Eclipsium [PC] | REVIEW

Believe me, you’re realize in the first few minutes of playing that Eclipsium certainly isn’t your usual horror walking-sim fare. This first-person experience trades jump scares for something stranger and more unsettling, pulling you through a roughly three-hour journey of bizarre landscapes and cryptic imagery. It’s undoubtedly unique and it won’t be for everyone, but believe me, it’ll certainly stay with you after you beat it.

Check out some screenshots down below:

If the screenshots don’t give it away, the first thing that grabs you in Eclipsium is its visuals. Eclipsium’s world is dark, macabre, and undeniably beautiful, with a heavy pixelation filter giving every scene an old-school dreamlike texture that helps make the game look both distinct and familiar at the same time. There’s something magnetic about wandering through its surreal landscapes and never quite knowing what you’ll find next, with its gorgeous aesthetic continually inventive, strange, and, most importantly, tantalising to look at.

The story, on the other hand, is a little tougher to grasp. You wake up in a hospital and find yourself giving up pieces of your body while chasing a mysterious woman through collapsing worlds… yeah, weird, but you can get on board early on. Beyond that, however? Eclipsium communicates almost entirely through visual cues and symbolism, making for a tale that’s interesting and haunting, but also so abstract that finding the meaning of it all can be a little tougher. Maybe I’m not clever enough to piece it all together, but the vague, trippy narrative left me more curious than satisfied.

“Eclipsium might not deliver constant thrills or an easy to follow narrative, but it more than earns a look for its gorgeous visuals and surreal atmosphere.”

Like a lot of these walking-sim style titles, gameplay mostly revolves around exploration with a sprinkling of puzzles and light platforming thrown in for good measure. When the puzzles click, they’re clever – especially with some of the cool little things that Eclipsium’s world has to offer. But they can also feel cryptic, solved less by a flash of insight and more by fiddling around with the game’s mechanics until something works. I generally enjoyed them, yet I’ve seen more rewarding enigmas in similar titles.

Movement is also deliberately slow, and with no dialogue or narration to fill the silence, certain stretches can drag a little. There’s also not much incentive to stray from the main path, with Eclipsium a linear experience that tends to keep you going in one direction – despite environments begging to be explored, hidden secrets are rare and curiosity is rarely rewarded. It’s intentional in design so it’s hard to see it as a massive flaw, but with the world looking as alluring as it does, it’s hard not to want to see more of it.

Check out some screenshots down below:

Still, whilst it has its flaws, Eclipsium’s atmosphere goes a long way in making it a very memorable experience. It’s not a conventional horror walking-sim, and instead of sudden shocks that are on the nose, it builds a steady sense of discomfort that’ll leave you on your toes as you wonder what oddity you’ll encounter next. I’ll admit, I usually prefer a more traditional scare, but the change of pace here was refreshing, and with so many bizarre yet exhilarating moments to encounter – which I won’t spoil here, don’t worry – it’s easy for the game to linger in the memory based purely on how unique and different it feels when compared to anything else. As an aesthetic journey, Eclipsium is hard to fault, with the combination of oppressive industrial hellscapes, eerie body horror, and moments of unexpected beauty making simply being in its world rewarding enough, even IF the gameplay doesn’t always quite match up.

Developer: Housefire
Publisher: Critical Reflex
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed)
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/2419670/Eclipsium/