[REC] Paroxysm
Jen's Review
Paroxysm was a game that completely caught me by surprise.
I picked this one up as part of a bundle during the Steam Summer Sale, and if I'm being honest, I'd never even heard of it before. Because of that, I wasn't expecting much.
Boy, was I wrong.
This is the first horror game in quite a while that had me genuinely afraid to turn around.
The atmosphere in this game is absolutely incredible. From the moment things started getting creepy, I constantly felt like something was right behind me. Even when nothing was happening, I found myself hesitating before looking over my shoulder because I was convinced something was going to be there.
That's the kind of atmosphere I love in a horror game.
The game itself is fairly short, but it uses every minute wisely. It doesn't waste your time or drag things out. Instead, it builds tension almost the entire way through, and I spent most of the playthrough on edge wondering what was coming next.
It's been a while since a horror game made me feel that uncomfortable, and Paroxysm absolutely delivered.
Overall, I had a really great time with this one. It's another hidden gem that deserves far more attention than it's gotten, and if you're a fan of atmosphere-heavy horror, I highly recommend giving it a chance.
In fact... the very first thing I did after finishing the game was buy a copy for Kayla and make her play it.
Sorry, not sorry.
I sent it with all the love in the world.
If a game is good enough that my immediate reaction is, "Oh, Kayla has to experience this," that's about as strong of a recommendation as I can give.
Kayla's Review
So... Paroxysm actually pleasantly surprised me in the worst way, if that's a thing.
Jen decided to bless my library with this game (Jennifer.. we have beef. We forever have beef.) I didn't know what to expect going into it. This is a game that showed up on my suggested list multiple times but the trailer doesn't show much, so I was always skeptical especially because of the Steam reviews.
Honestly... this game was a GOODIE in my book. This is one of those games where I think the dev's goal was... less is more. And it works SO well because the atmosphere does all of the talking.
Seriously. The atmospheric tension the dev's created in this game in addition to the sound design. I mean it's chef's kiss. To be able to achieve the kind of fear where there aren't a ton of jumpscares but you have a player genuinely terrified to turn a corner, to turn around, to walk into the next room. I think that's something that's sometimes incredibly hard to do yet these dev's did it perfectly.
There isn't a ton of story here. It's very found footage vibes. So don't go into it expecting immaculate storytelling. But again, that certainly works in its favor because in addition to the atmosphere and sound design, not knowing what the hell is going on makes it that much more intense.
The graphics aren't anything crazy but they're not bad either. The controls are the basics, and everything ran super well for me while playing.
I don't want to give any spoilers so I'll leave it at this. Just give it a try. If you're someone who wants a random game that isn't spammy jumpscares, that's a quick but fun play... play it. If you plan to play on stream... play it. One super brief note is keeping in mind that it is a pretty dark game visually. If you do stream it, I would recommend turning the brightness settings up as much as you can so that your viewers can see what's going on.
But for real... just play it so you understand. There's only a handful of games that have EVER made me as terrified as this one did solely using atmospheric tension and solid sound design. We love when we fin one that does!
