Fibrillation

Sometimes, fear does not require horrible monsters or terrible threats in order to kick in, nor does it always manifest in screams or pain. The simple feeling of impeding doom lurking around the corner can be enough to start a chain reaction and send your brain into overdrive, causing a more subtle, yet stronger sensation of fear to take a hold of you.

Fibrillation is a game that comes with a few interesting ideas regarding gameplay and story, because it uses a new approach to the adventure/horror genre. Thus, there are no missions, quests or guidelines to follow after you start the game, just a series of fascinating environments that must be explored in order to move on. The transition between the environments is almost seamless and you never quite receive an explanation for why and how you got there.

There is, however, a story behind the game, which becomes rather clear once you reach the end. In order to really make sense out of it, though, you need to know that the entire idea is based on the dream of a man who was clinically dead for a few minutes and his heart stopped beating, hence the title. Just like a dream, nothing really makes complete sense along the way, but you can march on regardless.

The game's greatest strength lies in the atmosphere, which is the result of the incredible level design, exquisite sound effects and the general sensation you get while you explore the landscapes, especially since there isn't too much you can do, except walk, run or jump. There are, however, a few horror elements that surface from time to time, but they are very discrete and they always keep you wondering about what comes next.

Visually, the game does not impress through texture quality or realistic reflections, although it certainly has the technical capabilities. Instead, the image is always grainy and slightly blurry, thus making the entire environment look very gritty and surreal. The sound effects contribute greatly to the overall atmosphere, especially since it completely lacks intelligible music or any kind of human voice.

Fibrillation turns out to be quite the surprise, especially since it employs some very basic techniques in order to get the results it does. However, the story ends very quickly and you are left asking for more, which can be very frustrating, knowing that there aren't too many similar titles to try out.