AGORA 1.3.5

Low-budget indie games tend to be some of the most creative around, assuming they aren't just flipping assets poorly in Unity. Without the budget to dazzle the audience with beautiful graphics, they instead need to focus on something else to stand out. These restrictions can lead to some very creative premises. Let's look at AGORA.

To install AGORA, simply unzip the files inside the archive into any folder you want.

The premise sets up the rest of the game very well. You play as somebody who's just out for a walk in the snow-covered forest, just like any other normal person. Everything seems normal, but then you start finding notes that have increasingly creepy notes, and eventually, you feel that you're being stalked and followed by some kind of entity.

Eventually, the environment turns into what's known as a liminal space, which gives a very unsettling feeling similar to the uncanny valley effect. You can recognize everything, but it's just unnatural enough to feel distinctly wrong. In this game, it manifests as plants suddenly disappearing in unnaturally straight lines and strange shadows flickering around.

This game relies a bit too much on jump scares, especially for a game that's only thirty minutes long. However, a shift in environment stops it from feeling too repetitive, and the game overall ends up being quite enjoyable. It definitely lives up to its promise of exploring agoraphobia, as it really taps into the fear of not being found.

All in all, AGORA is an incredibly unique game that everybody should check out.