Oxide Room 104 review (PS5)

Oxide Room 104 was developed by WildSphere and is being released on all consoles through Perp Games, alongside a PC version that WildSphere is self-publishing through Steam. We took a look at the PlayStation 5 version.

Although Oxide Room 104 is instantly recognizable as a horror game, it’s an indie take on the genre that comes with a few interesting twists that make it worthwhile despite a few rough edges here and there. And yeah, nothing quite says horror like waking up in a gruesome motel bathroom after a deal that went sideways, even before you start seeing a deranged doctor cutting off limbs.

There’s a story here, but the gist is that you have to try and escape from this motel by scouring its rooms for clues and a way out – only to be thwarted by puzzles and grotesque creatures. The story delivery is possibly the least polished area of the game though, with mediocre voice acting and generally average writing – some of it delivered through notes that you find. This is mainly in comparison to AAA gems like the most recent Resident Evil titles though, and Oxide Room 104 isn’t a game you get for its production values.

What’s most interesting about the game is its time loop-esque mechanic, where death isn’t the end but rather the moment where the game is reset with slightly different parameters. You’ll end up in the same bathtub, but items might be different spots, you might run into enemies where previously there weren’t any, or puzzles will have easier solutions. It doesn’t turn the game upside down, but it gives it a dynamic feel where a restart doesn’t automatically feel like a grind.

This is also one of those horror games that works best through its puzzles, rather than its action and combat sequences. You can gun down monsters, but if you run out of ammo there’s no melee option and things feel somewhat clumsy as a result. This makes for a bit of a learning curve, but once you figured out “how to play” and embrace the time loop mechanic, this is solid horror game that’s different from the norm.

What also helps the game is that, considering its budget price point, it has a decent playthrough length of four to five hours, with replay value coming from alternate paths that you can take through the story in addition to the changing environment that we mentioned earlier. Combine that with solid and creepy visuals, and this is a game that horror fans should take a look at.

Score: 7.0/10