Take everything you know about survival horror, add breathtaking 2D Anime visuals, point-and-click gameplay, serve it cold with squishy, bloody entrails, and you have The White Chamber by developer Studio Trophis. The White Chamber is not your standard breed of game. It uses a form of psychological horror not found in today’s genre.
You are given very little to work with when your adventure first begins. As a nameless female who awakens in a high-tech coffin, you begin to explore the small room you were stored in. As you begin to explore you realize this game is not your average fare. A control panel is the only thing accessible at this point, and when activated, it asks you questions like, “Do you know where you are?” and, “Are you ready?” Telling the console ‘No’ to ‘Do you know where you are?’ opens the walls to expose the vastness of space. You’re instantly given the impression that you’re alone.
Once you have answered the console’s questions, a door opens allowing you to exit the room. This is where the real adventure begins. The first room is dark, grungy, with dried blood smeared everywhere. A darkened console sits in the center of the room with two doors that sit on either side. Highlighting everything in the room with the mouse pointer is the best way to discover new things. The pointer turns into a fist when something useable is discovered, so there is no guess work involved. Like many games of this nature, plan on spending hours traveling back and forth to solve a puzzle. The beauty of this is the very nature of how it is all presented to you. Each room will literally play mind games with you. One room in particular — the sleeping / showing quarters — happens to be the most puzzling room in the entire station. A shower mechanism sits atop a large platform; unused beds sit inside the walls; dried blood adorns the room from ceiling to floor. There is also another door on the opposite side of the room. Entering this door leads to a surprise; you find yourself on a serene beach with ocean waves gently lapping and a thick jungle barring your way from exploring. Returning to the sleeping/showering quarters leads to another surprise; the other door is missing! TWC is full of unexpected surprises like these.
The fright factor is also constant throughout. The moody atmosphere and creepy sound track keeps you on the edge of your seat while you explore the station. The grotesque imagery that shocks you unexpectedly is nothing short of H.R. Giger here folks. We’re talking twitching, bloody masses of unidentifiable masses with teeth gnashing about, attached to chunks of red, fleshy residue that clings to walls. Hellish figures seizure, demonic imagery runs rampant, and immoral acts are the norm. The things you see are so ‘out there’ in the realm of imagination they are masterfully done. Imagine, if you will, being shocked to see a twitching, fleshy body inside the Station’s disposal system. The disposal system is a large tube attached to a network of pipes that drains waste from the system. By activating the disposal system you force the body into the network of tubes, crushing the body into a bloody, mangled mess, only to clog the system in the process. A pipe at the end breaks lose and you discover that an arm has caused the system to malfunction. Using an axe you find earlier in the game, you hack the arm off. As you can tell, TWC is not for the faint of heart.
Some rooms will repeat more than once and this may cause some confusion. It’s important to pay close attention to these rooms because an item might appear where one didn’t exist before. Sometimes something more shocking may appear, so be on your guard during these sequences.
You can also die in this adventure so don’t think you’re invulnerable. If you happen to meet your end, you are greeted by a short animation of yourself dying in that particular manner. The animation quality is fantastic. It’s obvious that Studio Trophis worked very hard on this title.
Developer Studio Trophis did a fantastic job on TWC. There is high-quality voice acting for the main character (Voice Actress Susan should be commended for a job well done), and it truly compliments the atmosphere. The feeling of urgency, the shock value, intuitive gameplay, and the story with many twists make TWC a must-have title for PC. Check it out today!
You can visit Studio Trophis’ website for details: http://www.studiotrophis.com/site/projects/thewhitechamber
Mike ‘STGuy1040’ Pittaro
