Devil's In The Draw Distance: Into The Gloom

Gloom is a fantastic word, too often ignored in the gaming world because a certain FPS takes all the 'oom' attention. Loom deserves some of the 'oom' love, of course, and perhaps a little should be spared for Into The Gloom as well. It's a first-person horror game with puzzles to solve and darkness to flee from, and it has the sort of old-fashioned grayscale (+red) graphics that will cause some observers to roll their eyes in exasperation. There's a reason for the style though - and it's not just the lack of a huge art team. The gloom uses a short draw distance and simplistic visuals to conceal...something.

It's ghosts of some sort. That's what the gloom is hiding. I suppose that's to be expected but I admit to a fondness for this kind of lo-fi horror. The old rule about keeping the monster hidden in the shadows doesn't apply to the same degree when everything is murky and obscure.

Into the Gloom also sounds like something a Mancunian would say if Mark E Smith had picked a slightly different band name.

"Yeah, yeah, I've been well into The Gloom ever since Live at the Witch Trials. Pure tunes."

Into The Gloom is available now, on Desura, and it costs £1.99. It's short and probably won't change your life, but it sets a fine mood, has puzzles to break up the wandering and is a promising first release.