"Endoparasitic" is really scary and I still haven't beaten it

Endoparasitic pushes survival horror's boundaries to the limit. A man has one arm; he lost his other three limbs. He isn't dead--not yet. A parasite slowly crawls towards his brain. A syringe will keep it at bay. It will briefly flow back down his body. And it will begin the climb once more, inevitably. It is a vicious cycle. The mechanics force strict control; the player has to master a balance.

https://nartier.itch.io/endoparasitic, the main character fighting one of the various monsters within the game. He could probably use a hand, or any limb really.

Endoparasitic, to me, is a masterclass in showcasing that the survival horror genre does not necessarily mean the player has to lack control. As a big fan of many of the games in this genre, I notice this pattern a lot. And not that this pattern is a bad thing--in fact, I find it pretty effective most of the time. Games like Outlast or Amnesia: The Dark Descent pride themselves on their design of putting players in scary, uncomfortable situations, with no way to fight back. All you can do is run, hide, or die.

To an extent, there is some of this in Endoparasitic as well. But I don't think its to the same degree. Sure, the opening of the game has you watch this poor guy lose most of his limbs, and losing any amount of limbs in such a horrific manner is certain to put a strain on the player's control. However, the core gameplay loop is laid out in such a way that gives the player plenty of options on how to solve different problems. You are given a way to manage the brain-eating parasite (as if losing your limbs wasn't bad enough), you can still move in a fairly straight-forward way(sort of), and you eventually collect multiple guns and ammo to use them.

It's how Endoparasitic goes about the physical game controls that creates tension--and they're pretty simple. Everything is controlled using the mouse, and that's it. Its just you and your left mouse button against the world. But that means the player is left with a choice: move, reload your guns, shoot your guns, inject a syringe. You can never do multiple things at once. And it's not like the game is going to sit there and wait while you load each individual bullet into your revolver--no, the monsters in this game are slowly going to keep approaching you as you frantically swing your mouse around. This tension creates panic, creates fear. One wrong move, and you could lose a lot of progress. But on paper, you have all the tools to succeed. The only thing getting in the player's way is yourself, the player.

I don't have anything profound to say about this game--again, I haven't played much of it. It recently came up in conversation and got me thinking about it again. It popped up almost immediately when I spoke about the genre, despite my lack of completing it. And I think it truly just stood out in a, frankly, currently over-saturated genre. Endoparasitic's clever use of the mechanics is what make the game scary, at least to me. The sound design and the strange top-down, pixel art style certainly adds to the atmosphere; but truly, I believe this game is an excellent example of how video games, as a medium, illicit new and fresh reactions/emotions from audiences due to how closely the audience is intertwined with the medium.

Endoparasitic kicks it's feet up while the player's scare themselves, really. I think its kind of brilliant from a design perspective. That being said, maybe I'll work up the courage to beat it. One day.