Catharsis - Horror

Perhaps Catharsis isn't the scariest game, but it most certainly is one of the weirdest and most confusing scary games I have ever played. It starts in complete darkness, with only a small bright light shining through a distant door. Once you go through that door, you enter a room. From there on it is all narrow stone corridors and doors. Besides the detailed explanation on how to move, open doors and pick up objects, in the beginning you have absolutely no idea what are you looking for or how the hell did you even get there. Graphics

The game is technically impeccable. High level of details, good interaction with 3D objects and also great sound effects. Perhaps not the most original idea, but the effect of 'passing out' form the players perspective was also done great. Not only that the screen frame changes colour from blue to red but even the picture becomes distorted and blurred. Very realistic. It is slowly becoming obvious that Unity is taking over the market and pushing Flash slowly aside, at least when it comes to horror genre. 35 MB sized file is moderate for this kind of quality, and as usual loading takes some patience but it is worth a wait.

Walktrough

The game is pretty much a no-brainer but it takes some exploring to figure out what is it about, because as I have already said, beginning doesn't offer any explanation. Although the game is not widely spread across the Internet (only a few sites besides crazyscarygames.com have it), youtube stars like Markiplier (with over 600.000 hits) have already made videos about Catharsis. Titles like 'Terrifying horror game', 'Indie Horror Showcase', 'Losing Sanity', 'Jumpscare Game', 'So confused' describe in short what this game actually is all about. If Markiplier's yelling is not too irritating for you take a look at his youtube video about the horror game Catharsis. If nothing else, he managed to find his way out in less then 20 minutes.

Author

The author of this game is Filip Moeglitch, polish indie developer (student) who calls himself 'Nirvan' on GameJolt site. Alpha version was uploaded there in May, and this is the final version from June 2014. This is his first independent project. Here on this facebook page you can see several good youtube gameplays from Catharsis.

What is it about

It took some research on the Internet but I came across some exclusive material which explains the gameplay.

The game is actually taking place inside the players mind, and the walls we see represent the state of his mind. While he is moving through the labyrinth of memories, he is entering rooms where he can correct past mistakes and bad decisions made previously in life. In time it becomes clear that the player is suspended in state of clinical death. So, the main hero is dying, and if he manages to correct his mistakes and win this game, he will get another chance at life.

Occasionally you will feel sick and that is when everything starts to blur and change shape. If you don't find the object from your memories which will bring back your strength, you lose conciousness and game throws you back at checkpoint.

The ultimate goal of the game is to find your way out.