Narcosis comes to Xbox One

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Numbers first: a half-ton diving suit, the bottom of the ocean, little light and an unforgiving oxygen tank. That is the basis of Narcosis, a first-person survival horror game from the studio Honor Code, announced for Xbox One, PC on Steam and Oculus Rift and HTC Vive headsets on March 28, 2017.

The premise: during a job for an underwater lab, an industrial accident leaves a professional diver stranded on the seabed. He must return to the surface before the oxygen runs out, with only a flashlight, flares and a knife. The high-tech suit is described by the studio itself as a “walking coffin”.

In practice, that means the game’s most important resource is air. Oxygen consumption rises with physical exertion, with stress from injuries and when entering areas of higher pressure, and when the reserve gets critical the character starts to hallucinate. Translated from the jargon: running burns air, and so does getting scared. Instead of invented monsters, the threats are real creatures of the deep, which makes it more uncomfortable. The horror bets on primal fears, such as darkness, confinement and isolation.

Virtual reality was optional: the game works on a regular screen, but it was designed to gain even more immersion in VR, where the feeling of being trapped inside the helmet becomes much more intense. Narcosis began as a student project, and the Honor Code team, based in France and California, includes people who worked on series such as Assassin’s Creed, Metal Gear Solid and Silent Hill.

What came next

Narcosis was well received: the Metacritic average was 72 on PC and Xbox One, and Steam player reviews are mostly positive. The game also got a PS4 version.