game. At roughly 90 minutes of gameplay, its playability is limited and the tiny environment leads to fatigue for repetitive playthroughs.
However random the anomalies are, it does get tiring seeing the same cycle of anomalies and can be predictable after awhile. To improve on this matter, I think randomising a ‘fakeout’ scare could actually spice things up. Assuming the players failed to detect and capture the anomalies, perhaps navigating the players into a false sense of security and then give them a variation of scares would help keep players on the edge.
Generally, there are some features in the game that feel like they aren’t explored to its maximum potential. Other than having an occasional ‘blink-and-you-miss-it’ moment, being able to view the polaroid print and reveal a ghostly or a subtle oddity when viewing it would maximising the impact of the polaroid camera as the main mechanic.
One of the best features in this game is the feline companion, but it could have been expanded on by having our feline companion hiss or give some sort of hint to the players regarding the anomalies. Since in most cultures, they believe that animals can see things that people can’t.
In my playthrough, I also found myself stuck in a technical loop in the checkpoint system, where I had to reset the game after a checkpoint in which I was low in health, but the cycle didn’t spawn any medicine or film cartridge which caused me to get stuck in this cycle and eventually die.
But even with the game’s imperfections, The 18th Attic still delivers a bone-chilling atmosphere. I am a fan of the developer’s other games like The Voidness – Lidar Horror Survival Game, The Backrooms 1998 – Found Footage Survival Horror Game, and many others. I’m glad that The 18th Attic made it into their catalogue and hopefully it will introduce players to their other game selections.
Verdict: A Decent Addition To The Genre
Steelkrill Studio’s The 18th Attic is a decent anomaly hunting horror game with a mysterious tale to uncover. It’s nothing too extraordinary or revolutionary. I always enjoyed these kinds of games, especially as I feel that environmental storytelling is greatly underappreciated and widely overlooked.
This article was contributed by Qayyim.
