Have You Played... Teleglitch?

Have You Played? is an endless stream of game recommendations. One a day, every day of the year, perhaps for all time.

Teleglitch [official site] is one of the most difficult games I've ever played and it might also be one of the best. It plays out like a top-down Doom if Doom were about a terrified survivor of the Phobos incident rather than a rugged space marine.

Set in the sort of techno-horror glitchy world that makes the edge of the screen seem as threatening as the actual monsters that are spilling into the room, Teleglitch is Alien Breed for an audience familiar with crafting and roguelikes.

Tricky as it is, you’ll make progress eventually and that’s when the whole situation becomes even more agonising. You become used to treating life as a throwaway thing and then, suddenly, you’re carrying just the right equipment and confidence starts to rise, and you make the biggest mistake of all. You value your tiny doomed character and you start to think ahead. Not to a homecoming parade or even the next level, but to the next room and the one after. You start to believe that you’ve got a chance in hell and then the game reminds you that you are in hell and that hell doesn’t do chances.