Are you suppressing trauma, worried you can't move on and be happy, scared it will haunt you forever? Concerned that if you don't, you'll be hunted down by a monstrous version of your favorite childhood mascot and brutally murdered over and over again? No, just me. Hello internet! Welcome to Game Theory. They can be nice to reminisce of simpler times. Like when my brother and I would go and play video games all day and never leave the house.

No responsibilities, nothing.

But for some people, the past can bring up some less enjoyable memories,

to the point that even the good memories are tainted by negative emotions.

That, my friends, is the premise of the new indie horror game, Subliminal.

A backrooms-inspired psychological horror game where you travel through

memories to try and avoid the looming feelings of despair and loneliness. As far as mascot

horror games go, subliminal has a lot of the classic tropes. Black goo, creepy mascot, nostalgic

locations, you know, the usual stuff. But much like I was talking about in our meta-mascott

horror video a few weeks ago, this game has got a number of things going for it that do separate it from others we've seen before.

For starters, the premise is just fascinating. It combines things like the Stanley Parable with a narrator you can listen to or ignore, but rather than exploring an actual location, we're diving into the mind of our player character.

These places are from their memories,

which means things can twist, evolve, change. We can't trust what we're seeing because once we turn

around, it might be gone. It also has some of the most impressive graphics I've seen in a

mascot horror game. Plus, there's puzzles. Now, Masker Horror games are not strangers to puzzles. I mean,

that was one of the things I liked about Poppy Playtime to begin with, but these puzzles are cranked up to 11. Some have even said these are too challenging, and they may not be wrong, but hey, I'll take it over another Simon says puzzle. Finally, there's the story. One complaint I've seen online is that there's barely any plot or law to this game, and that's true. If you don't study all the details left in each room, explore every hidden pathway and the multiple endings.

If you do that, and throw in a bit of psychology along the way, there is a ton of law that explains the true story of the game, what our character is going through, and what the best method is to help them feel joy again.

And while the answer may not feel like the best approach, it's the only way to put an end to the trauma.

So lie down in this chair theorist as we take a journey through the deep memories hiding in subliminal.

The game starts with you in an empty space, with a voice speaking to you.

I am your conscious, your sense of direction.

Your name is Caleb. And this vast void of nothingness

...