Iron Lung is not your average horror game. Instead of relying on traditional haunted houses or slasher spooks, the experience is supernatural monster free. Instead of collecting scattered resources or readying for a fight against some newly awakened undead God, you simply navigate and capture photos. Instead of fighting to escape an overrun town, you are plummeting towards the unknown.
Iron Lung immerses players on a distant planet with oceans made of blood, within the eerie depths of a rusty submarine. As a convict tasked with recovering items to save a dying humanity, the weight on your shoulders is immense even before you enter your vessel.
The game’s emphasis on isolation and odd setting creates a foreboding atmosphere, which sets it apart from other horror titles. The submarine’s confined spaces and ominous ambience make every decision feel like a step deeper into the abyss. What horrors lie within?
Closed World
One of the standout features of Iron Lung is the sense of claustrophobia it induces. As players navigate the tight rectangular compartment of the midget submarine, the restricted environment amplifies the feeling of desperation and intensifies the horror. The deliberately clunky controls further contribute to this sense of unease, making the player’s movements and interactions with the ancient machinery more challenging. This intentional design choice serves as a constant reminder of the inability to escape, while the tension slowly builds.
An Orientation to Disorientation
Iron Lung’s slow feedback loop plays a crucial role in enhancing the terror experienced by players. In the game, actions often take time to produce consequences, increasing the tension and anticipation. Whether it’s steering your steel coffin into unknown territory or waiting for a picture to slowly materialize on screen, each action leads to an agonizing wait for the outcome. This deliberate pacing instills a constant sense of dread, forcing players to carefully consider their choices and reinforcing the feeling of helplessness in the face of impending danger.
Anchoring The Disturbing Depths
While Iron Lung’s hour play time may seem like a limited amount to tell a story, it’s more than enough to lay an ominous foundation.
The bulk of the context here is initially established through a stark text description on start. The planets and stars are disappearing. You are tasked with visiting a blood which has grown a blood ocean to save humanity. As a convict, you know this is a dangerous mission when they weld the door shut. You survive and you gain your freedom. You die, and so may humanity.
As you dive below the ocean of blood you uncover strange glimpses of items outside. A skeleton. Odd rubble. And as things slowly go wrong inside your sub, you can’t help but wonder what you might see slowly print across your screen next.
This intentional grounding is what gives this experience such weight. The mechanics aren’t complex. The world is simple. What holds the journey together is a detached desolation for both your current unenviable position and for humanity itself.
Breaking New Ground, Underground
The creator of Iron Lung, David Szymanski, is no stranger to making worlds that terrify. As the creator of short story horror experiences Fingerbones and A Wolf in Autumn. He’s also the founder of publisher New Blood Interactive (known for DUSK, Faith, and Ultrakill) who have a pedigree of unique, collaborative, thoughtful, and often terrifying games that aren’t afraid to remix ideas, while upending established conventions.
Iron Lung is available now on Steam and Nintendo Switch.