I really hope turn-based horror RPG Lurks Within Walls gets combat worthy of its lovely claustrophobia

My default movement mode in horror games that actually scare me is: meandering. I seek to approach without approaching, scooting back and forth across the path like a stray hamster, worrying at the corners and avoiding clear perspectives of the route ahead, while keeping the route behind me in my peripheral vision. I have been trained to do this especially by Amnesia, where tilting your gaze too decisively at anything nasty drives your character nuts.

Lurks Within Walls has no time for my hamstery antics. Developed by Here Be Monsters, it’s a grid- and turn-based first-person dungeon crawler – a long-lost cousin of Etrian Odyssey that has wound up in an asylum jammed with internet cryptids, reminiscent in cinematic texture of F.E.A.R. In keeping with other grid-based dungeon crawlers, it only lets you turn the view by 90 degree angles and travel in straight lines. Going by the demo, it’s a promising restraint for a horror game, though they really do need to expand on the combat, which is currently a slight waste of some terrific creature art.

In the demo, you wake up on a gurney in a curtained room full of boxes containing weapons and items, plus a medical report or two alluding to hellish goings-on in the recent past. You know the stuff: “Subject X should be kept under visual observation at all times. Do not feed Subject Y prune juice after midnight. Do not ask Subject Z about her exciting web3 start-up.” The visuals are dingy and fish-eyed and creased by static. The found doc writing is terse and fairly evocative. Setting off down the corridor, you spy a huge, spinning ball of godflesh trapped inside a cage of spotlights.

The game’s monsters are the work of Trevor Henderson, a Canadian artist of some repute, who has a lifelong passion for creepypasta photography. They’re an unpleasant bunch, for sure, but what really gets me going about Lurks Within Walls is being confined to 90 degree turns while roaming a small maze of lock-and-key puzzles, awash with glitchy lighting and frankly unreasonable quantities of negative space. Every sharp turn is an opportunity for a scare – it’s as though you were viewing one of those slidereel shows 80s horror movies love, waiting for the one that has the spook.

It is also pleasantly unpleasant to glimpse or hear something to your right or left, and not know whether it’s sensible to pivot toward or away from it. This being a turn-based game, you can spend an eternity inside that feeling of uncertainty. I would expect the novelty of the format to wear off eventually, but perhaps the developers can keep the suspense up by doing creative things with the audio or monster behaviour.

Hopefully, they’ll also pamper the combat a bit. Part of the problem is that the options on show in the demo aren’t that extensive or imaginative – you pick a weapon, then pick a body part to target based on your hit percentage, chugging health consumables where necessary. The other part of problem is that while the monsters look great in screens, they are purposefully devoid of animations and effects, to preserve that looming creepypasta aesthetic. I’m not sure what to suggest, but the game as it stands squanders all terror during battle. It just feels like you’re rolling dice to punch an imageboard post from 2007.

Here’s a rundown of key features, from the Steam page:

Survival Horror meets Modern Dungeon Crawling: Experience a unique blend of survival horror and dungeon-crawling RPG elements, where every decision could be your last.

Fast-Paced Turn-Based Combat: Engage in intense, tactical battles against a range of nightmarish creatures. Gather weapons and items, and confront threats that demand strategy and resource management.

Creatures by Trevor Henderson: Explore accursed buildings and haunted settings, encountering terrifying creatures brought to life by the distinctive style of Trevor Henderson, known for his iconic horror art such as Siren Head, Long Horse, Bridge Worm, and many others.

Choose your Path: Choose to play as surviving residents, armed with pipes and makeshift weapons, or police officers, striving to eliminate threats and save remaining survivors. Will you seek to escape or search for your lost loved ones?

Inspired by Horror Classics: Revive the atmosphere of legendary titles like Resident Evil, Parasite Eve, and Shin Megami Tensei, blending exploration with strategic combat and storytelling.

And here’s a release date: BOO, JUMPSCARE, there isn’t one yet. Just the ominous refrain “coming soon”. You can also find the demo on Itch.io, if you consider Steam the greatest horror of all.