Spot the Difference, Save Your Life?

The psychological horror genre has seen its fair share of innovation, with anomaly detection games becoming especially common in recent years. With so many of these games around, does The Anomaly Experiment offer enough of an unsettling twist on this genre to stand out from the crowd? Read on to find out!

Testing the Limits of Perception

Imagine being offered a chance at freedom, a light at the end of a very dark tunnel. For a life prisoner, this is the premise of The Anomaly Experiment: participate in a drug trial, enter a series of rooms, and identify what has changed between visits. Succeed, and your sentence is commuted. Simple! However, this simple yet unnerving setup immediately begs the question: can you trust your own mind when the very nature of reality seems to shift around you?

A Descent into the Unsettling

The core gameplay loop is straightforward: you enter a room, observe the layout and its contents, and upon re-entry, you must pinpoint the anomalies. These can range from subtle shifts in object placement to more bizarre occurrences, like actual ghouls wandering around in there with you (who, by the way, are perfectly capable of killing you in that very room, so you’ll need to watch out for those too). Once complete, you are presented with a screen atop a lectern of sorts, which lists potential anomalies that you may have spotted, and you simply answer yes or no as to whether or not you saw or heard any of them.

Despite being an interesting and often immersive premise, The Anomaly Experiment often feels disjointed, unfortunately. This is mostly in part due to the fact that rather than the game flowing from the main foyer into the room and then over to the lectern, you are instead presented with blank loading screens. As such, these remove you from the immersion and often briefly make you wonder what’s happening. For example, once you have left the foyer, entered the room, and then headed out of said room, you then walk into a darkened room that contains nothing beyond the particular piece of floor that you are standing on. Then the screen on the lectern is loaded, and you have to walk over to it from a fair distance away. Following that, once you have made your decision, you are then ejected whilst another blank loading screen prepares your re-entry into the main foyer once again. Once again, your character is spawned at a further distance away than is necessary, requiring ten steps (I counted) just to reach the main screen in the middle of it. Considering this happens every time you re-enter the foyer, which could be up to 24 times, this means that you could spend four minutes just walking unnecessarily. Loading the character in at a much closer point, say three steps away, would be a significantly better experience. Eliminating the blank loading screens altogether, in fact, would be ideal, because The Anomaly Experiment plays very nicely, and these blank loading screens only detract from the otherwise good experience.

There is a ticking countdown timer in the room, which activates the moment the door you enter from closes, and which adds a real layer of tension. However, the introduction of the aforementioned deadly threats elevates the stakes significantly. These entities require specific strategies to evade, adding a frantic element to what would otherwise be a purely observational task. Some might think that this is simply too much, as it’s hard enough to notice whether a vase of flowers is more to the left than it was last time, without adding on the constant fear of a literal monster chasing you too. However, this is part of what makes The Anomaly Experiment interesting as these threats have been added in at just the right level.

Failure to identify anomalies correctly costs you lives, and running out means a restart of the current room. Progression is room-based, with three distinct environments to navigate, each with its own set of challenges and a final task to complete the experiment.

Spotting Secrets and Surviving Threats

As with most games in this genre, the central mechanic revolves around keen observation and pattern recognition: you must meticulously scan each room, memorising details to effectively identify changes upon your return. The variety of anomalies keeps you on your toes, preventing reliance on any single strategy. The introduction of threats forces a shift in focus, demanding quick reactions and the application of specific countermeasures. Hiding to break line of sight with a pursuing mannequin or understanding the movement patterns of other entities becomes crucial for survival, and these additional features make for a more interesting experience overall compared to most other anomaly detection games.

The Anomaly Experiment offers two difficulty modes: Standard, the intended experience, and Hard, which introduces tougher challenges such as multiple active threats and reduced room timers, catering to those seeking a more intense ordeal. Permanent room unlocks provide a welcome sense of progression, allowing restarts from a previously completed room rather than forcing a full replay, which can often be a deterrent.

Setting an Ominous Atmosphere

While not pushing graphical boundaries, The Anomaly Experiment looks both good and believable, with the environments being detailed enough to make anomaly spotting a genuine task. The lighting and shadow play contribute significantly to the atmosphere, often obscuring details and creating moments of tension. (This is where your torch comes in handy!) One enemy type worth mentioning, the mannequins, are visually striking and immediately convey danger (let’s be honest – who isn’t freaked out by mannequins?).

The audio design is crucial in amplifying the horror and The Anomaly Experiment does a good job with it. Creaking sounds, unsettling ambient noise, and the distinct cues of approaching threats all work in tandem to heighten anxiety.

Unravelling the Truth

The replay value lies primarily in the desire to uncover the full story and perhaps tackle the harder difficulty setting. While the anomalies and threats remain consistent, the challenge of identifying them quickly and surviving the encounters can provide a different experience on subsequent playthroughs. This is where the addition of threats is a good idea, as it gives you more reason to want to continue playing, whilst also increasing your chance of missing things due to running for your life!

Conclusion

The Anomaly Experiment presents a unique blend of observation puzzle and psychological horror. The core mechanic of identifying anomalies is engaging, and the introduction of deadly threats injects a welcome dose of adrenaline. However, a major flaw disrupting the experience is the frequent blank loading screens between areas, often followed by the character unnecessarily spawning far from the point of progression. Notwithstanding this considerable drawback, the overall experience still manages to deliver moments of mounting tension and unsettling discoveries. The atmospheric graphics and effective audio design contribute significantly to the immersive horror. For those seeking a different kind of horror experience that tests both their perception and their nerves, The Anomaly Experiment offers a compelling, albeit sometimes frustrating, trial.

Grade: 7.5 – Good