The White Chamber

Holy shit, it's the point and click version of Dead Space!

No, that's seriously what I was thinking as I was playing through this game – it takes place exclusively inside a spaceship, it has a horror theme, and there are monsters terrorizing a ship. Sounds a lot like Dead Space, except, as I've stated, it plays out like a point and click game (not unlike Tales Of Monkey Island or Broken Sword), and there's a lot more emphasis on horror. The White Chamber tends to *bleep* with your mind while Dead Space just makes you jump with sudden monster encounters. Maybe not like Silent Hill, but it can still instill fear into your mind.

Anyway, a nameless woman wakes up inside a coffin, forgetting what had happened beforehand. What you have to do is explore the spaceship, figuring out what you were doing there. But there are many dangers – or are there? Like I said, it has a bit of a tendency to *bleep* with your mind a bit, but you keep playing anyway, because you want...

What started as a university project, grew to become a full fledged point and click game known as The White Chamber. Remember those old things where you used the mouse to interact with the environment, usually through gathering items to solve puzzles while enjoying a good story? The last game like this that I reviewed was The Whispered World, which I berated for having ass backwards logic and horrific voice acting that'd make every Sonic The Hedgehog voice cast sound convincing. What about The White Chamber? Is this the next point and click game to make me feel all squirmy inside, or will it make me want to go and play Tales Of Monkey Island or Broken Sword?

The White Chamber follows a nameless woman who has found herself asleep inside a coffin... inside a spaceship. She has no idea where she is or how she got in the ship, so she investigates...

It's been a while since we've seen a horror themed point and click game. The majority of point and click games nowadays are comedies with some serious ones every now and again, but strangely, it's as if horror got pushed to the sidelines. I could blame Resident Evil for this (whether I want to blame the first one or the fourth one is up for debate), but I could also blame the lack of popularity of horror games too. Shit, this isn't some big budget game by Telltale Games; this is a university project, or it was, until they decided to expand it into a full game - and the thing is, survival horror started off with the point and click style before moving onto action-oriented survival horror with Resident Evil. The White Chamber tries to bring back the spirit of true survival horror - I know it has no actual survival, but you know what I mean.

It starts with a nameless girl waking up from inside a coffin. She's forgotten how she got onto what appears to be a ship in space...

Egad, what's this. Insanity Prevails is reviewing a PC game that is not A) a visual novel or B) a doujin game? What's more is that this is a point and click adventure title that said gamer has often ignored in fear of a boring experience? In other news a coldfront is sweeping across Hell and a flock of pigs was just seen migrating.

Okay, enough joking around, but it is true that this is a rarity. However, I had heard good things about it from other people, it's done in an anime style and it happens to be a free game. Can't argue with that so I spent a brief period downloading the title off their main site and installed it (a simple straightforward process). The end result of all this? I have a better appreciation of the whole point and click genre; all thanks to Studio Trophis and their wonderful game.

Drawing in the gamer is...