Narcosis

 PC
Metascore
72

Mixed or average reviews - based on 15 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 15
  2. Mixed: 8 out of 15
  3. Negative: 0 out of 15
  1. GamingTrend
    Apr 10, 2017
    90
    Narcosis is a survival horror game that provides so much more than a few gimmicky jump-scares. This is a beautifully written, immersive psychological thriller which tells a compelling, tragic story, demands observation, planning and problem solving, and yes, also throws a few shriek-worthy jump-scares into the mix. It leaves you questioning reality and explores just what a person and the human mind can handle when pushed to the limit. Solid voice acting and narration makes this an incredibly personal story, and while it’s not entirely free of motion sickness, being aware of where your head and body are can help you avoid the worst of it. Odds are, you’ll be so full of adrenaline that you probably won’t fully register the motion sickness until you take off the headgear. Narcosis is a shining example of a virtual reality psychological thriller done right, and a is must play for any horror junkie.
  2. Digital Chumps
    Apr 3, 2017
    83
    Presentation quality is quite good, with the protagonist’s voice-acting being especially notable. Your character at times will have a brief monologue, talking about life working for Oceannova, and the guy’s voice reminds me very much of Tom Hanks’ own voice. The dialog is brief, but well-written, and these spoken moments come up at good intervals to remind the player they’re on the right path. The graphics are also very good and the game is comfortable to play. Ultimately, Narcosis provides players with a compelling experience that’s easy to recommend.
  3. CD-Action
    Jun 30, 2017
    80
    The game makes up for its shortness (ca. 4 hours) with an intelligent, well-delivered story, overwhelming atmosphere of solitude, fantastic audio (including voice acting worthy of a AAA game) and overall high level of polish. [07/2017, p.77]
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  5. Hooked Gamers
    Apr 10, 2017
    80
    Narcosis only runs a few hours in length, not short enough to be a waste of time but not long enough to wear out its welcome. Even still, it could’ve been another hour or so longer but perhaps that’s just because of how much enjoyment I was finding lumbering around the wreckages and sea caves. With a scenario rooted more closely to reality than other horror games, well executed voice acting on part of the player character’s VA and adequate performance from side characters in other instances, you really feel like part of a survival story. The replay value itself isn’t high, but for $19.99 it’s worth visiting it at least once if you’re a horror fan. Even more so if you can experience it in VR.
  6. The Overpowered Noobs
    Mar 29, 2017
    80
    Although Narcosis is "the debut effort" from Honor Code, the developers boast experience with legendary AAA games, and it shows. The Honor Code team has successfully crystallized their knowledge and skills, and put together an impressive work of art indeed. Narcosis is not without its flaws, but the level of care in this title is salubrious. The alternatingly terrifying and psychologically taxing atmosphere, paired with storytelling that keeps you rapt until you arrives at the beautiful conclusion, proves a must-play for gamers.
  7. IGN Italia
    Mar 29, 2017
    80
    A great VR horror experience with clever narration and excellent audio. The game can be played traditionally, without an HMD, but it loses 90% of its charm.
  8. GameCrate
    Apr 13, 2017
    78
    Narcosis is a frightening, cerebral game that taps into your basest instincts of fear and survival with a beautifully rendered environment and thoughtful story. The short length of the game and the actual mechanics keep it from being a masterpiece, but it is an excellent debut effort from Honor Code.

User Reviews

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User Score
7.2

Mixed or average reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 18
  2. Mixed: 7 out of 18
  3. Negative: 2 out of 18
  1. dr_zoidberg590
    Apr 24, 2017
    3
    In a post-SOMA world, this game is unforgivably bad. Dirty tricks played constantly on the player, naff jump-scares, interminable walkingIn a post-SOMA world, this game is unforgivably bad. Dirty tricks played constantly on the player, naff jump-scares, interminable walking speed, a story that practically doesn't exist, buggy, completely punishing nonsensical experience that thinks it's so profound, when it just isn't. Also the graphics are like something from 10 years ago. The corpses just look ridiculous. No way to navigate so you're walking blind at a snail's pace. The game basically suggests that all will be eventually explained if you just plow on, but it never is. Disappointing.… Full Review »
  2. JasonR98
    Mar 2, 2021
    5
    This review contains spoilers, click full review link to view. For the most part I thought the game was decent apart from the annoying bugs I encountered, terrible jumpscares and lacklustre enemy’s. The twist ending however of the narrator through the full game not be the character you play but rather the character that accidentally gets you killed is pretty genius.… Full Review »
  3. PublicNuisance
    May 11, 2020
    5
    I looked forward to finally playing Narcosis. It seemed like I would love the setting and story. It turns out I was right. Sadly that’s aboutI looked forward to finally playing Narcosis. It seemed like I would love the setting and story. It turns out I was right. Sadly that’s about all I liked. I figured out in the first 30 minutes that I wasn’t going to have a good time. I tried to go forward and find some enjoyment but you can only bang your head against the wall so many times before you have to throw in the towel. The things that I loathed were the timed nature of the game; the one hit kill enemies and the lack of manual saves combined with the previous two. The game forces you to continuously find oxygen, and while realistic, it hampers my ability to go at my own pace and enjoy the atmosphere and scenery. My next issue was one hit kill enemies you encounter. These giant crab like spiders that can kill you in one hit to anywhere on your body. The idea is to sneak around them, hide and go past them. Well I dislike stealth aspects of games so that wasn’t enjoyable. What I did enjoy was the story and atmosphere as I mentioned. It was top notch. The audio was fantastic as well. I may not have liked those spiders but the sound of them scurrying around on my headphones at 2AM put me on edge like few other games have. The graphics were pretty good. The aquatic life was great; people and objects were decent but not awesome. The platforming parts of the game I encountered were enjoyable.

    I played Narcosis on Linux using Proton. It never crashed on me and I didn’t notice any bugs. The game uses the Unity engine. There is 1 setting for AA; 1 setting for AO; and 2 other graphics options to go with Vsync. As mentioned there is no manual save system. The checkpoints weren’t the worst spacing I have seen but far from the best. Alt-Tab didn’t work. Performance was great. One time the game dipped to 93 FPS but other than that it was above 100 FPS the whole time and was smooth.

    Disk Usage: 8100 MB
    GPU Usage: 23-96 %
    VRAM Usage: 1959-4028 MB
    CPU Usage: 38-51%
    RAM Usage: 3.9-4.8 GB
    Frame Rate: 93-144 FPS
    Game Settings: Highest, AA and AO turned on, 1920x1080

    I feel like this is simply not a game for me rather than a bad game overall. It just happened to employ many of my pet peeves as game play mechanics. If the things I mentioned as not liking are things you enjoy then there is probably a good chance you’ll like Narcosis. I paid $4.37 CAD for Narcosis and feel that was a fine price for the content. Even $10 would have been alright. The full price of $17.49 CAD is a bit steep for me even if I had of enjoyed it. I played it for 90 minutes before tapping out.

    My Score: 5/10

    My System:

    AMD Ryzen 5 2600X | 16GB DDR4-3000 CL15 | MSI RX 5700 XT 8GB Gaming X | Mesa 20.0.6 | Samsung 970 Evo Plus 500GB | Manjaro 20.0 | Mate 1.24 | Kernel 5.6.8-1-MANJARO | Proton 5.0-7    … Full Review »
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