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A Low Poly Atmospheric Experience – Unsorted Horror

1K View2023-08-23

Five super atmospheric minigames in which each of them are inside a different disc, transporting the player to the mythical 90s. This is not the main premise of Unsorted Horror, it’s in fact the first image that we have of this experience produced in its entirety by the hand of Mike Klubnika, a solo dev who exposes his imagination through experimental games. If you’re curious after playing the Unsorted Horror episodes, visit their itch.io page.

With no connection to each other, these episodes are marked by their aesthetics and similar gameplay, where the player always assumes the role of a character and is confronted with various objects and tasks to complete. The graphics resemble the graphics of PS1 titles, making use of models and a low poly environment that somehow screams the charm of that time. Even having Horror in its title, in practice there are bizarre moments and an atmosphere of tension without ever reaching the climax of horror.

The episodes do not have a specific order in which they are played.

The Other Side

A gate, a metal cutting equipment and various tools scattered around a garage. Goal? Cut the gate to the other side of this closed room.

In this episode the player will have to work their way to get the cutting equipment operational. Insert the battery, insert the tip that allows you to cut the gate, and so on. Eventually, there will be a need to change the battery, change the oil, among other mechanical activities to get to the end. For this, the player will have to use the specific tools for each occasion, speed, and dexterity to open the specific location of each point of the cutting equipment.

The first impression you have is that it is in fact a simple task, you can take as long as you want, because you always need a period of adaptation to new tasks. The second phase is what complicates and mixes things up since there is a maximum time of 5 minutes to carry out all the mechanical activities and finally open the gate, which precipitates the player into moments of tension.

Control Room Alpha

In charge of manoeuvring a hook that allows objects to be moved, the objective will be to put together a set of some kind of test tubes to end the work shift. However, things get a little more sinister with the appearance of giant spiders. Simple controls, with a single press of the mouse button to control the hook just like the previous experience.

Carbon Steel

In this episode things get a little more complicated. The objective will be to place the correct sedative for the presented monster. For this, the player will have at his disposal a computer and floppy disks that have essential information to print the necessary results and even a tool that allows repairing the camera that holds the animal/monster to be studied. Of all of them, it really took me the most time to adapt to their ideas.

Nothing is explained to the player, so it’s really necessary to explore and understand the mechanics as problems arise at hand.

Concrete Tremor

In a kind of Battleship game, Concrete Tremor is quite captivating, at first, because in the end I was equally confused by what had just happened. The idea I got is that it really isn’t necessary to make much sense of what happened in this episode, but rather the shock behind the imagery created in it.

Tartarus Engine

Undoubtedly the most captivating of all the episodes. I dare say that it could even be the glue that would hold each episode together in one single experience. There is a need to change the giant hard drive of an equipment that is next to a huge set of concrete containers. Harper, the character’s name, will aim to accomplish this task. After this task and joining your friends, it’s time to test the machine that allows you to jump between realities, reminiscent of the Matrix trilogy.

In short, Unsorted Horror as a whole feels like playing a PS1 demo
CD. It’s an adventure that can be played in its entirety in just under
an hour and is available in a free version on Steam. Why not embark on
an atmosphere of the past?

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