I decided to try out the demo for Digested on Steam, full game coming later this year. It is a unique take on maze games, survival horror, etc. You are tasked with finding your way out of a maze of hallways in an office building, at least in the demo. Sounds simple. Single player 3D First-Person Maze Craze if you will. Well, instead of a cop chasing you, you have a giant snake that is on par with the one in the first Resident Evil for size, but absolutely owns Capcoms version in speed, mobility, and being able to find you in the maze. Yep, get caught, you get digested.
Move Like Your Life Depends on It
If you are a fan of the movie Don’t Breathe and Don’t Breathe 2, or even just about EVERY horror movie ever, then you are familiar with staying quiet. Unfortunately, in Digested, that is nearly impossible as your footsteps make noise, running makes more noise, and you apparently leave a scent trail for the snake as well.
Talk about a rough day at the office.
During your mission to escape being eaten alive and the maze, you must find and destroy the snake eggs scattered around the level. Your job is seemingly made easier by being able to see the egg locations on your map.
Unfortunately, you do not have a Marauders Map in Digested, well, kind of just it doesn’t have one key feature to show you. The location of the snake.
Above, Below, All Around You Is Danger
While you are limited to moving around the hallways and rooms, the snake is not. You will hear the snake clamoring around in the heating and air conditioning ductwork as you move around. In certain rooms there are vents that the snake can pop out of, or into, at any moment.
Think of the duct system like the tunnels Jason used in the newer Friday the 13th movies. Not teleportation, just a quick movement option you do not have access to.
The sound of the snake is unnerving. It is slithering around, the sound of that body sliding across the hard floors is the sound of nightmares.
I played with headphones on for the full immersion experience and it was wild. The snake bumping around in the ductwork was wild to me, I worked for nearly 30 years in sheet metal and spent a fair bit of time around duct work being inspected and installed. It is a familiar sound. To think it is a snake in that ductwork is scary.
Knowing it can pop out at any moment is also upping the horror vibe. The way the rooms and hallways are laid out makes it just as scary when the snake pops out around a corner into the room you are in.
Did I mention the snake is fast while, even running, you are much slower? Yeah.