The 18th Attic [REVIEW] – Cats, Cameras, and Creepy Loops 

If you’ve been hanging around the indie horror scene lately, you know that ‘anomaly hunting’ has effectively become its own sub-genre, and one that I’ve actually found myself enjoying quite a lot. I’ve watched security cameras, walked down infinite subway corridors, and inspected endless hallways, and now The 18th Attic has thrown its hat into this very crowded ring, with a dusty, clutter-filled attic. And honestly? While it doesn’t reinvent the wheel, it manages to be a genuinely creepy ride. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

The premise is classic loop horror, with players trapped in an eerie attic where things just aren’t quite right. As you navigate the loop, the objects scattered around tell a story – specifically, a romance that built between the protagonist and his partner, Emily. You piece together how they built their life, but because this is a psychological horror game, it’s obvious that something went tragically wrong. Is the story particularly original? No, not really, and it’s certainly not going to blow your mind with deep philosophical questions, but it did a decent enough job of keeping me invested in the journey to see how it all ended. 

The core gameplay loop is familiar but effective: you have to spot differences in the environment… so far, so ‘anomaly hunting’, right? However, your primary tool here is a Polaroid camera. If you spot an anomaly, you take a picture of it – get it right, and the anomaly is ‘identified’, allowing you to climb the ladder to the next loop safely. But there’s a catch: film is limited. If you snap a photo of a perfectly normal lamp, you waste a cartridge, and if you run out of film, you can’t identify anomalies, meaning you’re effectively a sitting duck. It adds a nice layer of risk management to the game, wondering whether you should take a shot if you’re not 100% certain of an anomaly and risk wasting film, or do you ignore it and risk your health instead? 

And risking your health is a real threat, because if you miss an anomaly and try to climb that ladder, you get attacked. It’s a harsh penalty that deducts health (which can result in death), though the game is merciful enough to provide medicine and checkpoints so it isn’t overly punishing. There is a genuine sense of relief when you climb up those stairs after not spotting anything and you don’t get attacked though… it’s validation that you were right, and the room was actually safe. Because, like all good games in this genre, sometimes the trick is knowing when there isn’t an anomaly at all. 

“The 18th Attic serves up a satisfying slice of paranormal investigation that fits right in with the current wave of anomaly-hunting horror.” 

The 18th Attic offers two game modes: Story and Chase. They share the same gameplay loop, but Chase mode introduces a hostile presence that actively hunts you down, faster sanity drain, and some exclusive anomalies. While Story mode is great for soaking in the atmosphere and seeing the tale through, Chase is definitely the way to go if you want suspense. And believe me, hearing a monster pursuing you while you’re frantically trying to frame a photo of a moving chair is a great adrenaline rush. 

Speaking of sanity, there is a sanity meter that ticks down as you play, leading to the likes of screen distortions and bugs crawling across your vision. The solution to this is arguably the game’s best feature: your cat. You have a customizable feline companion that you can pet to restore sanity. It’s a cute addition that softens the horror, though I felt it was a bit underutilized mechanically. Sanity rarely felt like a threat because I could pet the cat on every floor (well… except one floor, but I’ll let you discover why yourself), whilst it would have been cool if the cat had more utility, maybe hissing or looking in the direction of an anomaly to give you a subtle hint. animals are supposed to see things we can’t, so this could’ve really added to the game’s immersion. 

The anomalies themselves are a mixed bag of subtle, obvious, and ‘change of underwear required’, with the developer doing a good job of implementing and balancing them. Some are sinister enough to make you jump, while others are just unsettling. There are some great scares that trigger right when you take a photo too – one moment involving a missing wedding dress really caught me off guard, whilst seeing a figure peeking at you from behind an object always left me wondering what the hell was even going on. My only minor gripe is that I wish the scares showed up in the developing polaroid itself, which would have been a cool, albeit unessential, stylistic touch. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

However, whilst I’ve had a good time with The 18th Attic, the game isn’t without its imperfections. Because it takes place in a small environment, fatigue sets in quickly – even with the game’s short length (it took me around 90 minutes to beat it on my first playthrough), I did start to tire of seeing some of the same things over and over again. I also ran into some technical frustrations. You have to be weirdly specific with your photography – at times, an anomaly was clearly in the frame but the game refused to recognize it. I also encountered a glitch where an enemy blocked a path, making damage unavoidable, and another where film cartridges wouldn’t reload if I wasn’t holding the camera. There was nothing completely game-breaking at all or that made The 18th Attic a bad experience, but small annoyances that could be ironed out. 

Developer: Steelkrill Studio 
Publisher: Steelkrill Studio 
Platform(s): PC (Reviewed) 
Website: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3403660/The_18th_Attic__Paranormal_Anomaly_Hunting_Game/