Review | Necrophosis: Full Consciousness

Emerging from the darker corners of indie horror, Necrophosis has finally made its way onto PlayStation 5 after unsettling players on PC. Developed by Ares Dragonis and published by PQube, this haunting experience blends atmospheric storytelling with deeply disturbing visual design. Set within a decaying, nightmarish world, the game invites players to explore environments that feel both alien and eerily organic. Its slow-burn pacing and oppressive tone lean heavily into psychological horror rather than relying on cheap scares.

On PS5, the immersive presentation is heightened, drawing players further into its grotesque, surreal landscapes. Already available on Steam, the title has built a reputation for its bold artistic direction and unsettling themes. Now, console players can step into its unsettling universe and discover what lurks beneath its rotting surface.

Things I liked!

• Nice Graphics | Necrophosis is a gorgeous-looking game. Models are well designed, fit well within the context of the story, and genuinely offer some rather interesting design choices inspired right out of H.R. Giger’s playbook. For me, the main highlight is definitely the lighting aspect of the game and how it uses a very limited palette to help immerse you in these really striking vistas. I found myself taking a lot of photos since I wanted to share with friends how pretty this game is.

• Voice Acting | Voice acting was very serviceable, allowing the voice actors to summon their inner creativity. Entities were so unique in their design, that they range from normal-sounding people talking to you about what inhabits the lands, and demons that straight up sound like they are from horror movies with shrieks, groans, and growls, that felt very fitting.
  
  
• Music and Sound Design | As you might expect by looking at the images, Necrophosis offers a lot of flesh-tearing, bone-crunching, blood-squelching, and all round general gross sound effects. To be fair, this works well given the context of the game and quite rightly, might make some of the more squeamish players get put off from playing. But I argue you can’t place a game in these sorts of scenarios and not be subjected to a little bone snapping. Music on the other hand is the polar opposite, striking a very orchestral balance which complements the incredible backdrops and set pieces. More often than not, I was blown away by how these set pieces married so well with the music, creating a unique-sounding experience when combined with the sound effects.
  
  
• DLC Included | Unlike the Steam version of Necrophosis, the Full Consciousness DLC comes with the PlayStation game. This expands on the narrative a little, and includes new entities to encounter. If you are more of a physical collector, purchasing the disc not only includes this DLC but also a copy of The Shore which we recently reviewed here on PlayStation too. This makes the overall package quite worthwhile given the rather low price point.
  
  
• Performance | I wanted to mention this specifically because I feel like a lot of games these days launch with a myriad of issues, including poor performance, or they have to implement a form of frame generation or DLSS to achieve something remotely playable. Necrophosis does none of that, but pumps out a near-perfect 60-frames per second performance, while looking fantastic. It was a really nice experience overall, and this was also the same case when playing on my PlayStation Portal when I was away from my desk.

Mixed & disliked!

• Very Short | Overall, Necrophosis, including the DLC, is a very short experience. Clocking in at around three hours, Necrophsosis feels as though it is over just as soon as it has started. Those of you expecting more of a game will be slightly disappointed here, as this is more of an art piece. Looking at the price, it isn’t a bad price, right now you can get it at ten percent off for £13.99, but even then, there are a few other games that could be more worth it and offer more content.
  
  
• No Combat | Considering Necrophosis does have enemies in the game, there is no traditional combat involved, and it relies purely on sneaking past enemies in certain controlled environments. I feel like there could have been a better balance in the game by adding some form of combat with different types of enemies to kill and protect yourself against, even if it was just melee combat. At times, the game feels a lot like Scorn, just without the puzzles or combat.
  
  
• Miserable Ending | The ending of Necrophosis is an abrupt, cyclical, and heavily Lovecraftian culmination where your journey ultimately yields a cosmic restart. During the final sequence, you are told that refusing the final sacrifice means your consciousness will fracture, scattering into a newborn universe to experience the tragedies and sufferings of every yet-to-be soul. You are essentially forced to acknowledge that your choices don’t alter the devastation but rather serve a cosmic routine. It is incredibly anticlimactic, and ends with a sharp cut to black with credits rolling, highlighting the overwhelming insignificance of the game’s journey.
  
  
• Poor Puzzle Design | The so-called “puzzles” in Necrophosis are a bit of a letdown. Ninety percent of the time, the puzzles involve you picking up an item in the same room or area, and carrying it to another section of the room or area, and interacting with it to complete the puzzle. One of the more ridiculous moments came at the very end when you are asked to retrieve a token that has been lost for centuries, but finding it and bringing it back to this entity will reward you with one of the items required to progress. In this instance, I kid you not, I turn around and the token is sitting there, attached to the wall. The entity could quite honestly just see it and have told me, “look mate, it’s just there, can you grab it for me? I’ve got no legs I’m afraid”.
  
  This is probably the worst part about Necrophosis altogether. Forget having a great-looking game that performs well, the puzzles just aren’t there and offer no real challenge, leaving you feeling like there isn’t any real content to engage with.
  
  
• The Story | Story-wise, Necrophosis isn’t an easy narrative to grasp. Players awaken billions of years after the universe has died. The protagonist navigates a decaying, macabre afterlife realm where gods are dead and everything suffers endless decay, exploring the meaning of existence, mortality, and entropy in an alternate future. Almost all of the story is told through notes that can be found on various bodies, and artefacts. Because of this, you can almost entirely miss the plot of the game by not interacting with these elements.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 3 hours
How long to beat the story? 3 hours
How long to Complete the game 100%? 5 hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 13/16
You’ll love this game if you like these | Dredge, Soma, The Shore

CONCLUSION

Score: 55/100

Necrophosis delivers a somewhat forgettable story experience with jaw-dropping environmental design and a nightmarish realm filled with underwhelming discoveries. The content within these realms fails to deliver any meaningful content in way of puzzles or enemies that could’ve been used to make the experience feel worthwhile. Even with the included DLC, the overall length feels far too short and doesn’t really offer anything else of substance.

Aaron

Gaming is in my blood.  Be it handheld games, Xbox, PC, Switch or Playstation, I am all over it.
I make my own games as part of my profession and love playing co op games with friends in my spare time. Avid dog lover and camper van enthusiast.