The masked protagonist must escape the city ravaged by disease, by any means necessary. Use stealth to scavenge food, or kill everything in your path. Nurture your mental health or descend into madness. How you survive is up to you.
The game tasks players with escaping a city ravaged by disease. Players must scavenge for resources, manage the protagonist's mental and physical health, and navigate the dangerous, atmospheric environments. Using stealth, players can avoid or confront the hostile creatures that roam the city. Combat requires careful timing and resource management, delivering a "souls-like" feel. The core gameplay loop of scrounging for supplies, managing stats, and cautiously exploring the world is central to the survival horror experience.
Players have a high degree of freedom in how they approach problems and challenges. Multiple endings and impactful player decisions indicate a depth of simulation and agency. Reviewers highlight the importance of nurturing the protagonist's mental health, as negative mental states can lead to different story paths or endings.
The game encourages thorough exploration, with new areas, sidequests, and secrets hidden throughout the world. Reviewers note "new content" that is "well-hidden" and requires "clever experimentation and puzzle-solving" to uncover. Discovering new narrative threads, items, and gameplay mechanics through exploration is a core part of the experience.
Reviewers praise the game's atmospheric presentation, including the retro pixel art style, cinematic camera, evocative sound design, and haunting musical score. A pervasive sense of loneliness, unease, and psychological horror permeates the gameplay, contributing to the immersive survival horror experience.