I still have Nextfest on my mind and it was tough trying to figure out what game I wanted to talk about this week and I settled on a spooky game. I rarely play horror games because I just don’t prioritize getting scared. Spooky games usually rank last when playing a game, but because I haven’t played one in a long time I figured I could push one through this week.

I played a game about fixing stuff at the bottom of the ocean. This week is Cold Abyss: Director’s Cut

Cold Abyss: Director’s Cut is apparently a horror/exlporation game from [notes.] and Neon Doctrine. The game is set to be released for the PC sometime in the future.

Cold Abyss is about a guy sent down to the bottom of the ocean to fix cables.

THAT’S IT

The demo offers up some complimentary vague conversations between characters while you take an elevator to the bottom of the ocean and before you know it you are ready to listen to heavy breathing and walk around an empty, black ocean floor looking for cables to fix up. You have the mandatory WASD to move, a light jump, and a flashlight to help you see into the abyss.

The flashlight sucks and then the anxiety sets in.

Cold Abyss takes players on an atmospheric journey. There is nothing but the intense sound of the protagonist’s breathing and a faint static that plays in and out every time a cable to fix is near. I swear that I saw things in my peripherals but it ended up being nothing. Cold Abyss has a large area to explore and some avenues can lead players into some weird moments that highlight the game’s world and the story it’s trying to tell.

I walked into a flesh cave I think.

There is something way scarier when a game has that drab PS1/PS2 look. It makes it more difficult to pinpoint what the hell you are walking up to in the dark. When things get weird in Cold Abyss, they get even weirder with the art design choice.

There’s got to be something said for a game demo that really hammers in the “totally alone, but feels like being watched” vibe because that is all that I felt playing this game. The sounds of swishing through water, the sound of borderline panicked breathing (from both me and the protagonist) and the static sounds when approaching cables that need to be fixed is just pain haunting.

So far, so good. The premise is fine, though there is really not much else to do other than wander around and fix cables, but I think that if it is priced correctly, Cold Abyss is perfect for a Spooky Short Story. The feeling of being alone underwater is absolutely perfect. It already has people who are Thalassophobic totally terrified and those who are afraid of being alone hits right in the sweet spot.

I was anxious the whole time and I laughed when the demo was done and I thought to myself “There was nothing there, why was I so afraid?” I think that makes a spooky game so good.