True Terror or Just Tired Tropes?

Introduction

Liminal Department is a fusion of, as the name implies, a liminal space, and an anomaly detection game, and it has a simple premise: to disorient and disturb players with its exploration of the uncanny, albeit in a seemingly normal environment. Does Liminal Dimension deliver a truly unsettling experience, or does its ambition fall short? Read on to find out!

Navigating the Unseen Architecture

The core gameplay of Liminal Department revolves around navigating a realistic liminal space in the form of a hospital floor. The primary objective is simple: have a walk through the floor first, commit as much detail to memory as you can, then proceed to the next version of the floor and see if there are any differences compared to the original.

If no anomalies are detected, you simply select “No” when making your choice at the end of the floor as to whether you think there were any anomalies or not. Conversely, if you think there were any anomalies present, you would select “Yes”. Then you make your way through the exit door, onto what is hopefully the next door in the sequence. If correct, the number above the door will increment by one; if wrong, the number will read 0 again.

There are several types of anomalies to detect. Without giving away too many spoilers, anomalies could take the form of shifted or missing furniture, different pictures, missing objects, different wall decorations, different lighting, and so on. The default game has 13 levels, whereas the hard difficulty has 20 levels, and the range and distribution of anomalies throughout these levels feels just right. There wasn’t a time where I found myself thinking that it was either too hard or too easy.

Some anomalies are glaringly obvious even before you enter the floor. Others are so subtle that you will most likely think the game to be wrong. However, there is a very helpful feature in Liminal Department, which not only informs you if there was an anomaly that you missed, but it also provides you with the category of the missed anomaly (i.e. “paranormal”, or “missing furniture”, etc.), and even allows you to go back into the previous floor that you had just come from to see if you can locate where you went wrong.

The Aesthetics of Unease

Liminal Department is a good-looking game with realistic environments rendered precisely how one would see them in real life. The hospital floor is rendered with a stark, almost sterile aesthetic (no pun intended), which only serves to heighten the unsettling nature of the anomalies when they appear. Audio design is equally good, with the only sound being your character’s footsteps over the hard floor as you navigate the environment. There are also sounds of furniture moving should you collide with them.

Clocking in for Another Shift?

Liminal Department offers a decent degree of replay value, based mainly on the variety of anomalies, but also the random combination of both anomaly types and frequency. By that, I mean that out of the default 13 floors, you could encounter anomalies on every version of the floor, or none at all (of course, these examples are extreme cases and highly unlikely to occur). You are most likely to encounter anomalies on some of the floors, but as it is random each time, your experience will differ with each playthrough.

Conclusion

Liminal Department effectively crafts a compelling anomaly detection experience. The small but richly detailed hospital floor provides just the right level of challenge, complemented by a decent variety of anomalies and a logically flowing format. While some players might find the game’s brevity reduces its replayability, especially given the speed-running achievement, Liminal Department on the whole offers an immersive, visually and aurally striking experience that successfully delivers its unsettling atmosphere.

Grade: 8/10 – Very Good