Necrophosis, the cosmic horror indie puzzle game, now brings its definitive edition through Necrophosis: Full Consciousness. With a world of decay where humanity is far gone, the grotesque takes the place of beauty, allowing for the creation of a mythos that is very much Lovecraftian.
In this new edition, the base 2025 game comes with a new DLC: Subconsciousness, which will be the only focus in this review. As a man who reads and particularly lives in constant existential dread, I believe Dragonis Ares and Adonis Brosteanu have put out a solid game.
Story and Gameplay
Subconsciousness is an isolated story from what players experienced during the main Necrophosis campaign. You play as Subconsciousness, an entity that becomes flesh through a rotted corpse and is tasked with ending the suffering of all those who came before, each of them sentenced to an eternity of suffering.
The game doesn’t shower you in exposition, though. Just like the base game, Subconsciousness utilizes the world around you and its puzzles to convey what it is trying to say. And while it can be a bit overwhelming or even confusing at times, I think the sense of cosmic dread is delivered very appropriately through a lens that is splattered, somehow, with nostalgia.
Gameplay-wise, don’t expect to fight anyone or anything at all. You have no weapons, and you are limited to solving puzzles, which are, to be fair, not that difficult at all. That’s completely on purpose, of course, as Necrophosis and Subconsciousness are story-driven experiences through ambient storytelling. Therefore, any item you pick, which can range from eyes, hearts, and even a sacrificial lamb of sorts, is in itself part of a whole.
Graphics and Sound
The strongest aspect of Subconsciousness, of course, is the graphics and style. The game looks stunning in the most horrifying sense of the word. As said above, the environment is one of the main ways in which the game delivers its story, and it does so masterfully. And even if it didn’t, it can scare the bejesus out of you in a very elegant, non-jump-scary way.
The game’s music also takes part in this experience by providing the emotional anguish that the story is trying to communicate. The ancient language spoken by these unfortunate, undead creatures is chilling, which is a testament to a very well-done sound design.
Feedback
If I had to cherry-pick two aspects that I didn’t particularly like, I would say those would be the dialogues and the DLC’s length. I get that the game being slow is an aesthetic decision, but some of the dialogues could have been cut a bit. One can only hear so much of a tortured soul before one’s mind falls into oblivion. But, still, I get it, it is Lovecraftian horror, and those stories are slow burners.
Also, Subconsciousness is a very, very short experience. I’m talking about a condensed DLC that lasts less than an hour. Given that the base game is 3-hours-long, though, its length makes a bit more sense. Still, I would have loved to see more of the Subconsciousness cycle and its past failures.
Verdict
All in all, Subconsciousness provides a haunting, eldritch, and memorable experience that is tailor-made for those cosmic horror fans or Cthulhu Cult members. It leaves you wanting more, and while I would have appreciated it being a bit less dense, it delivers a world that will stick with you for life.
