Developed by Ariem, Apartament 1406 is a short indie horror that challenges you in multiple ways as you try to survive in a hostile environment. Scavenge items, gather weapons, solve puzzles, and fight creatures that lurk in the dark.

Play as Ethan Blake, an assistant to an experienced demon hunter, who wants to take the next step in achieving his dream of becoming a demon hunter himself. You are asked to acquire an old book from an abandoned apartment, not being told why, only that the requester seemed agitated. On arrival, you find yourself in a sinister and dark place, beginning your adventure into hell.

It starts off very strong with a scary setting and limited knowledge of what lies ahead, really setting the tone for a great horror experience with all the right elements. You have limited lighting, creeping and eerie sounds, objects randomly moving, and dark figures coming and going. This does change slightly as you get weapons not too far in, and I feel this takes a lot away from horror experiences, as with a weapon, you are probably not as scared.

Now on the topic of weapons, we get into combat. Equipped with an Axe early on, and a gun or two not long after, this is when things will attack more. Most of the time, combat can be a good addition to a horror if done correctly.

Here, though, was a bit on the less enjoyable side for me. It was kind of frustrating not being able to fully avoid enemies. The areas you fight in are very tight, making it nearly impossible to finish a boss fight without wasting all your healing and ammo.

If you finish the story and want something a little more to do, there is always Last Hope, a wave survival mode where you can compete on leaderboards by achieving the most kills and surviving the most waves. I had trouble with this as you start out with an axe, and it’s quite challenging to avoid getting hit.

Graphical and sound design is amazing, especially for a one-person developer. The atmosphere of Apartament 1406 at the beginning was near perfect for a horror game and held out pretty well throughout. Fulfilling your horror needs with all the right audio queues, with eerie whispers, creaking walls, demonic voices, and more, hitting the right spot for a horror fan.

Apartament 1406 is a short but great horror experience with multiple elements of gameplay. I just had a little trouble with combat at times due to it being almost impossible to not get hit by enemies at certain points. For a one-man developer, and at such a low price, it’s definitely something I could recommend to any horror fan wanting a quick fix.

Written by: MrVibeAU