First-person horror adventure game

Insomnis is a horror adventure game from Path Games. This game takes players to a house that your character inherited from his estranged grandfather. However, this house hosts the ghosts of some children who may or may not hold a very valid grudge.

Insomnis plays like a typical horror game made in the last decade. You walk around the house, interact with objects to solve puzzles and collect items that will unlock more details. However, unlike similar games, it does not rely on jump scares to keep you on your toes.  It uses graphics and music to build tension.

What is Insomnis?

In Insomnis, you control Joe Castevet, who one day received a call from the lawyer of his estranged grandfather. Your old relative is dead and has left you his old mansion. It is now up to you to explore the home you inherited. Of course, as this is a horror game, you start to uncover some pretty messed-up details about your grandfather, including the ghosts of some children.

As mentioned, its gameplay is nothing you haven’t seen from games of the genre. From a first-person perspective, you will explore the house and solve the puzzles laid out to you by interacting with objects. The puzzles are relatively rudimentary, and only a few are interesting. Most are the standard “find the object somewhere in the house.” Moreover, these puzzles are often repeated.

Unlike other horror games, this one does not have any jump scares. With this, you can play without worrying about monsters sneaking behind you. What makes it scary is the graphics and music it uses. However, while it is good for building tension, the game does not know how to turn it off. The same set plays over and over. When you tune it out, it is not scary anymore. 

Is the game good?

In a nutshell, Insomnis is an utterly pedestrian horror game. It has a typical premise of exploration and solving puzzles. The puzzles are fairly generic ones that often repeat throughout the run time. It does not use jumpscares like other similar titles, which makes it a little unique. That said, no amount of eerie ambient music and sound effects make a game scary on its own.