This sidescrolling horror RPG about being trapped in a nightmare is like Amnesia crossed with Deathloop

GamesHorrorThis sidescrolling horror RPG about being trapped in a nightmare is like Amnesia crossed with DeathloopWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Moonless Formless)

Withering Rooms

I like to speculate but I don’t know why there’s nearly a dozen new horror games on Steam every week, not counting the extremely low-effort entries. But I do know that Withering Rooms enters a crowded indie horror market. And despite ticking a lot of horror cliche boxes, it manages to be interesting all the same. It’s set in an ailing Victorian-era mansion which has devolved from coal baron’s home to cholera hospital to mental asylum. I reckon horror games don’t always need to be set in filthy old mansions, but I may be in the minority.

Withering Rooms messes with the screwed-up mansion formula just enough to interest me, though. Protagonist Nightingale has fallen afoul of an especially nasty phenomenon affecting the mansion, namely, she’s become stuck in a dream. It’s not a nice dream: it re-imagines the mansion as a stomping ground for all manner of accursed wraiths and psychos. Add to that surreal premise a wry take on 19th century period drama severity, and Withering Rooms' tone is appealingly askew.

(Image credit: Moonless Formless)

Withering Rooms

Yes, Withering Rooms has—brace yourself—roguelite elements. I didn’t hold this revelation in my back pocket to trick you: it’s more that its handling of death isn’t as punishing or annoying as most proper roguelites. Upon death you’ll lose most items, but crucially, not key items, nor the armor you’re wearing. And despite the mansion’s layout always shifting, it’s easy to make your way around. After finding important key items, passing the first hour of the game takes about 30 seconds on respawning.

(Image credit: Moonless Formless)

Withering Rooms

It’s fun to make a lot of noise, attract a room’s weirdos towards a door, pass through it, place a hex on the door, and then watch them perish. But using magic spells raises your “curse” meter, which is similar to sanity meters in a lot of other horror games. The higher your curse level the creepier the world becomes, and the more densely populated with foes it gets, and the more likely you are to die.

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