Withering Rooms – Review, a repeating nightmare

Withering Rooms is a very creative game made by the developers of Moonless Formless. The title takes elements that made the genre great survival horror and combines them with the classic ones of role-playing games, so as to create something so unique that it almost makes it special (especially in this period, given that it has become increasingly difficult to see innovations made like this by triple-A developers). But Does the idea also work with gameplay? Discover it with us with the review of Withering Rooms.

A Victorian nightmare

Nightingale she is the protagonist girl of Withering Rooms, who finds herself stuck in one Victorian style house, a trap that is only the beginning of his nightmare. The young woman’s goal will be to succeed in find a way out from this place, which seems to have endless corridors between enemies who want to take her out.

Despite being a fairly simple story, it manages to keep you glued to the screen from start to finish. This is because the developers exploit classic elements of the story to be able to have a winning narrative, even if the thing that convinces the most is clearly the gameplay.

The classics reinvented

Given the plot and horror nature of Withering Rooms, it might seem like it’s a classic horror game like Resident Evil or silent Hillbut actually it is a side-scrolling roguelike which has an identity of its own, and which above all, manages to remain imprinted. The combat system might seem confusing and complex to understand, but in reality it is not. The only thing that it might make you turn up your nose is the addition of crafting.

That’s right, you will have to build weapons, objects, clothing, amulets and accessories various that have certain effects. By doing so you can create the build you prefer, but it’s something you’ll achieve over the course of the runs. After all, we repeat that Withering Rooms is a roguelike, so be prepared to die often and start over. Sure, it might be frustrating in the first few hours of the game, but that’s part of the genre.

So it’s a difficult game? For us it’s a middle ground: it’s definitely not a walk in the park, but it’s not something too simple either. So it could make all players happy, both those and they love challengesboth those who they prefer to have fun in a more “quiet” way.

The Victorian house where you will move in Withering Rooms is full of corridors that they’ll make it look like a maze, where there is no way out. But remember that exploration is vital, e.g as you go along you will discover new enemies, new paths and new objects that will make everything much easier.

Between RPGs and graphics that don’t captivate

The RPG elements in Withering Rooms they serve to add layers of complexity that make it a perfect mix between horror and roguelike. Except for melee and ranged weapons, you will also be able to use some spells, very useful for both defense and attack. So you could also use them to improve armor, or perhaps to cast spells to trap enemies. In short, everything depends on your approach to the various levels.

Basically, we can say that Withering Rooms will allow you to customize everything. You will have a lot of options at your disposal to be able to create interesting builds, along with the crafting and roguelike nature, each game will be different from the next. If we take into consideration the fact that this title was created by one very small studio, it really is a little pearl. In fact the only really bad thing about the game is the length, which is approx 6 hours. It is normal that we must also consider the genre which tends to be repetitive, but the longevity is not great, despite it being a roguelike.

Another thing that really fails to impress about Withering Rooms is the graphic aspect. Unfortunately it’s not very interesting, features rather bare models, and fail to hit the mark even from a creative point of view. Given the horror theme, it would have been much better if the enemies had been much more terrifyingto give that sense of anxiety and fear typical of the genre.

The music manages to accompany the various games well and is very immersive in the claustrophobic atmosphere which wants to make the house the protagonist of this adventure, and the same also applies to the sound effects present in the game. During our test we had no problems as far as bugs or glitches go, so from that point of view everything went very smoothly.

In conclusion, Withering Rooms is a truly special title, considering that it is an indie title. The developers of Moonless Formless have managed to create a really interesting game, well structured and with a lot of content, although unfortunately it lacks longevity. A flaw very serious for a roguelike title. The plot is interesting and manages to keep you glued while the gameplay offers a lot of elements which will allow you to have fun, regardless of whether you are more or less hardcore.