Name: The 18th Attic Review
Item: The 18th Attic
Rating: 7
Author: Rafael Silva

You might think you know every corner of your attic, but what if something changed while you weren't looking? That's the question Steelkrill Studio explores with The 18th Attic - Paranormal Anomaly Hunting Game, a psychological horror game that turns the familiar spot-the-difference concept into a paranormal investigation. Its clever central mechanic and eerie atmosphere make for an enjoyable horror experience, even if the repetitive environments and pressure of spotting every anomaly can occasionally get in the way.

The story behind the anomalies

The 18th Attic main menu

The 18th Attic wastes no time setting the mood. Before you even get control of your character, the game presents you with a classic two-sentence horror story: "Someone took a photo of you sleeping. You live alone." A bit cliché, I know, but it is surprisingly effective at making you uneasy. So, when you start hearing Emily, who you assume is your wife, calling from the attic, you already know things are going to get weird.

And they really do. Time loops, moving statues, flickering lights and all sorts of other strange occurrences gradually wear away at your sanity. To escape, you need to pay attention to changes in your surroundings and use your camera to photograph anything that seems out of place. Each correctly identified anomaly triggers a memory from your past, gradually revealing moments from your life with Emily and shedding light on what really happened.

That growing sense of unease is reinforced by the attic itself. For a game that takes place almost entirely in the same space, there's a surprising amount of depth to the environment. Wedding photos, old furniture and cardboard boxes make it feel like a lived-in home, rather than just another setting for a horror game. And honestly, I think this is a big part of why The 18th Attic works so well as psychological horror. You're not exploring some old cabin in the woods or a ghost town filled with zombies. You're in your own home, arguably the place where you should feel safest. But through excellent lighting and subtle changes to the environment, that familiar place gradually turns into a prison.

Spotting the unexplained

An in-game view of the attic in The 18th Attic

The attic's familiar surroundings

At its core, The 18th Attic is a spot-the-difference game. You move between floors of the attic, comparing each one against its normal version and looking for anything that has changed. Some anomalies are easy to spot, while others are much more subtle and can take a while to figure out. The variety keeps the process engaging without making every floor feel like a completely different puzzle.

What makes it all the more stressful is the fact that your instant camera has a limited supply of cartridges. So you need to be careful about what you photograph, as taking pictures of things that are not anomalies wastes valuable resources. If you run out of cartridges or fail to detect an anomaly enough times to completely drain your health and mental state, it's game over.

Interestingly enough, the game offers players the choice between two different game modes: Story Mode and Chase Mode. The first one gives you a more relaxed experience, where you do not get chased by entities while trying to spot the differences, so you can stay focused on the puzzle-solving. The second, as implied by the name, has monsters actively chasing you as you move between floors, adding a lot more pressure to the search.

This inclusion genuinely felt like a breath of fresh air. In the horror game genre, developers do not usually give you ways to tone down the "horror" part of their games. But if you are like me and often find yourself thinking, "if only I could tone down some of the scarier or more anxiety-inducing moments", then STEELKRILL Studio has your back..

Verdict

The 18th Attic is a clever take on the spot-the-difference formula, and turning it into a psychological horror game works surprisingly well. The process of searching for anomalies is engaging on its own, while the memories you uncover give you a reason to keep investigating beyond simply reaching the next floor. I also appreciate the choice between Story Mode and Chase Mode, as it makes the experience more accessible to players who enjoy the puzzle-solving but are not necessarily looking for an intense horror game.

That said, the game is not without its rough edges. Spending so much time in similar-looking environments eventually becomes repetitive, and the limited camera cartridges can make missing an anomaly more frustrating than it needs to be. Still, these issues did not take away too much from my experience.

The 18th Attic Review

7/10

The 18th Attic puts a clever horror spin on the spot-the-difference formula, making even the simplest changes to your surroundings worth investigating. The choice between a more relaxed and a more intense mode is a welcome touch, although the repetitive environments and limited camera cartridges can sometimes get in the way.