[h1]03.04 – A Rough but Interesting Free Horror FPS With an Uncomfortable Premise[/h1]
[i]I have been gaming since the 1980s, have played thousands of games across PC and consoles, and have written close to 500 Steam Curator reviews. Steam shows 38 hours for me, but this is not a 38-hour story game. The campaign is short; most extra time comes from replays, achievements, Hardcore mode and Arena.[/i]
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[h2]A premise that needs a warning[/h2]
03.04 is a first-person horror game about an immoral man moving through purgatory and confronting the sins of his life.
The opening uses the date 03.04.2017 and mentions a train arriving at Technological Institute station with dead passengers. That makes the connection to the Saint Petersburg Metro bombing difficult to ignore, even though the store description later says similarities with reality are random.
The game presents the protagonist as a thief, abuser, betrayer and violent criminal whose final sin is worse than everything shown before it. The locations and monsters represent his soul and inner demons while he is judged.
This is a difficult real-world subject to use as horror entertainment. I do not think the game communicates its intentions clearly enough, especially in English. Some players may reasonably find the premise offensive or exploitative, and they should know what they are entering before downloading it.
I will still judge the actual game as well as the subject it chose.
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[h2]Atmosphere is its strongest quality[/h2]
03.04 looks like a low-budget Unity horror game, but it can create an effective atmosphere.
You move through dark schools, apartment-like corridors, underground areas and other locations representing parts of the protagonist's past. Lighting is limited, the environments are oppressive, and the flashlight is important when checking rooms.
The game is often at its best when very little is happening. Walking through a quiet hallway while expecting something to appear can be more effective than the combat.
The monster designs are disturbing enough to fit the setting. Some crawl close to the ground, while others have unnaturally long limbs or awkward movement. They work as inner demons rather than normal creatures.
Unfortunately, there are not enough enemy types. Once the same monsters have appeared many times, fear becomes routine. Enemies also sometimes appear after scripted actions or close to the player, which can feel more like a spawn trigger than natural horror.
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[h2]Simple survival-horror shooting[/h2]
The gameplay is straightforward: explore, find keys or required objects, read smartphone messages, avoid or kill enemies, and reach the next section.
You have a knife and several firearms, including a pistol, shotgun and automatic weapon. There is no permanent ammunition counter. Instead, you can manually check your weapon, which is a small idea I liked because it suits survival horror better than a large arcade HUD.
The shooting is functional but inconsistent. Weapons can feel satisfying when hits register correctly, but enemy health and damage do not always seem predictable. A close shot may work normally in one encounter and feel strangely ineffective in another.
The knife is the weakest part. Its reach is poor compared with enemy attacks, and close combat feels clumsy rather than intentionally desperate.
There is ammunition and healing to find, although the balance varies. Some areas suggest resource-focused survival horror, while others provide enough ammunition to remove much of the tension.
This is not a deep FPS. There is no complex inventory, progression system or broad weapon customization. It is a short horror experience built around basic shooting, exploration and key hunting.
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[h2]Storytelling and translation[/h2]
The smartphone delivers instructions and pieces of the story. It gives the player a reason to continue and slowly explains what the protagonist did.
The concept has potential, but the English translation makes it harder to follow than it should be. Sentences can be awkward, important details are unclear, and some Russian speech or media lacks useful English subtitles.
Steam lists English interface support, while the full audio is Russian. That matters in a story-focused game. English-speaking players can understand the broad plot but may miss context from voices, radios and environmental details.
The story also tells too much through direct messages instead of trusting the locations. It wants to be psychological, religious and morally serious, but the writing is not precise enough to fully support those ambitions.
I understood the intended journey through guilt and punishment, but the result was more interesting as an idea than as a fully developed narrative.
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[h2]Technical limitations[/h2]
The game is visibly a small production.
Assets and textures do not always feel cohesive, rooms can look empty, and collision is unreliable around some scenery. Enemies may become stuck, death animations can glitch, and shots may collide with invisible geometry near objects.
Audio is inconsistent. Some ambient sounds work well, but music and effects may begin or stop abruptly, damaging scenes that depend on sound to build tension.
The controls also cannot be fully rebound, and some defaults are unusual. That affects left-handed players, alternative keyboard layouts and anyone requiring accessibility changes.
These problems do not make the game unplayable, but they prevent it from feeling polished.
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[h2]Modes and replay value[/h2]
The main Story mode is short, normally around one to three hours depending on exploration and difficulty.
Hardcore mode removes firearms and saving, turning the campaign into a route-learning and avoidance challenge. It is demanding, although the weak melee system makes parts frustrating.
Arena is a wave-survival mode where you fight increasingly large groups and build a score. It is simple, but it gives the weapons and enemies another purpose after the story.
There are 16 Steam achievements, and completing the modes explains how playtime can become much longer than the campaign itself.
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[h2]Final verdict[/h2]
03.04 is neither a hidden masterpiece nor completely worthless.
It is a rough, short and technically limited indie horror FPS with a few good ideas. The dark atmosphere, monster designs and weapon-checking mechanic can work, and the extra modes offer more than one brief playthrough.
Its weaknesses are substantial: repetitive enemies, clumsy melee combat, inconsistent hit detection, fixed controls, weak translation, audio problems, bugs and a story that uses an extremely sensitive real event without enough clarity or restraint.
The fact that it is now free makes it easier to recommend, but free games still cost time.
[b]Recommended with strong reservations.[/b]
Players who enjoy low-budget horror experiences in the general style of Cry of Fear may find a strange and occasionally effective evening here. Anyone expecting polished gunplay, a clearly translated story or careful treatment of the subject should stay away.
I can appreciate what a small developer attempted without pretending the result is more polished or thoughtful than it is.
