Header of the game The 18th Attic - Paranormal Anomaly Hunting Game. Credit to Steelkrill Studio, embedded from Steam.
Header of the game The 18th Attic - Paranormal Anomaly Hunting Game. Credit to Steelkrill Studio, embedded from Steam.
This article is written in English. Untuk membaca versi Bahasa Indonesia, klik di sini.

TL;DR

Looking for a horror game centered around "finding anomalies/differences"? Like games that are eerie, but without cheap jump scares? Then you might enjoy The 18th Attic.

Notice and Specs


Notice
  • This article aims to review and share information about this game.
  • There is no intention to infringe any copyright.
  • Copyright of any images, videos, or any other media used in this article belongs to their respective owners, whether the developer or publisher of this game, unless stated otherwise.
  • The author is not affiliated with the developer, publisher, or any other parties related to this game. Although I received a key to write this article, I am not affiliated with the developer, publisher, or any other parties related to this game.
  • This article is purely a review from the author's perspective.
  • This article is based on my experience playing this game with a total gameplay time of 37 minutes. Future updates/changes to the game may not be reflected in this article.
  • This article was translated from Indonesian to English by Claude. The quality may not be up to par with human translation.
Click this box to see my PC specs.
  • CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 5600
  • GPU: Sapphire Pulse Radeon RX 7600 XT 16GB
  • RAM: Crucial DDR4-3200 2x8GB
  • SSD: TeamGroup MP44L NVMe M2 1TB
  • Monitor: Lenovo L24i-40 100 Hz and Samsung S3 S33GC 100 Hz
  • Gamepad: 8Bitdo Ultimate 2C Peach
  • Mouse: Logitech Signature M650 Rose
  • Keyboard: Logitech K380 Rose

Game Details

Details

Hero Capsule of the game The 18th Attic - Paranormal Anomaly Hunting Game. Credit to Steelkrill Studio, embedded from Steam. Version Played: Full Version
Developer(s): Steelkrill Studio
Publisher(s): Steelkrill Studio
Tag/Genre(s): Psychological Horror, Walking Simulator, Atmospheric, Exploration, First-Person
*Review key for this game provided by Steelkrill Studios via PressEngine and Game Agency via Lurkit.

Trailer

Go ahead and watch the game's trailer below :)

The 18th Attic - Now Released On Steam - Out Now Trailer

Credit to Steelkrill Studio channel on YouTube.

Quick Review and Rating

Quick Review

This game is the latest release from Steelkrill Studios. I've played quite a few games from this studio before, but none of them really stood out except The Voidness. So, is this latest release any good or memorable?

A quick look at Steelkrill Studios

Steelkrill Studios is a studio owned (?) or run (?) by just a single individual — basically a solo developer. Their official website does state as much, and they've actually released quite a number of other games before this. Such as The Voidness - Lidar Horror Survival Game, Rotten Flesh, and The Backrooms 1998. Out of the titles they've released, I've played almost all of them, but the one that left a genuinely good impression was The Voidness. Back then, I played it on my laptop, and the game ran smoothly, though with occasional stutters. Maybe someday I'll write a quick review of The Voidness too.

Quick Rating

Category & Rating Details Score
1. Mechanics & Gameplay
  • Controls: The controls are easy to understand, since the concept is a walking simulator — so basically, you walk... interact... that's about it.

    Are the controls cumbersome?

    Kinda. Somehow I'd have preferred that to switch to a tool like a lighter or a camera, I could just scroll the mouse. But somehow I feel like I have to open the Tab menu to equip items.
  • Game Loop: It's actually pretty simple. Walk through a floor → Look out for any changes/anomalies → If there is one, photograph it. If not, move on → Go up the stairs → Continue until you reach the top — my assumption being floor 18, though I didn't actually finish it. And later on if you're being chased by an anomaly, you also have to be smart about not getting caught.

    So simple, and monotonous.

    But actually, the anomalies displayed on each floor are dynamic per run, so while it could be called monotonous, it doesn't actually feel boring.
  • Difficulty: Can't really call it hard, but... Sometimes the resources provided aren't very generous. For example, since the concept revolves around "photographing" anomalies/changes, you might expect film rolls to be available every few areas or so, but... sadly that's not the case.

    And then... sometimes the anomaly detection feels a bit inaccurate, meaning the limited film rolls end up getting wasted when an anomaly doesn't register properly.
  • Additional Note: Even though my score for this section is low, this is honestly one of the horror games that actually made me feel scared. The surprise factor lands, the fun while playing lands. So... it's a bit of a shame — even though it's enjoyable, the game is still not very optimized. Which makes me wonder, how would it run on low-spec devices?
 7.4
2. Visuals & Aesthetics
  • Art Direction: The art style used in this game is Surreal. So everything looks "real," in a way. It looks great, but somehow it also makes the game feel less smooth to play.
  • Optimization: Hmm... Could be called smooth, but not well optimized. The FPS in this game fluctuates frequently and can't stay stable at 100 FPS — my monitor's refresh rate. It also can't be capped at 60 FPS. As a result, the experience while playing feels a bit unpleasant. The CPU also often stays at around 127%, basically hitting the maximum limit of my CPU. Stutters are noticeable at times too, especially during menu transitions. That said, the GPU, vRAM, and RAM all seemed stable.
  • UI/UX: Even though the font is small, everything is still fairly readable. There's also a "censorship" option, though it seems like the only thing being censored is the private area on the mannequins in the game...

    Oh, one more thing... Unfortunately, the attic number isn't displayed. Maybe that's intentional? But it means you have no idea which attic floor you've reached or how many runs you've done...

    Ah, one more thing! I'm also not a huge fan of the fish-eye camera perspective. Somehow that type of camera tends to trigger motion sickness. Thankfully some of the effects can be turned off...
 6.7
3. Story & World
  • Pacing: The pacing of this game... depends on the mode — for example, I played in chase mode, the standard mode. One run until you die is around 10 minutes. And that already involves going up multiple times to search for anomalies. For a single run of around 10 minutes, it feels just right. Not too much to observe, and for an "anomaly hunting" game, the pacing feels appropriate, even if it's on the shorter side.
  • Characters: In this game, you control a character named James. James is who we control as we climb the Attic from one level to the next.
  • Additional Note: There's a voice belonging to Emily — who seems to be James's wife — and there's also a cat character that can be customized at the start.
 9
4. Audio & Music
  • Sound Design: The audio is fine, nothing about it feels distracting.
  • Music: There doesn't seem to be much music, except when the radio turns on by itself.
  • Voice Acting: There is voice acting, but not a lot. Just brief exchanges between James and Emily. Which... honestly wouldn't make much of a difference if it weren't there. It's also a bit of a shame that when I was checking the menu, the voice acting would just play on its own in the background.
 8
5. Replayability & Value
  • Price vs Content: Hmm, the price is 91K IDR, and on sale it can drop to around 72K IDR. For the content on offer... Hmm... It might be fair, but it's edging toward expensive. Even though there are two modes, a surreal art style, decent audio, and solid gameplay — the content essentially boils down to just finding anomalies. So it does feel... a bit pricey for what's being offered.
  • Post-Completion Content: I didn't finish this game. Honestly, there are no current plans to complete it. But maybe once you reach Attic 18, the game ends?
 8
TOTAL SCORE xx

Gameplay Video

Want to watch my gameplay video? You can watch it below:

(EN/ID) The Attic 18th - Paranormal Anomaly Hunting - First Impression - Gameplay #Lurkit #PressEngi

Adli's gameplay on Adli_HM's channel on YouTube.

Steam Price

Closing

If you're looking for a horror game that's eerie, delivers on the surprise and jump scare front, doesn't have too much to keep track of in a single run, and you have around 91K IDR to spare on it — then this game might be right for you if you enjoy this genre. Even though it's not fully optimized yet, the game is already solid enough to play and holds up well compared to other games in the "anomaly hunting" genre.

That's all!

See you in the next Adli's Quick Games Review :)