Monstrum Review

*Contains Spoilers*

An Unique Procedurally Generated Horror Experience

Monstrum is a single player horror experience which utilizes procedural generation to make each playthrough unique and challenging. Stranded on a cargo ship at sea, you must collect components to repair one of several methods of transportation so you can escape. All the while, you must run, sneak, hide or fall victim to the monsters roaming the ship who definitely don’t want you to leave.

As you roam around the ship, you’ll find documents and recordings detailing the fate of the crew and the “specimens” they were secretly collecting, which are now hunting you. Each death is permanent so any progress you made collecting key items or preparing for your escape is gone. This can be incredibly frustrating at times and makes for an insanely challenging experience.

To make matters worse, procedural generation makes sure you’ll never find an item in the same place, so prepare to spend a ton of time roaming around below decks in an ever new environment searching for the precious resources you need to make your big escape. There are three options for making your getaway, and it’s up to you which you put the most time and resources into, as you will find key items for all three scattered about.

One of three possible monsters, each with unique tells and abilities, will hunt you throughout your run. Along with not knowing where items will be when you restart, you also won’t know which monster the game has picked for you until you encounter it. Players cannot harm the monsters, but merely slow them down, distract them, run or hide. With all of these unpredictable elements in play, players are in for a serious fight for survival.

Graphically, the game looks nice. The ship looks believable, though I feel it may be a bit too clean for having a monster running amok, killing the crew. The monsters are eerie and interact with the player in different ways, from loud stomps and lights flickering, to green goo on the walls and floor.

The sound design is effective in creating tension, but could be improved in certain situations. When monsters are near, it is sometimes difficult to determine where they are because their footsteps sound almost the same whether they are a floor above you, below you, or right down the hall. One monster also moves so silently, you may not hear it at all until it is too late.

My biggest criticism of the game has to be the fluidity of movement. For a game that relies so heavily on stealth, the player’s ability to hide is slow and clunky. There were too many instances in my playthrough where I am running from an enemy and need to open a door (which already happens very slowly), only to close the door and be swept back to the side I just came from. Crouching is also a slow process, so there were several times I was spotted by an enemy while waiting for my character to duck beneath a table or behind a crate. I found hiding under a bed to be the worst hiding spot, however, because of the lack of visibility. While hiding, the character is unable to turn their head and see monsters enter and leave the room, so you have to time things out carefully if you don’t want to be discovered.

Overall, Monstrum is a fun and challenging experience with creepy monsters and plenty of tension. Procedural generation and permadeath keep players on their toes, providing hours of replayability.

[Lady played Monstrum on PC with a mouse and keyboard]