Singaporean students breathe new life into the horror genre with PC game, Lurking

This week, the universe conspired to scare me to death.

First, Charlie asked me to check out Dreadout, an Indonesian game made from pure nightmares, and then Lurking crossed my desk.

I initially didn’t know what to expect from Lurking, a first person horror game made by students from the Digipen Singapore campus. People had mentioned it was worth looking at, but when I asked them why their answers were all the same; “just try it.”

So I did. And now I don’t sleep

What’s so special about Lurking?

When you first start Lurking, it looks pretty standard. Things begin with the cliche of waking up in a creepy hospital room, so my first thoughts were, “been here done that.” Then I opened the door.

Many games claim to use darkness as a tool, but most don’t. Most of the time, pitch black in games is the equivalent of a cloudy morning in the real world. In Lurking, the darkness is absolute. You can see nothing.

But you can hear.

Lurking’s protagonist has increased audio sensitivity, which he uses to navigate. It works a bit like echolocation. Making noise as you walk around gives you an outline of the world of around you. This wireframe world of sound and darkness is how you will spend most of your time in Lurking. It’s disorientating, and it’s frightening.

There are several ways to make noise. You can move about, press the “Q” button, or pick up objects and throw them. Throwing objects gives you a blast of “vision” which fades over a few seconds. It’s this obsession with sound that makes Lurking really stand out.

Navigating the world takes a little getting used to, but after a few minutes, you’ll navigating like a real bat-man (not to be confused with the Batman).

(See: Impressions: Spacepup Entertainment’s horror game Tell No One demo)