RANDOM GAME # 3
When I started my Random Games initiative, I didn’t expect to find anything genuinely good. The goal was almost the opposite: to uncover hilariously bad games — the kind that make you cringe, laugh, and better appreciate quality by contrast. I wanted to populate the lower half of my rating scale.
Decay: The Mare, developed by Shining Gate Software, had other plans. It landed comfortably in the top half. Short, unsettling, and atmospheric, it’s a horror adventure that can be completed over a couple of late evenings — and one that lingers longer than expected.
Presented in the tradition of old-school slideshow adventures in the vein of Myst, the game takes place entirely inside a mental asylum. You play as Sam Eldrich, who checks himself in seeking rehabilitation for drug abuse and anxiety. Something goes wrong on the very first night, and you’re pulled into a nightmare you can’t wake up from.
The game opens with a cinematic — which also serves as its trailer — clearly indebted to Silent Hill. A somber piano track accompanies a sequence of unsettling images that only gain meaning in hindsight. Sparse text reveals that the asylum is called Reaching Dreams, and that someone inside needs your help. That’s all the context you get — and all you need.
The dreamscape is convincingly realized. It mostly obeys physical logic, yet unmistakably feels unreal from almost the first frame to almost the last. The asylum is in advanced decay: peeling wallpaper, rusted doors, flickering lights, scattered furniture blocking your path. Bloodstains are everywhere.
Rather than going for constant terror, Decay: The Mare cultivates a drowsy, sedated atmosphere. The low-key soundscape and nonsensical architectural layout feel dreamlike rather than overtly frightening. Gameplay mirrors this restraint: a simple, context-sensitive mouse interface viewed entirely from Sam’s perspective. On PC, the game can easily be played one-handed — leaving the other free to jot down clues from notes, newspaper clippings, and wall scribbles. Keep pen and paper nearby.
This minimalism lulls you into lowering your guard, even as the game quietly demands attentiveness. That contrast makes the handful of jump scares genuinely effective. I screamed out loud a record-breaking three times — and, to the writer’s credit, one character later explains why these cheap thrills exist. Without spoiling anything: the explanation works.
The puzzles are straightforward and mostly logical, aided by clear visual design. Some involve simple combination boxes; others require finding, combining, and using items in sensible ways. Even within a dream, utility remains intuitive: a shovel digs, a knife stabs, and a Polaroid camera with a flash proves surprisingly versatile — especially in total darkness.
The story, pieced together through documents, brief interactions, and occasional cutscenes, gradually reveals itself to be tragic and effective. The slow, methodical pace gives you space to absorb it, and when everything clicks into place during the third chapter, the payoff feels earned. Two endings are offered: one satisfying, the other deliberately hollow.
My only real complaint concerns communication. Occasionally, solving a puzzle or triggering a cutscene silently unlocks a door elsewhere, with no indication. This can lead to moments of aimless confusion. A built-in hint system exists, but seasoned adventure fans will hesitate to use it.
Still, Decay: The Mare is an easy recommendation for fans of horror adventures. It reminds me of The Blair Witch Project in how much it achieves with so little. A handful of still images, sparse sound design, a few jump scares, and a tragic narrative combine into an unsettling meditation on regret, despair, and the claustrophobic horror of being trapped in someone else’s nightmare.
It’s the perfect game for a dark, dreary autumn weekend — and proof that even a “random” pick can sometimes hit disturbingly close to home.
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