Xbox Review | Labyrinthine

Think you have what it takes to make your way through labyrinths and mazes while solving puzzles, gathering crucial items, and avoiding dangerous monsters and entities throughout? Then let me welcome you to Labyrinthine, the horror game that will test your survival instincts, perseverance, and ability to navigate complex and deadly territories, with the ultimate goal of closing cases and making it out alive. Play solo or in co-op (highly recommended), make your way through the main story, or complete case files on randomly generated maps – The choice is yours. Developed by Valko Game Studios and published by Klabater, Labyrinthine offers a terrifying and unique experience, one I’m happy to have experienced. Please read on to find out more about my thoughts regarding Labyrinthine.

Things I Liked!

• Main story | The first port of call with Labyrinthine was to play the main story. With six well-designed chapters for you to explore, solve and survive, the main story is a fantastic experience for horror and puzzle enthusiasts. Not only is there an interesting story for you to follow, with optional lore providing more detailed information, but each chapter is unique in design and contains different monsters. Your ability to navigate and problem-solve is tested while trying to avoid death at all costs, as if you aren’t playing with infinite lives, you’ll have limited lives to complete each chapter, or you risk having to restart said chapter. The atmosphere is intense, and the environments have been designed to really make you think about where you need to go and have already been. I can’t fault the campaign as it has been created to a high standard and was a thoroughly enjoyable experience.

• Case files | The other gameplay experience in Labyrinthine is case files. This mode allows you to play a diverse range of randomly generated maps, which will differ based on the difficulty, size, and lives allocated to complete the case. As you complete cases successfully, you will gain experience (amount is dictated by difficulty and map size) and unlock more options, such as increased difficulty and new monster encounters. You can also come across hardcore cases (no lives) and rare cases (which guarantee a cosmetic spawn). You will have four available cases at any one time, but can re-roll any you don’t want to play with re-roll tokens. Tickets are obtained by completing cases and can be used to buy useful items or cosmetics from the in-game store. A combination of variety, co-op chaos, puzzle-solving, exploration, and the possibility of terrifying jump scares lurking around every corner made these incredibly enjoyable to play. A word of caution: you will need to play a giant extreme map for the completion (found in custom cases), and this was a horrible experience.

• Mazes and puzzles | What is a game with some scary mazes to navigate through, without some puzzles to solve along the way? Labyrinthine has a combination of puzzles and ‘find X item’ objectives for you to complete when playing through the main game and case files. While traversing the mazes and environments, you’ll have tasks which are displayed in the top left corner of your screen, and these must be completed to progress your game. They vary in difficulty, and some will require you to put your memory to good use. The main challenge is multitasking: navigating, searching, solving, and surviving. The puzzles aren’t too difficult, but may need some forward thinking. The only thing which made finding items difficult was my poor navigation, as I found myself constantly back in areas I had already searched. Labyrinthine has the perfect combination of horror and puzzles, keeping the tension and nightmare alive.

• Monster diversity | There are 30+ monsters you can encounter in the main story and case files. Some appear in both, and others are either campaign or case-file-specific, so you never know when you may come across something new. Avoiding these monsters at all costs was how I went about playing Labyrinthine in the beginning. However. learning their behaviours and mechanics made surviving otherwise deadly situations that much easier. It goes without saying that every monster will kill you if it gets its hands on you, but some are faster/slower than others, and some don’t like the mazes just as much as you. Learning how each monster reacts is crucial. I can’t imagine how much time I spent running, getting jump scared, and making ridiculous noises because of how threatening and fear-inducing the monsters were.

• Audio and atmosphere | As with the majority of horror games, high-quality audio is essential for creating an atmosphere which causes players to feel on edge and activate their adrenaline response. I can say with certainty that throughout my entire time of playing Labyrinthine, due to the incredible audio and eerie atmosphere combined with the gloomy visuals, my fight-or-flight response was always active. It was exceptional. Not only did I find myself creeping around looking for monsters, listening out for their distinctive creepy sound effects, but the overall ambience heightened the fear factor tenfold. In the menu, music is played, which keeps the fear alive, and this can be changed if you find audio vinyls in the case files. Additionally, all the music and sounds are DMCA safe – fantastic job from whoever was responsible for the audio.

• Multiplayer and cross-platform | Labyrinthine is undoubtedly more enjoyable when played with multiple people. With the ability to play cross-platform (PC and console) and with up to 8 people per lobby, there are no barriers to stop you from playing with friends or others who have the same goal as you. With in-game proximity chat, the Labyrinthine experience is suffocatingly horrifying. It’s essential to communicate with teammates when possible to determine the best course of action, whether verbally or with well-calculated glowstick placements. It’s also risky. Of course, proximity chat is optional, but recommended for a truly horrifying and realistic experience. Teamwork will be a blessing, and importantly, it’ll be much more fun.

• Customisation | When you start Labyrinthine, you can choose between multiple base models to play as. Although the cosmetics are limited in the beginning, by playing through case files, you will gradually come across different cosmetics you can use to customise your character; make sure you escape with them to unlock them! With 200+ cosmetics (such as glasses, headwear, outfits, and flashlights, to name a few) to find, you’ll have your character kitted out in no time. Most of the cosmetics look good, but I was a little disappointed with the basic outfit recolours. I should also mention there are limited-time cosmetics which are only available at certain times of the year (Halloween and Christmas, for example).

Mixed & Disliked!

• Bugs and issues | It goes without saying that Labyrinthine had its fair share of problems, which are yet to be resolved. Are they game-breaking? No. But that doesn’t mean they don’t cause other issues. Firstly, the rendering of trees is horrendous. They flash in and out of existence, and this caused me eye strain and notable headaches. Secondly, all the controls show up as ‘X’, meaning it was very much trial-and-error in the beginning, trying to work out which buttons did what in the menus and game itself. Thirdly, if you buy the first cosmetic item in the store, you are unable to navigate or purchase any others, currently making one achievement unobtainable. And finally, the monsters don’t always respond to their mechanics. I hope fixes are allocated to these issues soon, especially the rendering, which greatly impacted my otherwise enjoyable experience.

• Claustrophobic | I know not everyone minds small/tight spaces and/or suffers from claustrophobia, but I do occasionally, and some of the mazes made it difficult to handle. Both the campaign and case files have smaller and more condensed areas you need to navigate through to reach your objective, but it’s not something you come across all the time. The narrow hedges and dingy crypts were the worst two for me, often causing me to backtrack to see if there was any other way I could go to avoid them. They also make dodging/avoiding enemies that much harder, sometimes even impossible, which can be quite frustrating. It’s something I’ve grown accustomed to over time, but I avoid it at all costs, especially when playing through the case files. Yes, it’s a horror game and it’s supposed to be scary, but it’s just one of those things some of us may struggle with from time to time.

• Visual quality | The visuals in Labyrinthine are in no way ‘bad’; however, the graphics could have been improved for a more immersive experience. From the environments to the monsters and characters to the cosmetics, everything would have benefited from a little extra TLC. The lighting, even with a flashlight equipped and brightness set to maximum, is also a little too dark for my liking on select maps. The textures are acceptable, but additional detailing would have been appreciated. Including character customisation (hair, body, colour) instead of pre-made models would have been nice, but the options available are tolerable. This is definitely a mixed point, as Labyrinthine has no issues with the graphics persay: I just like to admire the finer details when possible.

How long did I play the review before publishing? 80+ Hours
How long to beat the story? Approximately 8-10 Hours
How many Achievements did I earn before publishing? 35/39 OR 880/1000G
How long to achieve 1000G | Approximately 60-80 Hours
You’ll love this game if you like these | Phasmophobia, The Outlast Trials, and We Were Here Series

Conclusion

Score: 75/100

I’m beyond happy I got to experience Labyrinthine. For the most part, Labyrinthine is a brilliant co-op horror experience that had me in a fearful but entertained state throughout. I have encountered noticeable problems with the game, and I hope these are addressed soon. The main story offers a mysterious and dangerous experience that brings all elements together, while the case files provide an infinite number of replayable scenarios. Overall, Labyrinthine performs well on console and is a must for those who enjoy puzzles and co-op horror titles.

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