WhiteWall

I saw a game called Inner Space on Twitter and remarked that it was beautiful (which it is), and Steve Zapata, a developer at PolyKnight Games, shared a gallery of InnerSpace images to look through if I was interested (which I was). He also let me know about WhiteWall, a short monochrome horror made in a gamejam a few years back, by the very same team. It just made sense to play it and then write about it here. It’s kind of what I do, right?

WhiteWall is creepy, but it is more of an ongoing sense of unease than it is all-out horror. You find yourself in maze of inter-connected rooms, each very similar to the last, with some variations in furniture. The walls and doors are completely white, and an endless droning - like a continual air raid siren - drives you forward. Only when this changes to a jarring tangle of noise are you getting somewhere. Even then, what you find is unnerving, as you're not quite sure whether it is safe to approach or not. (I won't ruin this, as I feel the surprise is part of the overall experience.)

If you do build the courage to approach, you'll find yourself back at the start of another maze of rooms. Though, they're different now. The white walls are peeling, revealing a strange under-layer that is somewhere between television static and infinite space. It is strangely hypnotic, to say the least. In fact, the whole experience could be described in the same way. To leave the full experience with you, the player, I won't go any further and ruin it, but it is definitely worth playing if you're looking for a short, strange and free game to play today. Find out everything you need to know about WhiteWall on itch.io, where you can download the game for yourself.

Plus, if you like the look of what this team can do, check out what they're working on as PolyKnight Games on Twitter. As aforementioned, the studio’s current game is InnerSpace, "an exploration flying game set within an inverted planet," where players will "explore a unique world, encounter its gods, and discover its secrets." It looks stunning, so check out the successful Kickstarter page for all of the information you need to know, along with a few eye-pleasing GIFs.