(Played on Switch.)
A man in his middle to late 20s got a call from his slightly estranged girlfriend. She told him about her pregnancy with his child and had not decided what to do. The man was on his way to his next gig, so he couldn’t decide either. Yet with this new baggage on his mind, the man was about to encounter some horror game in real life situation…
The summary above can apply to two horror flicks released for North America market in 2026, namely Exit 8 and Zack Cregger’s Resident Evil. The latter certain lacks the competency porn element that the action horror franchise uses both for horror and player power fantasy, while the former needed a more character-driven narrative to become a feature. Yours truly never lacked reason to re-visit the er, Biohazard games I like, while Exit 8 the movie did interest me into finally playing it.
Exit 8 is known as the template for the horror game subgenre called first person anomaly hunt. The rules are simple enough: player needs to make sure that a fellow passenger, the 3 walls they face, ceiling and floor are all normal to move forward, otherwise they need to turn around, walk and maybe even run. Do so 8 times and credits roll. Guess wrong once then back to Exit 0 and one needs to do so allover again. Some more deadly anomalies like a flood might even lead to a game over and start over.
Exit 8’s visual design is refined enough that its downgraded Switch port remains playable. I for one did not have problem spotting the water mark on the ceiling (Something the movie does not include.) that made Yahtzee Crowshaw flipped a table on this game.
Much like Mr. Crowshaw’s preference for Ten Bell’s British pub setting, I just find Exit 8’s “prison cell white” train station corridor more paranoia inducing as someone taking trains to work. Thus, more compelling. This is a walk sim all about knowing where to go after all, and the fear of getting lost in a place never stop being built. The movie’s story and 3 point of view characters are all fine and good, but the game’s lack of established character is what made it closer to the dread of “This might happen to anyone”.