Seeing as I tend to avoid horror games that feature lots of gore and ghosts and the like, I’ve discovered that many of the remaining spooky options available to me prey on my thalassophobia AKA the fear of the ocean.  One of the worst things about the ocean is its sheer size, meaning just about anything could be lurking in its gloomy depths.  So you could say that I’m in luck with Iron Lung from 2022, an indie horror game about being sealed inside a tiny submarine with no windows and being forced to blindly navigate an ocean of blood.  Then again…maybe the one thing worse about looking into the sea and seeing the glitter of eyes staring back at you is being completely unable to see the thing stalking you to begin with!

But wait, let’s back up a bit.  Yes, in case you missed it, this particular ocean is not made of millions of gallons of salt water, but rather, the spookiest of all liquids.  Blood.  Is it human blood, you might be asking?  Well, I don’t know, and I feel like having an answer to that question would just give us even more things to worry about.  And the identity of the blood is probably the least of our worries anyway because all of the habitable planets have inexplicably vanished in an event called the Quiet Rapture, leading the remains of humanity to make all sorts of questionable decisions.  Such as expecting me (a convict, though I am unsure what I did to deserve this!) to travel into an ocean of blood while sealed in a cramped and rusty death trap in order to take photos of several points of interest that we all hope are natural resources.

Due to the depths at which you’ll be exploring, the viewport has been closed, leaving you with no choice but to rely on a map, a radar that can detect any objects close by to prevent collisions, and the grainy, black and white photos of the environment outside.  There are ten points of interest that you’ll need to photograph at various coordinates, but you can also take as many additional photos as you want.  You know, just in case you’re curious about what the site of your impending demise looks like.

Then again, they did promise me my freedom if I can complete my job successfully.  After all, surely nothing could possibly be living in an ocean of blood, right?  Right…

Iron Lung is a very short and simple game.  You’ll be spending one to 1.5 hours trapped inside your tiny metal (coffin) submarine, pressing buttons to move about on the ocean floor.  Having to rely on the coordinates displayed in front of me and the accompanying map was a very interesting experience that took me a little time to get used to.  It’s not often that a video game doesn’t let you, you know, see where you’re going, but once I got the hang of things, traveling around this unconventional ocean became almost…mundane.

The most important factor in making Iron Lung an unforgettable experience is the suspense of not knowing what you’re going to find and that fear of the unknown that makes the ocean and outer space and any other unexplored place so frightening.  As I moved from one assigned location to another, there was just a bit of trepidation as I wondered if this would be the time my low-quality camera would pick up something I didn’t want to see.  After taking multiple photos of various strange, but largely unthreatening, things, however, I began to let my guard down and wonder if anything was going to actually happen.

After settling in for what seemed like an uneventful voyage, I started to become flustered and nervous once I began to encounter mysterious things that shan’t be discussed here for the purposes of avoiding spoilers.  Let’s just say that you’re not as alone as you thought you were, and this blood ocean hides bizarre phenomena that defy explanation.  Suffice it to say, I was fumbling with the submarine’s controls by the end of the game in my panic over how quickly things had taken a turn for the worse.

Iron Lung is certainly an interesting experience that you must go into spoiler-free for the full impact.  As mentioned, the game is rather uneventful at first, but that makes the latter half that much more impactful.  Yes, you won’t find super exciting gameplay or a myriad of scares, and I must admit that the main scare at the end was a bit…lacking, but what makes this game so memorable is the slow build up and the unsettling experience that doesn’t overstay its welcome.  If you’re the kind of person who lets your imagination run wild over the unknown, then this might be the short horror game for you.  Iron Lung is available for PC and Nintendo Switch for $5.99.