Ever since I played Lorn’s Lure, I had wondered if the developer would be making anything else, and if it would be set in the game’s world. Lorn’s Lure had such a bizarre, mysterious world, and right when I booted up this week’s game, I saw that it was going to be. Now I just have to cope with being scared for a moment.

This week is Meganaut

Meganaut is a third-person horror game from Rubeki Games. I think it’s a little too far out to give any more information.

There is something about underwater horror games that makes me more hesitant to play them, but I like Rubeki games, so I decided to jump in. Play as a scavenger on a megastructure named The Habitat, who is currently looking for your friend Seija, who has disappeared deeper into the megastructure. Pretty standard horror game introduction as you delve deeper into less scavenged, less hospitable sections of the megastructure, looking for your friend. There are those helpful horror game flashbacks to iron out some story notes and raise more questions as to why Seija went further down.

As noted above, the underwater theme makes for the perfect spooky game. The lighting inside the demo section of the megastructure is so dim, which calls for a little orb that lights the way above your head. Even then, the orb doesn’t really highlight much, making the environment still pretty eerie. The PS2 style graphics also do not help anything as they obscure objects in the distance, making relevant items, upon closer inspection, are just piles of crap.

Meganaut had me spooked the entire 15 minutes I played the demo.

The characters’ breathing is captured and is so loud that I could not even think. There is a slightly rushed feeling to the sound that questions if the character knows something is going to happen and when something did happen, it got me good.

Environmental storytelling is always a plus.

True to Rubeki Games game design, Meganaut allows the player to explore large areas and gather as much information as they can about the world. Computer terminals litter the area to both guide the player in the correct direction and to inform the player about the whereabouts of your friend.

Movement is pretty standard. WASD moves the diver and Q/E to ascend and descend. The space bar is reserved for interacting with items and such. I imagine that the game will have items and such that will have buttons mapped, but so far it is just the standard layout.

So far, so good, on the Meganaut front. I liked the story and world of Lorn’s Lure, and I am excited to see Rubeki engage more with this game. The environment is spooky and mysterious, the gameplay is tight, though a little slow, and it is still fun to float around.

I’m excited about this one.