[Horror game review] Process: Silent Hill meets Myst...Aboard a Train?

It's nearly Halloween. The season for horror gaming is upon us. Every year I go to Gamejolt and check out their horror section to see what new, free indie horror games have been developed since last year. I generally do the same with horror films, allowing a year's time for new offerings to accumulate before I harvest them.

This habit has led me to discover some really incredible hidden gems. Diamonds in the dung heap, you might say. Indie horror is a huge landfill of Slender and Five Nights at Freddy's clones, a consequence of how easy Unity is to learn.

Nearly all simply involved exploring some dark maze-like environment strewn with generic props bought from Turbosquid, collecting some sort of items while you wait for the monster to find you. That can be fun if your standards are low. I will play literally any horror game, so mine were certainly low when I fired up Process for the first time.

What I found was something which defied my every expectation. Not properly in 3D, Process works very much like the later Myst games in that you can freely look around you, but you instantly 'warp' from place to place. The environments are pre-rendered and gorgeous examples of urban decay. The atmosphere is definitely the star of this game.

Far from still images, these pre-rendered, Google Street-view style bubbles have many layers to them with environmental animation and effects that really sells the feeling of being in a real 3D environment where your movement happens to be constrained.

Gameplay is that of a point and click adventure. You will experimentally poke at things. You will collect items. You will solve puzzles. All the while on the edge of your seat, unnerved by the surreal, oppressive environment. Is it a nightmare? Is it Hell? Is it a simulation you are trapped in? Each hint you discover of the logic underlying this place only raises new questions.

Every time you think you've seen all the game has to offer, you will be thrown off balance yet again. If you're like me it will leave you feeling hollow, off-kilter, and uncertain. This is what psychological horror looks like when done correctly. Process can be downloaded here. If you like it as much as I did, keep an eye out for the developer's upcoming VR game, Fabula.

If you liked this, let me know. I plan to make a series out of showcasing obscure horror gems like this one.

^{All images courtesy of Trainyard Interactive}