Indie survival horror Monstrum arrives on Steam Early Access next week

After a successful Greenlight campaign last year, first-person survival horror Monstrum will be available via Steam Early Access from January 29th.

Monstrum combines the first-person avoid-em-up gameplay of games like Alien: Isolation and Amnesia with procedural level generation. The action (or, rather, lack of it - your main task is to run like hell and hide) takes place on a derelict ship at sea.

The Early Access version incluades two different monsters, which with their own behaviour and tracking methods, four different sections of the ship available to play through, and three potential escape routes. When the game is officially launched (currently expected to be in Q2 this year), that will grow to three monsters, five ship sections, and the addition of Oculus Rift support.

Both myself and Nic tried out Monstrum at EGX Rezzed last year, and while what we played was clearly in the early stages of development, we can confirm that playing the game with Oculus’ much-anticipated VR headset is genuinely panic-inducing. Gameplay is fairly simple: you’ll navigate your environment, picking up tools and trying to find your way to the exit. But the moment you first hear the creature stalking you, its heavy footsteps echoing through the corridors as it clangs its way across the metal flooring, things instantly become a lot more tense. And when the creature finally catches up with you (and trust me, it will), you’ll experience the same shock that you experience when Ellen Ripley suddenly meets her maker at the end of a Xenomorph tail.

If you’re interested in Monstrum, the Early Access version will set you back $14.99/ £9.99/ €12.50. That figure will rise upon the game’s final release to $17.99/ £11.99/ €14.99. You can check out the latest trailer and some screenshots below. Also, if you’re interested, the developer’s official website goes into additional detail about the development process, and the kind of the hurdles that the team has had to face when attempting to create an AI that can navigate procedural environments - as well as many other subjects.

Bio
Twitter
Latest Posts

Dale Morgan

Founder, Editor in Chief

When Dale isn't crying over his keyboard about his never-ending workload, he's playing games - lots of them. Dale has a particular love for RPGs, Roguelikes and Metroidvanias.