As 2023 came to a close, a flurry of fantastic indie horror games seemingly popped out of nowhere. Slay The Princess took critics by surprise whilst Lethal Company stormed to the top of the Steam Charts. One indie horror which released around this time and really caught the eyes’ of gamers was The Exit 8, and it quickly became one of my favourite short horror games of the year.
The Exit 8 has a simple premise: you are lost within a sprawling Japanese metro station, where each corridor is identical to the last. As you play, you become intimately familiar with this corridor, which includes some utility doors, advertising posters, and a man walking towards you with his briefcase.
In order to reach your exit, you must look out for anomalies in the hallway. If you spot anything that seems off about this corridor in particular, you must turn back. If everything seems normal, you can just continue forward and hope that you were correct – else you’ll return to the start. You must correctly determine whether the corridor is the same or different 8 times in a row to beat the game.
In simpler terms, it’s basically ‘Spot the Difference’ with moving parts and is very much inspired by I’m On Observation Duty. However, rather than just repeating the same formula by placing players in a room with CCTV cameras to spot anomalies, it fully immerses the player inside the level. This made the game feel so much more fluid than other games in this genre, as the anomalies felt much more unique and engaging. For example, some of the more obvious anomalies included a tidal wave of blood rushing towards your feet, and the lights turning out as you walked down the corridor.
Mixed in with these flashy anomalies are some quite challenging ones. Whilst they seem near impossible to notice at the start, you will steadily notice them the more you play. Plus, if you miss an anomaly, the game’s design allows for you to return to the previous corridor and spend a little more time investigating. This allowed me to figure out some of the more challenging anomalies, and I really appreciated this feature – in some I’m On Observation Duty style games, the anomalies can feel so miniscule that it is impossible to find them. Luckily in The Exit 8, the difficulty felt fair and balanced rather than so difficult that it’s painful.
I loved learning more and more about where to look in the corridor each time I progressed. After a while, I had a specific routine where I looked at each important object in the hallway to rule out any anomalies. Whilst some might find this tedious, I found it satisfying to slowly improve and naturally recognise the more difficult anomalies.
The only downside to The Exit 8 is its length. Beating the game and correctly identifying every anomaly took me just short of 2 hours. It’s certainly not the longest game, nor will I likely replay it anytime soon. However, for the amount of fun I had whilst investigating, I’d argue that the £3 ($4) price feels pretty appropriate.
The Final Verdict
The Exit 8 successfully immerses players in a unique take on the I’m on Observation Duty style horror experience, expertly balancing challenging and creepy anomalies throughout its brief but rewarding 2-hour length.
