Developer Background (MystiveDev)
MystiveDev is a two-person indie studio founded by brothers with a shared passion for atmospheric and emotionally resonant horror games. Prior to establishing their own label, the duo contributed to titles such as Alan Sharp and Wipe: Toilet Plague, while also offering outsourced development services to international clients. Their full transition into independent game development came with the release of Mirror Forge, published by DreadXP, and the holiday-themed horror short Santa Fell in the Wrong House. With a focus on narrative depth, innovative mechanics, and satisfying gameplay loops, MystiveDev continues to push the boundaries of the genre, striving to create horror experiences that are as impactful to play as they are to remember.
Gameplay
Chasmal Fear is a next-gen FPS action horror title developed in Unreal Engine 5, using a body camera perspective to deliver its brand of tension. While the body cam approach is a bold and underutilized angle in horror games, its implementation here feels more like a stylistic overlay than an immersive mechanic. Gun placement is awkward, and aiming down sights feels unnatural—almost like holding the weapon to your chest—which reduces combat to a frantic spray-and-pray affair rather than a resource-conscious, tactical experience. Movement fares no better: walking is painfully slow, and sprinting is obnoxiously loud, accompanied by heavy breathing and thunderous footsteps that are more grating than atmospheric. Despite the game not being graphically intensive, performance stutters still occur even on high-end setups like a 4070 Super, with enough frame drops to pull players out of the experience.
Where Chasmal Fear shows real potential is in its setting. The underwater research station taps into a rich tradition of aquatic isolation horror, evoking titles like SOMA, Subnautica, and Still Wakes the Deep: Siren’s Rest. It's a compelling backdrop that initially creates an effective atmosphere of dread and solitude. However, that tension fades as the game settles into a predictable rhythm. The developers claim there's a randomization element meant to keep each playthrough feeling different, but in practice, it’s hard to notice. Across multiple sessions with different choices, the outcomes felt nearly identical, making the supposed variability feel more like a missed opportunity. One of the more memorable aspects is its enemy design—monsters that, while not perfect, lean into the weird and unfamiliar. In an era where many horror games play it safe with creature concepts, Chasmal Fear deserves credit for embracing the strange. It’s these flashes of originality that hint at the potential lurking beneath the surface, even if the overall gameplay struggles to rise to the occasion.
Feedback
Chasmal Fear would benefit from a stronger focus on unpredictability if it wants to lean into its claimed randomization features. Right now, scares and encounters feel like they're on a loop—triggered at predictable moments rather than emerging organically from the environment or player actions. For a game that touts variability, the experience rarely deviates in any meaningful way across multiple playthroughs.
Additionally, the body cam perspective needs serious reconsideration. Visually, it suggests a grounded, tactical experience, but the current gunplay undermines that completely. The awkward aiming, poor weapon placement, and lack of precision make combat feel clunky and unsatisfying. Either the body cam format should be abandoned in favor of a more traditional FPS style, or the mechanics need a full overhaul to match the immersive and strategic potential the perspective implies.
Controller support also feels like an afterthought. While basic movement and actions are functional, interacting with keypads, terminals, and puzzles is borderline unusable. Cursor movement is erratic and imprecise, often requiring a switch back to mouse and keyboard just to proceed. For players who prefer or rely on a controller setup, this creates unnecessary frustration and further breaks immersion.
Verdict
Chasmal Fear has an intriguing concept and a strong setting, but it stumbles in execution. From clunky gunplay and sluggish movement to performance issues and underwhelming use of its body cam perspective, the game struggles to deliver a satisfying or immersive experience. The promised randomness feels largely superficial, and controller support is so poorly implemented that it borders on unusable for puzzle interaction. That said, it’s far from the worst horror game out there. The unique monster designs and atmospheric potential show that MystiveDev had a clear direction in mind—it just didn’t quite land for me. As it stands, I can’t recommend Chasmal Fear, but I’ll be watching to see how the studio evolves from here.
