0
0
Reading time:4 minutes, 29 seconds
Horror comes in all shapes and sizes, and that of WildSphere Oxide room 104 thinks bigger isn’t always better. This self-published title takes cues from body horror and escape rooms to combine them in this neat, but short, horror puzzle pack.
Oxide Room 104 – It’s a bad damn room
Oxide room 104 was released on June 16, 2022 on all current consoles and PC. I love a good horror game because nothing has cooled me since then last longer. When I saw the trailer it really gave me Saw (the movie) vibes and I wanted to play it right away. So let’s open the door for Oxide room 104 and see what’s in it.
Gameplay
So after the intro where you, Matt, get knocked out at the gas station, you wake up in the bathtub of some dingy motel. You are naked, injured, confused and have absolutely no idea how you got there, or why your name seems to be written in blood on the bathroom door, what a mystery! Of course you want to get out, but it’s never as easy as opening the gate. So you find your clothes in the bathroom, take a pee, get a glimpse of Matt’s toddler (what?) and find a way out of the bathroom. PSA: Check the toilet bowl for clues before you pee, stay hygienic. So now that you’re dressed and confused, it’s time to find a way out.
With all your common sense you have to solve puzzles to move from one area or room to another. You will meet some grizzly miscreants along the way and you will find a gun. Use it sparingly though, as it will warn nearby half-bodies and you’re screwed. You are then treated to a lovely little cut scene where you have a bit of one-on-one time with a scientist. Usually you lose some fingers or an arm. As if you weren’t scared enough already. Then you’ll find yourself back in that dirty bathtub where the game started. This is essentially losing a life, and you’ll find that the more you die, the more of your name gets scrubbed off the bathroom door.
So you’re naked again, you feel worse from wear and tear, but you now have an idea of what’s happening. The trick of this game is that there is an order in which you have to do things and the more you die, the more you know. Brutally, every time you die, the environment around you changes. Whatever you do ultimately determines your end, whether you escape or not.
Finding yourself in a fight can come across as a little janky to say the least. You can carry things to health yourself, but more often than not you end up in the bathtub getting your leg chopped off because you couldn’t select them in time. Every fight takes place in locked rooms, so it’s not like you can even retreat.
It’s worth sticking to though. It’s a pretty short game with multiple endings that are all determined by the decisions you make.
Graphic & Audio
if Oxide room 104 Released 10 years ago, the graphics and animations would have been roughly equivalent to the course. The abandoned motel setting is great, but it lacks atmosphere. The grotesque isn’t grotesque enough, and the jumps aren’t bouncy enough.
Speaking of jump scares, this brings me to the horribly comedic voice acting coupled with a bad Irish accent. The acting is so bad it just makes you laugh when you should be hiding behind a pillow. For example, when you encounter a monster for the first time, you panic, right? Well, he says “sh*t” with so little enthusiasm and boredom you’d think the post office is on his favorite Manila envelopes instead of staring death in the face.
Lifespan
If you have four hours to spare, depending on your ability to solve puzzles, you can complete this. There are also four endings, again determined by your actions. So if you can put up with that voice acting again, there’s an incentive to keep playing to see them all.
Final Thoughts
Great ideas, sadly stifled by mediocre execution. Oxide room 104 came across a bit confusing at times, with no direction. There are some really good ideas here, but it feels and plays like a mid-life PS3 game. It is by no means a terrible game and is good for a few hours. I would have appreciated this more if it was played a little less cumbersome and if it looked a lot more bloody than it was.
Oxide room 104 gets the Thumb Culture Bronze Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received to write this review.
YouTube | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Disagreement | podcast
0 Comments