This is such an odd little thing. It's tags mark it as a Survival Horror, Metroidvania, and a Souls-like. It is, categorically, none of those things. In order to be survival horror, it must principally deliver on the foremost aspect: Survival. This game doesn't have any of that, really. Sure, you have limited ammo, but it restocks per every checkpoint you get to so it never feels like something you have to conserve. Likewise for healing, for grenades, for literally everything. There was no real "should I fight, or should I run" to speak of since there was never any motivation (intentionally) not to. So, what about it being a Metroidvania? Well, it's true that you do backtrack, and there is all of one "ability" so to speak which allows you to access new areas in the form of the climbing gear - equipment, I should add, adds nothing to the core gameplay and thus functions little more than a generic "key" would - but this is where the similarities between the game and the marketed genre end. You do, also, get all of one additional gun after the first acquired handgun (correct me if this is incorrect and I missed something), but this doesn't really do anything new for you in terms of how you interact with the world or opening up new areas. It is a Metroidvania in the loosest sense of the word. To be a Metroidvania, you need to do more than just have a sprawling map, to abilities are a core aspect of this: just one doesn't cut it, especially one that fails to deliver any real gameplay element beyond opening the proverbial door. Finally, there is the infamous Souls-like tag which infects every game from 2016 onwards, like a bunion. In this respect, the game has a dodge mechanic and it is incredibly atmospheric. Although this atmosphere, I would argue, shares very little with the likes of that which is generated by the Souls games in particular. I find it's atmosphere to be more reminiscent of something like Silent Hill, more than anything - a compliment in itself that I hope is taken severely: it is the atmosphere of this game that I foremost want to highlight after I get done here. All of this is to say that it is none of the genres it suggests it is. And yet, I do understand why they're suggested.
At it's core, this game is a horror-action and very little else. It does have a focus on exploration, but that exploration is rewarded with very little in the way of new content - you'll be getting the same stuff over and over again: to squash bug here, you squash a bug there, you pick up some rifle ammo and a new health kit to add to your total stock that'll get restocked at every save-point (which, by the way, I might add you can return to at any moment from the start menu, divorcing itself even further from the survival aspect since there's a safe-haven travelling with you wherever you go); there is very little to be gained from the exploration beyond the most basic, principled of traditional "power-ups" in video games. This isn't Elden Ring's Exploration™, this is closer to Super Mario 64's exploration©. Which isn't, by any means, a bad thing, it's more-so just something to be said about expectation more than anything. The action element of this game is, unfortunately, kinda clunky. I really like the idea here of being able to essentially "perfect dodge" that then allows you to perform a stronger, focused attack of whichever weapon you choose that can, otherwise, only be performed by standing perfectly still, but the feedback on these attacks feels lacking, especially on the knife attack, there's really no feedback on it at all that just makes it feel kinda bland and unresponsive to use. Going back to what I said about survival, too, there really isn't much reason to not engage with them EXCEPT for the fact that it just isn't really fun to engage with them. Because of the constant restock of ammunition, most of the time there is very, very little reason to feel the urge to conserve it and so most encounters end up with you just using the two guns on most things, and even then, only when you have to because the elevator is inaccessible with "enemies nearby" like a minecraft bed as there is no reason otherwise to do so. It isn't especially fun, they don't drop anything - the only time where it becomes relevant are when the game forces you to do so, and the fact that it DOES force you to do so feels like they knew this.
But, you know what? Despite all of that, I still think this game kind of bangs, y'know? The atmosphere that this game manages to create is really, really nice. It never really felt especially scary to me, there were a few moments where I was creeped out, but, more than anything, this game inspires a certain sense of mindless awe. The tower itself feels the most impressive, to me. That likeness I mentioned earlier to Silent Hill is by no mistake, from the very first moment you'll understand why: the fogwork here is stunning. The use of it to shroud the enemies in this dense mist with nothing but their silhouettes peering through as you get closer and realise how little there is of this creature BUT it's silhouette is something that I find truly incredible. The contrast between grey and the sudden pops of pinks are also incredibly nice, and I wish it leant into this contrast a little more, using colour as a means to present this idea of an "other" throughout. The music - that which isn't ambient - is also a nice touch. The save points remind me a lot of 'The Evil Within's use of Claire de Lune: the use hear of Saint-Saen's 'Danse Macabre' here has a nice poetic irony to it in how much of a comfort it became to listen to, hearing its melody in the distance with that pop of pink fire peering out of the nebulous vase through the dense, unapologetic fog. But the highlight for me is the end of the game. As the credits role we get 'Pavane Pour Une Enfante Défunte' and it is here that I find that everything ties itself together perfectly. The game wears its inspirations on its sleeve, listing them explicitly in the credits and within the text itself from Fleming's Piranesian role, to the very title of the game but, in all of that, I find that the most striking thing is how this impossible labyrinth, this dense fog, these creatures boring their way through the density of its opaqueness, almost becomes a comfort. By the end of it all, I elt subsumed by the fog, just one more silhouette meandering through. Erin, her last words, "Someday, I will get out of here" but do I even want to, anymore? The game has something here, it has the heart, it has to vibe - its worn, sleeveless, in the statues that arise in every ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ hallway, looming down upon you. So, while this review might come across as critical, I want it known that it isn't. Everything here is still true, but they're also so ironable: these are no wrinkles that can't be smoothed out later on (granted, this specific game seems to be getting no updates anymore, but that's fine), what's important to me, most of all, is that this world is a world. It belongs to someone and now, I fear, it belongs to me. Or, I belong to it.
