Iron Lung is an indie horror game that was developed by David Szymanski. It features minimalist gameplay and a unique type of horror that feeds into the player’s sense of dread.
The indie horror gameIron Lung was released just last March, and has since garnered many positive reviews. Players particularly enjoy the title’s atmosphere and sound design as they both add to the immersion. They also applaud the title for its unique gameplay, making for a short but sweet horror game experience.
Blind Navigation in an Ocean of Blood
The Steam horror game is set far into the future, after an event known as The Quiet Rapture. During this strange occurrence, every known star and habitable planet disappeared from the universe, leaving only the space stations, spaceships, and the people inside them. To survive, the remaining people had to search for resources on the universe’s barren moons. One of these moons had an ocean of blood, and the survivors sent a convict — the player — to explore its depths.
Unfortunately, the submarine provided wasn’t built to navigate the depths of the horror game ocean. To fortify its interior, the player was placed inside the vehicle before it was welded shut. The only window also had to be closed to hold against the water pressure. Thus, the only way the player would be able to see the outside of the submarine was by taking photographs with a primitive camera attached to the front of the vehicle.
The Creeping Dread of Iron Lung
When the game starts, the player is shoved into the tiny interior of the submarine, squished in further by the overhead pipes and the navigational tools they’ll need to figure out. There’s no way of seeing outside, so they can only estimate their position with the submarine’s positioning tracker, which displays X and Y coordinates as well as what direction the vehicle is facing. The player must then cross-reference these figures with the map provided to them. Once the player gets the hang of these controls, it’ll become easier to explore the blood ocean, taking photos of the specified locations.
This is when the unease sets in. With the player no longer fussing about how to get from Point A to Point B, they’re free to mull about the situation they’re in. Currently, the player character is at the bottom of an alien ocean, in a submarine that’s barely stable, and likely surrounded by dangerous aquatic creatures. Despite this, they have no way of knowing where exactly the danger lies, except through the camera, which displays the outside world at a delayed rate.
The game taps into the player’s fear of the unknown and ramps it up. By limiting the character’s perspective, Iron Lung increases the tension. Pair that with the horror game’s excellent ambient sound design, and it’s easy to push players into a sense of dread. Moreover, the payoff is worth it. There’s genuine fear when the camera picks up on something that might be alive. Even then, there’s nothing the player can do to fight off the strange creatures as they’ve likely already moved once the screen displays the photograph.
Despite having a short playtime of less than an hour (depending on how quickly the player progresses), Iron Lung delivers an effectively scary experience. The dark and grimy aesthetic, the haunting sound effects, and the unique gameplay all add to the game. And these elements combined force players into a constant state of uneasiness, emphasized by a couple of well-timed jump scares. All that said, Iron Lung is definitely a horror game worth playing.
Iron Lung is available now on PC.