Floor 9 Review (PC)

Remember the hallucinations from The Shining? The twins, the bloody walls, and the seemingly endless corridors, for example? Take that image, and add an interactive puzzle element with vast anomalies to the mix, and you should have a vague idea of what Floor 9 aims to capture. Like the anomaly hunting games that have come before it, Floor 9 opts for that familiar perpetual cycle—the irregular routine that primarily consists of repeating the same task over and over again, and using a third eye at your disposal to spot, decipher, and effectively eliminate objects that seem, well, out of place. Exit 8 immediately comes to mind here, naturally.

Suffice it to say, the core gameplay loop is similar to past iterations of a bog-standard anomaly-based horror game: you enter a room, scour for details, and make a decision on whether or not to progress to the next floor. If you spot an anomaly, then you move to the next area, at which point you repeat the same task until you finally make your escape. If, however, you fail to spot the elephant in the room, then you return to the original floor and begin your search from the beginning. Again, nothing that we haven’t already seen a hundred times before. Yet, we digress.

Unsurprisingly, Floor 9 relies on its peculiar objects, psychological effects, and frequent jump scares to lay its foundation. Similar to other games of its kind, it turns a blind eye to context, and instead prioritizes the occasional visual or audio cue, whether it’s a brief sighting of a hotel maid or a small piece of horrifying fodder that fuels your curiosity as you traipse deeper into its world. It doesn’t have a story, but rather, a series of seemingly random stepping stones that serve only to keep you on your toes as you desperately try to establish “the bigger picture.” The thing is, you need to volley back and forth dozens of times just to be able to make sense of it all. But, that’s an anomaly hunting game for you, in a nutshell; context and luminous world-building isn’t really its forte, nor is it something that Floor 9 tries to accommodate.

With all of the above said, Floor 9 does, believe it or not, make for a chilling experience. Although rather short and without the full weight of a story-driven campaign, the game itself brings a lot of great ideas to the table. Alongside its treasure trove of anomalies and eerie encounters, the setting—Hotel Liminal—harbors a great atmosphere, with some fantastic lighting and psychologically diverse rooms, each of which bring their own brand of horror to the surface. Granted, the scares don’t always hit the nail on the head, but when Floor 9 makes an effort to pull you in and keep you, it does a rather good job.

While Floor 9 doesn’t add much more to the equation than what previous observation games have brought to the foreground of the genre, it does find comfort in its own familiar territory. The objective might be a little too similar to those featured in existing anomaly games, but to give credit where it’s due, it does bring about a lot of quality and tender moments, with some well-orchestrated peek-a-boo moments and a puzzling effect that can leave you mulling over the fine details for a lot longer than usual. Again, it’s still a good old-fashioned observation game with the same perpetual twist, but Hotel Liminal certainly makes for an ideal setting for such a concoction to flourish, nonetheless.

Hotel Liminal, as a setting that’s evidently lost in a perpetual cycle, crams a significant amount into its small space, with a slender corridor that houses a claustrophobic feel and a whole host of peculiar details. Granted, it’s still a relatively modern hotel, and so what you see is what you get: a minimally insulated hallway with vast walls and small blemishes that befit any standard resort. As far as all of that goes, Floor 9 leans into a traditional realm of accommodation. It’s what it does to transport you away from conventional decor, that matters most here.

Of course, there’s still a short game here that doesn’t do a lot more than what others have accomplished in past iterations. It’s a short game, and it doesn’t pack all that much into its core. That being said, for the relatively low asking price, I’d say that it does make for a solid time-splurging experience, especially if you’re one for casual spot-the-difference puzzles that pull on your heartstrings and keep you on your toes for twenty or thirty minutes or so. The question is, how does it compare to the likes of Exit 8 and other cult classics in the anomaly field?

Verdict

Floor 9 unapologetically utilizes its inspiration from the likes of 1408 and The Shining to weave its own anomaly-based narrative into a short but gripping spot-the-difference experience, complete with all of the usual tantalizing subjects and otherworldly details that you probably would have encountered several times before in alternate portals. To say that it steals several of its components from other corridors might be a bit of a stretch. However, there is a familiar theme here that you would have seen before. The loop might cater to its own roster of anomalies, and the location might be different from your previous romp. Still, it’s best to take it all with a grain of salt. If you’ve played one anomaly game, then you’ve more than likely seen Floor 9, too.

With all of the above said, Floor 9 still stands tall as a well-rounded observation game with a lot to offer its target demographic. While it might not be the best game of its kind, I’d say that it is one that’s worth putting your hand in your back pocket for, doubly so if you enjoy claustrophobic observation games that require you to think outside of the box and question your surroundings. More to the point, if you enjoy games like Exit 8, then you’ll probably find what you’re looking for at Hotel Liminal.