Stairs - Demo

Stairs is moody and disturbing adventure with half-heard voices, creaking doors and other horror movie staples (pre-alpha demo).

supremely creepy location

The narrative finds the player stepping into the well-worn shoes of a washed up journalist, desperately seeking out one big story to put his name back in the limelight. Following an intriguing lead, he finds himself stumbling around an abandoned factory, which just happens to have a history of horrific supernatural events, in search of three missing people. It’s a familiar setup but one which manages to transcend its horror movie origins thanks to the sheer style and bravado which the game presents as the player starts to explore this supremely creepy location.

clever use of light and sound

The gameplay takes a decidedly realistic and minimalist approach, with the player exploring seemingly endless corridors covered in grime, with little more than a torch to light the way. The game builds a strong atmosphere right from the start, playing tricks on the player through clever use of light and sound, and which really serves to put you on the edge from the outset. This is perhaps the strongest point of Stairs, the way it makes you want to venture further into the grim and gritty world, yet all the while instilling a real sense of foreboding that makes you dread turning around the next corner, terrified of what might be lurking in the shadows. The game largely avoids using cheap shocks for its scares, instead relying on strong imagery and an engaging narrative that is all the more unsettling for its low-key approach.

several clever puzzles

Fortunately, there’s more to Stairs than merely atmosphere and it manages to bring in several clever puzzles that are both challenging and immensely satisfying to solve. These are built into the environment in truly inventive fashion and thus manage to avoid feeling tacked on or fake, instead serving to support and advance the narrative so that the player becomes truly involved in the baffling events which gradually unfold before them.

moody and disturbing environment with minimalist sound

Visually, Stairs makes good use of the Unreal Engine, with effectively detailed and textured environments that look suitably moody and disturbing. Sound takes a similarly minimalist approach as the gameplay, which again proves immensely successful, with delightfully horrific use of half-heard voices, creaking doors and other horror movie staples.

play it for fifteen or so minutes

Although there isn’t a lot of Stairs to play right now, the fifteen or so minutes that are available bode extremely well for the finished product. If the team behind it can maintain the wonderful opening moments that are available to players of this pre-alpha demo, expanding the story and environments while maintaining the sense of slow-burning terror, it’s likely they’ll have a breakout survival horror hit on their hands.

Stairs YouTube's preview

If you find PewDiePie's screaming irritating (as I do occasionally), plz just mute the sound. I've embedded his video just because it gives fairly decent preview of what to expect in this game without having to download and install it first on your PC.

Author

Grey Light Entertainment from Sweeden.

Early Kickstarter Demo (this is new version of Stairs)

Stairs game review Stairs | Part 1 | HORRIFIC WHISPERING - by LiamDoesGame