[ECHOSTASIS] Prologue for Windows

Free Windows horror game demo

[ECHOSTASIS] Prologue is a first-person horror game designed by Jamie Gavin. The game centres around you as the lead engineer at Enigma Research and Development. You find yourself testing a new device that generates an immersive experimental simulation that allows its users to escape into their personalized algorithmically-generated utopias. 

During the process, a cyber-attack is launched on the company headquarters, putting the lives of the test subject at risk. It’s up to you to save them. This game demo is free to download and play on your Windows PC. Similar games to ECHOSTASIS include The Talos Principle, The Medium and Brandon Cronenberg’s Possessor. 

Echostasis Prologue offers an exploration of the human relationship with reality and technology. It explores the topic of AI control over human lives and provides a glimpse into a world where this control turns against us.

Storyline

You’re an engineer working on an immersive simulation project that allows users to create their personalized algorithmically-generated utopian worlds called Echoes. A mysterious cyber-attack hacks the project and threatens the lives of the test subjects.

It’s up to you to perform a cerebral hijack into their Echo worlds to find the problem and save them. You use a machine called Dreamscape to enter their Echo. The Echo world seems idyllic at first, with everything a person could ever want. However, not everything is as it seems, including you. The longer you’re in this world, the more it warps into a nightmare.

Gameplay

As the player, you navigate through worlds created by the fractured minds of the Echo program test subjects. The game’s environments range from visual artefact-rich worlds to a Myst-inspired Art Deco rotunda hub at the Enigma headquarters.

You advance in the game by uncovering bracketed keyword prompts scattered throughout and typing them into the terminal at the centre of the headquarters hub.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack is an unsettling vaporwave score created by composer Karl Barnes. It was designed to evoke the nauseating optimism of the 1980s by tweaking upbeat tunes to be just a little off.

Many horror worlds to explore

[ECHOSTASIS] Prologue gives us a glimpse into a simulated utopia where a hacked AI takes over and warps it into a nightmare. You navigate various worlds created by fractured minds to find problems and keywords to progress. The graphics and soundtrack perfectly set the mood for this first-person horror experience that you need to try.