.redruM
Paul Alex M Samaniego · 2024 · Exploration, Puzzle, Walking Simulator, Psychological Horror, Linear
PC
Mixed69% · 26
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About .redruM
!!!WARNING TO USERS!!! .redruM was born as a work of art before being a walking sim game, which aims to communicate a message. The game is deliberately slow, this is precisely to stimulate the user to look for this message within themselves and do it with calm and patience.The .redruM Experience: A Psychological and Cinematic Horror
.redruM is a psychological and cinematic horror experience that focuses on realism and visual experimentation. Inspired by liminal spaces, backrooms, and real crime scenes, it places you in the shoes of a crime scene photographer, tasked with uncovering the identity behind these gruesome murders.
Minimalist Gameplay for a Disturbing Experience
The gameplay is intentionally minimalistic: walk, photograph, do your job. However, this simplicity conceals a deeply disturbing and reflective experience.
A Short, Personal, and Intimate Story
A short Game that lasts around an hour. A personal, intimate story made by a solo developer.
Important Warning: This game contains violent content and is not suitable for sensitive audiences.
Contemporary Art and the Birth of .redruM
.redruM was born from the need to express my vision of contemporary art. What does it mean to create today, if not to reinterpret the concepts of the past in an act of parasitism? .redruM is a love letter, an insult, a declaration of what it means to be an artist today. A killer who photographs his victims to create, a killer of memory. A photographer who documents the abandonment of existence and the death of dreamers' dreams. Dreamers who envisioned a better world, but whose dreams have become empty and identity-less concepts.
.redruM is a red room, a dark laboratory where photos that no one wants to share are developed.
The Aesthetics of Liminal Spaces and Modern Existentialism
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms are fundamental in enhancing the dramatic emotions and the catharsis of modern existentialism. These spaces, at the boundary between reality and imagination, are inherently unsettling. They represent places of transition and abandonment, where the familiar becomes strange. Their suspended and undefined atmosphere reflects the angst of modern existence, amplifying the sense of disorientation and isolation. In .redruM, these environments become the perfect stage to explore anxiety and despair, leading the player to confront their own fragility and solitude.
Level Design: Evoking Emotions Through Violence and Catharsis
In creating the levels of .redruM, I did not limit myself to traditional game design but sought to evoke the emotions that accompany the final moments of great artists. Violence, as in Aristotle and Shakespeare, is not an end in itself but a means to achieve catharsis. The "catharsis of events" is a concept originating in ancient Greece, particularly associated with Aristotle’s theatrical works. It refers to a process of purifying or liberating emotions through artistic expression or emotional participation in a work of art. When we witness dramatic or tragic events, such as those depicted in a play or film, we experience a sort of "purging" of our emotions, helping us to release accumulated tensions or anxieties.
Catharsis Through Violence: A Parallel with Aristotle and Shakespeare
Aristotle defined catharsis as the purification of emotions through drama, as seen in the fall of Oedipus or the assassination of Agamemnon. Similarly, Shakespeare used violence in works like Macbeth or Julius Caesar to shake the audience, leading them to reflect on human nature and their own fears. In .redruM, the use of violence might be understood as a way to make users experience this emotional catharsis, through direct engagement with universal themes like death and loss. It is not mere horror, but a vehicle for art and reflection, just like in the great dramas of the past.
The Collapse of Reality: Liminal Spaces and Broken Dreams
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms further reinforce this experience, creating an environment where every corner suggests that something is profoundly wrong, a place where reality itself seems on the verge of collapse, just like the dreams and aspirations of the protagonists.
.redruM is a psychological and cinematic horror experience that focuses on realism and visual experimentation. Inspired by liminal spaces, backrooms, and real crime scenes, it places you in the shoes of a crime scene photographer, tasked with uncovering the identity behind these gruesome murders.
Minimalist Gameplay for a Disturbing Experience
The gameplay is intentionally minimalistic: walk, photograph, do your job. However, this simplicity conceals a deeply disturbing and reflective experience.
A Short, Personal, and Intimate Story
A short Game that lasts around an hour. A personal, intimate story made by a solo developer.
Important Warning: This game contains violent content and is not suitable for sensitive audiences.
Contemporary Art and the Birth of .redruM
.redruM was born from the need to express my vision of contemporary art. What does it mean to create today, if not to reinterpret the concepts of the past in an act of parasitism? .redruM is a love letter, an insult, a declaration of what it means to be an artist today. A killer who photographs his victims to create, a killer of memory. A photographer who documents the abandonment of existence and the death of dreamers' dreams. Dreamers who envisioned a better world, but whose dreams have become empty and identity-less concepts.
.redruM is a red room, a dark laboratory where photos that no one wants to share are developed.
The Aesthetics of Liminal Spaces and Modern Existentialism
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms are fundamental in enhancing the dramatic emotions and the catharsis of modern existentialism. These spaces, at the boundary between reality and imagination, are inherently unsettling. They represent places of transition and abandonment, where the familiar becomes strange. Their suspended and undefined atmosphere reflects the angst of modern existence, amplifying the sense of disorientation and isolation. In .redruM, these environments become the perfect stage to explore anxiety and despair, leading the player to confront their own fragility and solitude.
Level Design: Evoking Emotions Through Violence and Catharsis
In creating the levels of .redruM, I did not limit myself to traditional game design but sought to evoke the emotions that accompany the final moments of great artists. Violence, as in Aristotle and Shakespeare, is not an end in itself but a means to achieve catharsis. The "catharsis of events" is a concept originating in ancient Greece, particularly associated with Aristotle’s theatrical works. It refers to a process of purifying or liberating emotions through artistic expression or emotional participation in a work of art. When we witness dramatic or tragic events, such as those depicted in a play or film, we experience a sort of "purging" of our emotions, helping us to release accumulated tensions or anxieties.
Catharsis Through Violence: A Parallel with Aristotle and Shakespeare
Aristotle defined catharsis as the purification of emotions through drama, as seen in the fall of Oedipus or the assassination of Agamemnon. Similarly, Shakespeare used violence in works like Macbeth or Julius Caesar to shake the audience, leading them to reflect on human nature and their own fears. In .redruM, the use of violence might be understood as a way to make users experience this emotional catharsis, through direct engagement with universal themes like death and loss. It is not mere horror, but a vehicle for art and reflection, just like in the great dramas of the past.
The Collapse of Reality: Liminal Spaces and Broken Dreams
The aesthetics of liminal spaces and backrooms further reinforce this experience, creating an environment where every corner suggests that something is profoundly wrong, a place where reality itself seems on the verge of collapse, just like the dreams and aspirations of the protagonists.
What Steam players say
Recent verbatim reviews from Steam — separate from playze.io community reviews below.
[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/9686972/]Follow "[b]First Person Exploration and Puzzle Games[/b]" for more games like this![/url][/quote] The start of the game was actually interesting, with fragments of a story about a crime scene photographer, where you had to photograph the aftermath of different horrible crimes. However about 15 minutes in the developer apparently decided to pad the runtime with a bunch of lazy, menial copy+paste mazes. Some highlights include: • Walking slowly through a maze with jagged walls • Walking slowly down 30 flights of stairs • Walking slowly through a massive parking garage maze • Swimming slowly through an even more massive sewer At this point I stopped, because I had been swimming in circles for 20 minutes. There's supposedly about 15 minutes more of gameplay after this point, if you can avoid getting hopelessly lost, for about an hour's worth of gameplay. There is no save function so you need to do it all in one sitting. Overall, if you're a huge fan of liminal-space horror like "The Backrooms", you might find some enjoyment in this. But I think everyone else should avoid it.2 found this helpful
+ no cheap jumpscares, terrifying mostly by very well crafted moments of tension + great visual and sound design -a couple sections dragged a bit due to the slow movement speed and too little happening between points A and B -pop songs with lyrics took me out of the experience somewhat and the ambient music (while good) has noticable loop points/"seams" i want more! Would love to see more environments and a more fleshed out story/character
garbage
I dont understand why this game has to be played in one sitting. i got nauseous half way through so i guess ill just never see the ending. but i guess it'll probably be just as boring as the rest of the game. maybe its for you but its certainly not for me
This is a very interesting Backrooms game where you take pictures of crime scenes. Some jump scares but nothing horrific. Atmospheric, liminal, and some disturbing scenes. The light exposure from the flashlight is too high, hopefully that can be fixed. Some unnecessary stairs that take roughly 3-4 minutes to go down, doesn't add to game play. The water tunnel stage is a bit hard to navigate due to its monotonous nature. Overall I enjoyed this game.
The overall gameplay is cool and recommended. The sounds that come with each level seem realistic horror scene sounds. By playing it with a good pair of headset, it really made me feel a little scared. I really liked the horror re-creation of the "Bedroom in Arles" aka Van Gogh's room. I also found his ear next to the house XD The whole gameplay is based on the liminal space concept, so in most of the "levels" you are some how guided by brighter lights. Personally I think that the possibility to stop the gameplay and resume it later would be nice to have, and maybe a little more storytelling at the beginning of each "level" would also be great.
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