Anglerfish

Pandora's box must have opened. At least that's the impression you're left with when you look at the digital storefronts that are overflowing with scary and gory games. In short, it's a good time for fans of horror. But competition also means that horror games have to go the extra mile to stand out from the crowd. {Anglerfish} from Danish Professional {Villians} manages to do just that, as the game is full of surprises of the unpleasant, funny and, not least, brutal kind.

It all begins on a dark night in Mols Bjerge. Together with a group of friends, you attend a stag party at a gloomy and secluded bar, the whole group masked and dressed as Japanese schoolgirls. In short, there's plenty of horror tropes and a rather literal hell quickly breaks loose when the bar is invaded by bloodthirsty vampires. Your only way out now is through the basement and a series of creepy underground tunnels that wind like a poisonous snake beneath the East Jutland soil.

Despite the macabre elements, don't expect to be scared out of your pants. Jump scares are pretty much the only trick in the horror book that {Anglerfish} doesn't use, and with a third-person perspective from above, the brutal and disturbing enemies are mostly kept at a distance. Whilst the player is spared, our poor protagonist is not so lucky. The enemies are numerous and fast, and it can get a bit hectic at times, thanks to some heavy momentum-based controls. It's not {Hotline: Miami} as luckily it's not too difficult to send most vampires a few more layers down into the underworld with the help of your powerful and reliable shotgun.

Still, you will (as the game itself warns) bite the dust many, many, many times. And then there are the surprises. Enemies tend to appear in new places, puzzles you've already mastered suddenly change, and sometimes the game simply kills your character without you having the slightest chance of avoiding it. As a result, you have to start over many times - now armed with new knowledge that lets you get a little further than last time. But knowledge is pretty much the only thing you take with you. Unlike other roguelites who change your abilities or the environments to provide a unique experience each time, you'll always fight your way through the same narrow corridors and use the same weapon.

Initially, one might suspect that the many deaths are a way for the developer to artificially drag out the game. But the surprises are also of a positive nature. Much like {The Stanley Parable}, the player and their expectations are played with, and you never know what's around the next corner. I don't want to give too much away, but often the game surprises you with an absurd sequence, a sudden boss fight or even a temporary genre shift that you really, really didn't see coming. And even though {Anglerfish} often teases you, it never becomes downright malicious. New shortcuts open up all the time, and if you've been stuck for too long, you might get a power-up or the game will simply solve a puzzle for you automatically.

A complete playthrough takes about 3 hours and honestly doesn't leave you much wiser as to what on earth is going on. But it doesn't matter, because the game's story, which includes cannibals, psychological trauma and (probably) something to do with family grief, is more like a labyrinthine horror cabinet than a trip to the cinema. The game suggests two additional playthroughs, and while it's quite impressive how the developers manage to improvise from the same riff (the music is excellent, by the way), the additional playthroughs end up feeling somewhat longer than the first - even though they take significantly less time.

{Anglerfish} is definitely not for everyone. The game is a bit masochistic at times, and if you believe that games should be fun all the time, well, you should look for other experiences. If, on the other hand, you like games that surprise you and play with your expectations, this unique horror game, which retails for a reasonable £8.50, is definitely worth a try.