Petracal

Developer: FeralSquid

Publisher: FeralSquid

Available On: PC (Steam)

This original horror game taps into the fear of enclosed spaces. Trapped within a labyrinthine set of caves, your only hope of survival is to crawl throughout the maze as you search for the exit. Fortunately, others have been here before you, leaving useful items such as food and torch batteries. But it isn’t long before you’re battling not only the walls, but your own body – and mind.

Petracal is a literal dungeon crawler – you can’t stand up, or even crouch. When spooky apparitions begin to appear, you constantly question whether they are real, or the result of your exhausted mind playing tricks on you.

Each level is a torturous mix of similar-looking walls, but fortunately, the game provides its own mapping page. Here, you can shade in the tiles you discover, noting items and dead ends. Juggling water bottles, sanity pills, batteries, and more is also essential should you want to escape these oppressive caves.

Petracal is a unique game, and it deserves praise for bringing a different angle to a familiar style of exploration. Your character moves smartly, despite being prone, leaving you to just worry about starvation, dehydration, getting lost and madness.

Ultimately, how much enjoyment you get from this game depends on how well you take to the mapping element. Given that, without it, you’re likely to get very lost, very quickly, if marking locations and items inside the little squares is tiresome, likely so will be the main game. Nevertheless, this debut title from developer FeralSquid shows great promise. It’ll be interesting to see what it comes up with next.