I’m laughing out of my head as I frantically run through the dimly lit, cluttered hotel corridors. That’s the experience of The Upturned, the comedy-horror game that many missed when it was released. with steam (opens in new tab) It dates back to March.
The Upturned certainly caught our attention, with over 300 Steam user reviews, most of which were positive, and a handful of YouTubers who played the novel. (His release of Elden Ring a month later might not have helped either.)
But it’s never too late to correct this underestimation. that is Ghoul season is almost upon us, so it’s not a bad time to play spooky games.
The Upturned begins with a bewildering name-typing experience (I don’t want to spoil it), and then finds itself in familiar horror game territory. It doesn’t last long. The first indication that this isn’t the tenor of the whole adventure comes when you find the unreasonably expensive hotel where the rest of the game takes place. The shadowy little protagonist jumps in anyway and is smashed into Bugs Bunny-style glass before being dropped off in the lobby.
A mixture of spooky and slapstick comedy rendered in a limited color palette that looks like a 3D movie maker makes the short adventure fun and entertaining. Your partner in the game, narrator, and general pain in the ass is a strange creature named Ik, a bellhop and hotel manager. When the Cheshire Cat meets Igor in Persona His Vibes, he directs you to the elevator. There your goal is to reach your room on his 1434th floor. Each floor stop along the way is a puzzle where you must find a fuse to get the elevator working again.
Upward Chuck is confusing from start to finish: Floors featuring power plants, cowboy saloons, and underwater megastructures are filled with things that want to eat you. However, in the middle of the fight, you may be interrupted by Ik calling you for permission to bump Fat his tunes. The spooky part is as spooky as Doctor Who, with weird mannequins and disconcerting cracks in the walls adding to the spookiness before all hell breaks loose.
You can find The Upturned vapor (opens in new tab) Also itchi aio (opens in new tab) for $10. Since its release, it’s been patched several times with bug fixes and a few additions, and its creators recently said they’ve started work on a new project. please. And watch out for Lawrence, he’s a little grumpy.
