The most frightening thing about The Exit 8 is that it is so overwhelmingly typical. You find yourself in a sterile, fluorescent-lit underground subway tube.
There are no monsters chasing you, no complicated riddles to answer, and on the surface almost nothing happens. But KOTAKE CREATE’s walking simulator turns a routine journey into a lesson on psychological tension. Your sole job is to look around and try to locate a route out, but if you miss even the smallest detail, you have to start again.
You start at Exit 0. For you to get out, you have to make 8 correct options in a row to reach the surface at Exit 8. The gameplay loop involves you closely scrutinising the same stretch of hallway over and over.
Exit 8 doesn't have health bars, combat, or standard fail situations. The only cash you jeopardise is your growth. The penalty for a mistake is a double-edged sword; if you slip up and carry on through a real abnormality, your progress is reset, but if you back out from a false alarm in a hallway that is perfectly normal, you will also be sent straight back to Exit 0. You have eight perfect observations to link together. The strain, of course, increases with each successful loop. And a momentary lack of concentration at Exit 7 means starting the entire process over again.
Getting out of the underground is an exercise in sheer observational discipline. There’s no epic climax or big boss fight waiting for you at the end of the tunnel. The real prize is getting to that last staircase. Getting out of that unending loop. Proving that despite all the mind games, you could still trust your own eyes.
