Necrophosis Is Beautifully Grotesque, But Is That Enough? | Necrophosis Review
A descent into a cursed civilization, left rotting for billions of years, unable to escape the pain.
Disclosure: I received a free review copy of this product from https://www.keymailer.co
Developer: Dragonis Ares, Adonis Brosteanu
Publisher: Dragonis Games
Price: $15.99
Necrophosis is a narrative-driven experience set in a decaying, post-apocalyptic world suffering from the plane-shattering, world-ending, and unending curse of Necrophosis. While the game is light on gameplay, it leans heavily into its disturbing artistic vision, which draws inspiration from Beksiński and Giger.
Trudging The Horror
A plane drenched in viscera
While it’s advertised as having “mystical puzzles,” Necrophosis is a narrative-driven or “walking simulator.” During your nightmare descent, you’ll pull, yank, sacrifice, possess, and perform many other actions that feel less like puzzles and more like a fever dream or a chore. What’s problematic of these puzzles is that you can get lost on where you’re supposed to go or what you’re supposed to do, as everything fuses into each other.
But descending into this mad world puts you in the place of “The Consciousness,” an entity billions of years into an existence plagued by torture and unrelenting pain—a world without conscience. You are not witnessing the downfall or destruction, but seeing the aftermath after centuries of decay.
Encounter grotesque creatures, scattered notes of past and current suffering, otherworldly beings, and possess macabre creatures. Gameplay is light, so it’s obvious that the focus was centered on the presentation.
The World After Decay
Left to bathe in its misery
Necrophosis is a grotesque and short experience. The world is not just dead—but a maggot-infested corpse. It’s easy to see Gieger’s and Beksiński’s influence through the game’s art direction. However, their take on Cosmic Horror left me a bit confused.
I was bothered by Cthulhu’s inclusion. From my understanding, if the Great Old One were ever awakened, it would’ve just ended the world. The whole world is already drowning in madness, so what’s the point?
(Spoiler) Especially when you are about to restart the whole world. (Spoiler Ends)
It was an odd choice to add Cthulhu, or to even fuse Lovecraftian mythos into this type of art. Cosmic horror is usually psychological and existential; it’s about succumbing to madness from discovering aliens, spooky cults, and so forth. The art here is visceral, grotesque, and gory, and I do not think it makes a good mix. I believe the creatures could be used for this, just doesn’t make narrative or thematic sense.
I also wish that I could’ve seen more of each plane. There’s lore scattered around telling you what happened to each section, yet you are only allowed a small snippet. It’s like peeking out of a window to only see a small portion of the scenery.
The animations can look silly, stiff, and unnatural at times. The voice acting and sound quality were inconsistent and sometimes lacking in quality. Some voice acting felt unnatural or poorly modulated, with voices that didn’t match the tone of the game.
I also had a hard time progressing, as everything looked too similar, blurring progress and environment together. In one section, I didn’t realize I needed to crawl up a pillar because it blended with everything else in the level. Another time, I didn’t know I had to yank a bone, because it looked like everything else.
All That’s Left Is Pain
A world without consciousness
Now, it may seem like I didn’t enjoy Necrophosis, but I did. There is beauty in its grotesque art, while the story has ambition that it doesn’t fully deliver on, the art behind each section does a great job of depicting decay and pain.
The small notes you find in the game give context to horrible things people went through, and some even serve as mini-narratives. It allows you to understand a little of an incomprehensible world.
While each zone is limited, they still paint a picture of what each place is or was. It’s always cool to see a decayed giant in the far distance and lines of people walking towards it; or a giant black hole or star in space.
In many ways, Necrophosis serves as a very interesting art gallery, as the creatures and the landscapes are both horrifying and interesting, but for a narrative-focused game, it’s a missed opportunity.
I Recommend this:
If you’re a fan of grotesque horror, body horror, or just some very gnarly horror, with minimal gameplay
Atmosphere over action
Very unsettling art and story, even if not fully realized.
Was this descent disturbing enough for you?
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Did the Necrophosis get you, or did you keep it at bay?
Reminds me of Scorn, particularly in the way the visuals are let down by the gameplay. At least this looks less immature than Scorn was.
This is a great review! I enjoyed the demo, and this generally sounds like what I was expecting.