The Stairway 7 - Anomaly Hunt Loop Horror Game

[b](It has loud, mandatory jumpscares.)[/b] [h1] Suidakra - Beneath The Red Eagle (parody) [/h1] Once this game was but a dream Yet now I'm here and this is real A concept forged by higher minds Then jumpscares made by cave trolls blind Today I'll climb with hope and pride Seventy floors, no saves in sight Today, my brain, we must stay sharp Go forth beyond the endless stairs O, my eyes, the details you must seek A crooked pipe, a stain upon the wall A missing chair, a ginger cat to pet... Then AAAAGH! Some goblin screams instead. Beneath the Stairway I will march To spot each change, to live or die Under fluorescent lights I'll climb To use my brain... then get air-horned again To use my brain... then get air-horned again If word should come I missed a clue Then skill issue—I accept the L But not because Greg the Ghoul yelled "BOO!" So climb, my son, through the endless Stairway On the road where every floor gaslights your soul Let your memory forever be your guide And compare each stain with heroic pride Yet this game, unlike the other ones Lets you tank mistakes and even heal You can stroke a ginger cat for comfort... Before a PNG screams in your grill. Beneath the Stairway I will march To fight poor design, not ghosts with lungs The atmosphere is doing fine... Stop interrupting it every five minutes, Steve. Stop interrupting it every five minutes, Steve. If word should come I guessed it right Then maybe... don't punish me for it? I solved the puzzle. Why am I being flash-banged? Doubt is lurking in my mind For what I've seen on every climb An atmosphere that should've cooked Then someone spilled Monster Energy in the script The stairway whispers... "Trust your eyes." The monster whispers... "AAAAAAAAAAAAAA." The ginger cat remains the wisest soul. Eleven out of ten. Promote the cat to lead designer. And though indeed I praise this game... May every forced jumpscare be banished... To Floor 71. [hr] [h1]DEXTER MORGAN: THE STAIRWELL SURGEON — SURPRISE, MOTHER—STATIC NOISE[/h1] DEXTER’S APARTMENT — 3:15 AM The living room has been transformed into a sterile, pristine operating theater. Dexter stands in his signature apron, clutching a pair of long, stainless steel tweezers. On the kitchen table, which is covered in heavy-duty clear sheeting, sits a gaming monitor hooked up to a high-end PC. The room is quiet, illuminated only by the clinical glow of the screen. DEBRA: (Stumbling out of the bedroom, clutching her robe) Dexter! I heard a loud screeching! Are you watching one of your "investigation" videos at maximum volume again? It’s three in the morning! DEXTER: (Deadpan, not looking away from the monitor) It’s not a video, Deb. It’s an entity. It’s been lurking in the files, jumping out at users with the subtlety of a falling piano. It’s a disgrace to the craft of horror. DEBRA: It’s a game! You’re supposed to be startled! That’s why people play! DEXTER: (Internal Monologue) Debra thinks a sudden noise is the height of suspense. She doesn't understand that true tension isn't a loud outburst in a dark room. It's the anticipation. The entity thinks it’s an apex predator. It needs to be corrected. STAIRWAY 7 — THE CONFRONTATION Dexter sits in his chair, posture rigid. He moves through the virtual hallway with clinical precision. HARRY: (Appearing in the corner, his voice a calm, ghostly whisper) Dexter. You’ve tracked it to the final floor. It’s waiting for you to turn the corner. It expects panic. DEXTER: (Whispering) It expects a reaction. It expects me to lose my composure. It doesn't know who it’s dealing with. The screen flickers. A jagged, low-poly creature lurches toward the camera, letting out a distorted, ear-piercing shriek. Dexter doesn't flinch. He doesn't even blink. He hits the "Pause" key with the speed of a cobra. DEXTER: Caught you. THE TABLE Dexter and Harry stand over the kitchen table. Dexter is carefully dragging the heavy monitor onto the plastic-covered surface, sliding it into the center. HARRY: You have the pattern, Dexter. It has nowhere to go now. DEXTER: (To the screen, which displays a frozen frame of the creature’s face) You’re far from home. No code to hide behind. No sudden flashes to distract me. Just you, me, and the hard drive. DEBRA: (Peering from the hallway, eyes wide) Are you... are you shining a desk lamp directly into its virtual eyes? Dexter, you are officially losing your grip on reality. DEXTER: (Ignoring her) I want to know why. Why the noise? Why the unearned jumpscare? Was the atmosphere not enough for you? Did you feel the need to compensate for your lack of genuine design? HARRY: Tell him, Dexter. Tell him how this works. DEXTER: (Leaning in close, his voice a chilling, flat whisper) You see, every monster has a weakness. Yours is that you're predictable. You thought you could force a reaction. But all you did was provide me with a data set. Dexter picks up a screwdriver and points it at the power button. DEXTER: Surprise, mother— DEBRA: (Sighing) I am going back to bed. I didn't see anything. DEXTER: —System shut down. He flips the power switch. The screen goes black. The entity is silenced. FINAL REVIEW Dexter stands back, his face a mask of neutral satisfaction. DEXTER: (Voiceover) The entity is gone. The staircase is quiet. My pulse remains a perfect, steady resting rate. The cat on floor 42 is safe. The code is clean. HARRY: A job well done. But there are thousands of other files out there, Dexter. Thousands of other monsters. DEXTER: (Taking a slow, measured breath, standing tall in his clean apartment) Let them come. I have a very large hard drive. And I have all the patience in the world. [FADE TO BLACK] [hr] [H1]HONEST TRAILERS PARODY:[/H1] (SCENE: A security monitor flickers on. It shows the empty halls of Stairway 7. A chair sits in the corner.) HONEST TRAILER GUY: From the developers who looked at I'm on Observation Duty and thought: "What if we removed the cameras and forced people to walk into the nightmare?" STAIRWAY 7. DEXTER: This building is a fascinating psychological experiment. QUINN: It's a staircase. DEXTER: A 70-floor staircase with a broken elevator. QUINN: ...Okay, that's worse. HONEST TRAILER GUY: Enter a tower where every hallway looks suspiciously familiar, every room feels like an anomaly, and the entire layout is so identical to an I'm on Observation Duty level that players start looking for the "report anomaly" button. MASUKA: Guys! I found an anomaly! DEXTER: What changed? MASUKA: The chair moved. DOAKES: WE ARE STUCK IN A 70-FLOOR TOWER AND WE'RE LOSING TO FURNITURE?! HONEST TRAILER GUY: Experience the terror of a broken elevator, endless stairs, and hallways so repetitive your own footsteps become the monster. TRAVIS: The endless stairs represent humanity's eternal suffering. DOAKES: NO. THEY REPRESENT A DEVELOPER WHO REFUSED TO FIX THE ELEVATOR! ARTHUR: This building is an architectural crime. DEXTER: Because it's haunted? ARTHUR: No. (Points at the floor plan.) ARTHUR: Because someone approved it. BRIAN: Brother, I think the building is watching us. DEXTER: Impossible. (A security camera turns toward them.) DEXTER: ...Less impossible. QUINN: So what's the plan? DEXTER: Climb all 70 floors. QUINN: And if we see something strange? DEXTER: Report it. QUINN: To who? (Everyone looks around.) DEXTER: ...Excellent question. MASUKA: I solved the mystery! We're not exploring the building. DOAKES: Then what are we doing? MASUKA: We're inside the observation test. HONEST TRAILER GUY: Stairway 7. 70 floors. One broken elevator. Zero explanations. And the terrifying realisation that I'm on Observation Duty had the right idea... (Pause.) HONEST TRAILER GUY: ...watching this place from a monitor was safer. [FADE TO BLACK] TEXT ON SCREEN: "THE ONLY ANOMALY THEY MISSED... WAS THE ELEVATOR REPAIR BILL." DEXTER: "Tomorrow night... I investigate whoever designed this stairway from hell."

I thoroughly enjoyed this game. What might seem at first glance as just another anomaly hunter/ Exit 8 clone had a good bit more to it. Admittedly seeing 70 levels to get through felt daunting at various stages but I got there in the end, showing how doable it is. I really liked the various anomalies and the sense of fun and not just straight horror of a number of them. The jumpscare did feel like a lot, and I wish I could turn it down or off. Though admittedly it was a suitable punishment. Going forward I would like it to highlight what the anomaly had been or what I missed if I got it wrong. I really loved the sense of a storyline at the end but some threads or hints it was coming in various anomalies throughout would have been cool.

I really like that kind of game. The only sad thing is that its not random so you just have to note which floor has anomaly and it become easy. I have to try the survival mode.

I would absolutely recommend this game. It's a really great one in the Exit 8 genre. What I like most about it is that it doesn't overload the level with a ton of debris and it can have trickier anomalies in it without it feeling unfair, and when you miss something, you really do feel like it's on you. It was appropriately creepy without the need for ridiculous jump scares, and there was a lot of game here - especially compared to some games in this genre. I am going to be following this developer and looking forward to more games like this. I'm super impressed, especially since this was a solo dev. If you are a fan of anomaly hunting, this is one you really don't want to miss.

Well made game! I was scared there when i saw 70 floors there for a second but the game was short and sweet kina wanted more! I love how they added the cat like "Hey, let’s throw in a cute cat to balance out the sheer terror” genius move!! xD AND BY THE WAY!! ALWAYS: [E] Pet Cat ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ＿＿ 　　　　　／＞　　フ 　　　　　| 　_　 _ l 　 　　　／` ミ＿xノ 　　 　 /　　　 　 | 　　　 /　 ヽ　　 ﾉ 　 　 │　　|　|　| 　／￣|　　 |　|　| 　| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__) 　＼二つ

The Stairway 7 is a good anomaly psychological horror game with a small story behind it. This game is another game where you look for anomalies. It has lots of levels/floors so look carefully how the floor looks like, because the game can get a little tricky and difficult. Everytime you complete an anomaly; 2 things will happen: You either get attacked and lose health or nothing happens. It also has a messed up storyline, so play the game! The game is made by 1 developer and well made too, without crashes or bugs(yet). There was this one bug though where I couldn't look around but that's because I alt+tabbed alot of times and NVIDIA was messing up blablabla....... (But the game is playable ;)) I finished the game in 90 minutes with almost all achievements, still need 1 more then I've completed the whole game. The game is short but that's good for an anomaly game with a storyline. I recommend the people who has played Exit 8, Platform 8 or Shinkansen 0; this game. I'd give it a 7.8/10

Rendben van.