LogInDeveloper Piotr Kulla has previewed his upcoming claustrophobia-inducing game.
Over the past couple of days, a particular image has been going viral on Twitter, depicting an unfortunate spelunker finding themselves in perhaps the worst situation any cave explorer can ever face:
Responding to the original post shared by @beepboopsloane, Game Developer and Technical Artist Piotr "pirxOS" Kulla shared a short gameplay demo of his upcoming horror game, which was actually inspired by the image in question and can only be described as any claustrophobe's worst nightmare.
From what we can gather from Piotr's 15-second trailer and a single screenshot, the upcoming game, currently titleless, puts you in the shoes of a potholer who must crawl his way through a series of uncomfortably tight and dark underground tunnels. Instead of typical WASD controls, the game offers an uncommon movement system that requires you to pull different points on the main character's body for him to move forward and not get stuck.
The traditional health and stamina bars are instead replaced by a smartwatch that shows you the protagonist's heart rate and the amount of oxygen you have at your disposal, with my theory being that higher BPMs would make the oxygen deplete faster, thus giving you less time to escape predicaments if your character gets a panic attack.
With claustrophobia being one of the most common and unpleasant phobias (I mean, my palms are sweaty just from writing this article), and given that accidents involving spelunkers are, unfortunately, not unusual, the developer aims to approach the game with respect for real-life tragedies while also advocating for safety in diving and cave exploration.
"Some of you are concerned about making games inspired by tragic accidents and dangerous hobbies. I respect that, so to clarify: this game won't be based on any real accident. Unfortunately, there are too many tragic stories to get inspired," Piotr wrote. "Also, I will try to find a way to make this work as an advocacy for more safety while caving and diving. Stay safe."
At the moment, the game is in its early stages of development and doesn't yet have a dedicated page on any digital game store. As such, we highly encourage you to follow pirxOS on Twitter to stay updated on the project's progress.
Besides the claustrophobia simulator, Piotr is also working on FUMES, a Twisted Metal and Carmageddon-inspired vehicular combat game with charming PS1-style dithering and arcade-like intuitive gameplay. You can learn more and wishlist FUMES on Steam by clicking this link.
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