Horror dungeon crawler game

Enigma Engine is an action role-playing game created by Australian indie developer, Basalt Tower. This game is a horror dungeon crawler made for the “Haunted PSI Summer of Spooks” game jam based on the theme of “Architectural Horror.” In it, you will need to descend into the depths of a claustrophobic maze to restart the Enigma Machine. However, various horrors are lurking within. You need to use anything you can to survive and complete your mission—as failure is not an option. 

Restart the engine at all cost

As noted, the Enigma Engine is an architectural horror game. With this, not only will you be dealing with monsters and other jump scares throughout the game, but you will also need to work your way through the maze-like map. Moreover, the game employs CRT filter/scanlines to give the map an artistic upgrade and enhance the creepy atmosphere. However, there is no option to tone it down so sometimes the scanlines appear too intense. 

To help you clear levels and defeat the monsters, you will have a pistol and a pipe club that you can use to shoot and knock out the enemies. Moreover, you can pick up items as you explore and use them as weapons. Enigma Engine uses both mouse and keyboard for controls. You can use the WASD keys or the arrow keys for your character’s movement. The E key, meanwhile, allows you to interact or pick up items in your environment. To fire your weapon, you can use the left mouse button. The number 1 also corresponds to your pistol, while the number 2 is your key for the pipe club. If you need to heal yourself, you can hit the number 3.

Enigma Engine is still in the pre-alpha stage. With this, you can expect a lot of issues that need the developer’s attention. For one, players will have a hard time installing the app on their computers, especially if they are using an antivirus. Devices with security apps will flag the .EXE file as malware and would automatically delete the file. You need to temporarily disable your antivirus for you to play the game. There will also be some glitches in the game. Some sound effects may not play correctly and there will also be some that are completely missing. 

Promising but needs improvements

Taking things into consideration, Enigma Engine looks to be a promising horror first-person shooter game. The game has a good combination of action and exploration gameplay that will challenge players. It also comes with a great art style that really brings a creepy atmosphere to the game. However, as it is, the game still needs a lot of patching up for it to be worth playing.