Feeling uncomfortable never felt so comfortable
Horror as a genre can be extremely varied, and the latest project from Housefire Games proves that point. Part physical manifestation, part psychological terror, Eclipsium is a game that never, ever stops asking us if we’re ready for what’s next. And we’re not.
It’s easy to squirm a lot when playing this game. I feel uncomfortable, like there is a heavy weight on my head and shoulders and heart (whatever is left of it). Eclipsium is about introspective tension that’s constantly pushing us to step out of our comfort zones and boundaries to see just how far we are willing to go to get out of whatever Hell this is.
The game’s world is constantly moving; every door we open and every ladder we climb or room we go into is different, changing and shifting to make us uneasy, constantly testing us if we’re ready for VIDEO GAME or VIDEO GAME AS STRESS. The only way to make it through is to take a part of ourselves and engage it with the world, like our (actual) heart or our (actual) blood or our (actual) vision. It’s not necessarily body horror, but it certainly is body SUSPENSE and it’s tense as well, made more so by the pixelated first person visuals of mid-90s Packard Bell gaming.
Once we’re committed to an area, to plow throw it, we’re thrust into a whole other experience. Did you like the forest? Good, then step out onto this acrophobic series of rickety bridges or this room straight out of Twin Peaks marketing posters. By the end of it we’re not sure if we’re satisfied with the conclusion, but we are satisfied that there is one.
Eclipsium may be designed as an offbeat adventure game, but it’s much more of an anxiety-inducing daydream than anything else.
Steam code provided by publisher. This video originally appeared in The SideQuest LIVE for December 30, 2025.
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