There’s a Good Video-Game Adaptation Out (Without Mario in It)
The 2023 indie game The Exit 8 is a short, atmospheric experience where players explore a looping series of train station corridors. Progress requires careful observation – looking for anything unusual, like changing advertisements or sudden floods – and retracing your steps when something seems off. The game is clearly inspired by Hideo Kojima’s P.T., which also featured an endless hallway, but The Exit 8 focuses more on creating a creepy, unsettling mood than outright scares, leaning towards a gothic, institutional feel rather than the disturbing imagery of something like Eraserhead. The game offers little in the way of a traditional story, which allows the creators to build a narrative that beautifully complements the game’s dreamlike, cyclical structure. The story follows a man who receives a call from his ex-girlfriend, who reveals she’s pregnant and asks for his input. This news triggers a panic attack, and the man finds himself trapped in a nightmarish loop. The anxiety surrounding fatherhood is a central theme, not only in the man’s own fears about being a parent, as shown by his inaction on a train, but also in the stories of the other characters he encounters as he tries to escape.
