Developer: Wild Sphere
Publisher: Wild Sphere, Perpetual Europe
Platform: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch
Tested on: PS4
OXIDE Room 104 – Review
Wild Sphere has several games under its belt already, yet today’s title is the developer’s first venture into the horror genre. OXIDE Room 104 is a self-described body horror game. As you’d expect, that means that gore and graphic imagery splatter across the screen as you try to make it through this wild ride. But in terms of game mechanics, OXIDE is not too dissimilar to what is often found in the survival horror genre, think Resident Evil or even Silent Hill. However, to keep things fresh, there’s an interesting twist: dying might be the best way to move forward.
Story
An opening cutscene shows our main character called Matthew driving along an abandoned road. Quick flashes of text pass by to inform us he’s on the way to a spooky motel, which turns out to be a very bad decision on his part. Kidnapped by a mad scientist, Matt finds himself waking up naked in a bathtub covered in bandages, which is only where his troubles start. Nasty inhuman creatures roam the motel’s hallways and something is out to hunt Matt. Whether he makes it out or not will be up to the player. Choices during the game change the narrative, allowing for different endings to be reached, while you can find documents scattered around the rooms to learn about other visitors’ fates.
Graphics
We’ll be brutally honest: compared to a lot of other indie horror games, OXIDE Room 104 doesn’t have the best graphics. Sadly, could turn people off from playing, and the first cutscene doesn’t aid in motivating players to press forward. While the devs were clearly going for a nostalgic PS2-type feel, the actual character models and animations end up looking more clunky than anything. The monsters have fun, horrifying designs; even if the way they shamble around means they’re hard to take seriously. Thankfully, you’ll be spending most of your time looking around the rooms in first-person, and these environments themselves look decent enough.
Sound
Compared to the visuals, the soundtrack of the game makes an excellent first impression by playing a great song in the opening cutscene. We’re happy to report this trend continues for the rest of the game, with great music to accompany your frightful chases and good sound effects for all the nasties chasing you. The same can’t exactly be said of the voice acting. While not as terrible as it could be, the acting definitely tends to lack the appropriate tone or urgency. Voice lines also often repeat to a ridiculous degree. No, Matt, you don’t have to remind us for the twentieth time that you want to find a way out of the room. We’re already working on it.
Gameplay
OXIDE Room 104 is a survival horror game that basically plays like a series of room escapes. Most of the time, you’ll find yourself wandering along the motel with your trusty map to find keys to locked doors or other items needed to escape from whatever area you are trapped in. Creepy monsters roam the hotel, but they stand no chance against your gun, or in some cases, you get lucky and might save yourself the bullets by sneaking past them instead. If you do get grabbed, a quick-time event can free you. These quick-time events also pop up in some cutscenes, which does make the game flow more dynamically.
As was often the case in old-school horror games, almost every item you find is interactable and once you pick up something important, you can examine it further in your inventory for extra clues or find hidden features when doing so. You also need to manually combine items in your inventory and click the “use with” option when needed. For example, Matt won’t automatically open a locked door even if he has the key. Another important thing to keep in mind is that your inventory is limited. Storage boxes across the map will help you out, but make sure you always got some healing supplies on hand. You’ll need them more often than you’d like.
Even with these healing items, you’ll still die eventually. When you do, don’t expect to be reset to a checkpoint though. One of the interesting twists in OXIDE Room 104 is that each death will force you to start back at the beginning of the game in that bloody bathtub. That being said, the motel will have changed around you. Doors might be locked again, or some might be open where they weren’t before. Items and enemies could change places, and much more. Combine this with the fact that each death gives you a story-relevant cutscene that expands on the lore, and dying suddenly becomes almost desirable. But be careful though, because nothing comes without a cost. If you want a good ending, try to keep yourself intact.
Conclusion
OXIDE Room 104 is a pretty standard but fun horror game with a premise that will bore most horror veterans. It doesn’t bring much new to the table where the plot is concerned, the graphics and sound design are both average too, but that doesn’t mean the gameplay doesn’t make for a good time. And the repeated death mechanic – while frustrating at times – makes for an interesting gimmick.
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