Monstrum

Monstrum is a labyrinth survival horror game that was released on May 20, 2015 where you are stuck on a freight vessel while being hunted by one of three monsters, The Brute, The Hunter, and The Fiend. To survive, you must collect resources that will help you escape the ship alive.

## Gameplay

You play as a crewmember of a freight vessel called the *Hisa Maru*. All of the other crewmates have been killed by one of the three monsters you may encounter in your playthrough, leaving you as the last survivor of the ship. You will need to collect a variety of items that will help you escape the ship without being killed by the monster itself.

Monstrum is a survival horror game "takes the traditional survival horror formula and remixes it completely with procedurally generated levels, permadeath, and AI driven predators". According to the game's description, Monstrum is randomly-generated, meaning that all not all items will be in the same room as the last playthrough and the formation of the rooms is different on each playthrough. In addition, Monstrum is also a permadeath game, meaning that once you die, you lose all of your progress. There is also no save option, meaning that you must escape the ship all in one run and if you quit to the main menu, you lose all of your progress.

Now onto the real horrors: the monsters. During each playthrough, you will encounter one of three monsters in the game, each with their own levels of strength, speed, and intelligence along with their special abilities and warning signs.

## Monsters

### The Brute

The Brute is a large, muscular creature with a burnt appearance and a glowing, orange face. The Brute is the fastest and strongest of the monsters but is also the least intelligent of them, being easily tricked by distraction items. Despite this, The Brute does seem to show some levels of intelligence as it utilizes shortcuts during a chase, something it does better than the other two monsters due to its speed and disregard for doors.

### The Hunter

The Hunter is a thin, emaciated-looking humanoid with gelatinous skin that reveals its bones and organs. The Hunter also has a split jaw that contain sharp teeth, with two jaws on the sides of its face and one on the bottom of its face. The Hunter seems to be the most balanced monster in the game, with moderate speed, strength, and intelligence. The Hunter is also the only monster that can use the vents and can come out of said vents at will and create egg sacs that it may pop out of, giving the player very little time to flee or hide if a distraction item or security alarm goes off.

### The Fiend

The Fiend is a demonic creature that is followed by a purple aura. The Fiend is a highly intelligent but also a very slow monster who, unlike the Brute who hunts the player out of pure hostility and The Hunter who appears to feed on the player, The Fiend appears to hunt the player down out of sadistic pleasure, seeming to toy with the player and instill fear into them. In addition, The Fiend has telekinetic powers that takes form as a purple aura, which it uses for a variety of purposes (locomotion due to its lack of feet, killing the player, opening/closing doors, etc.). Strangely, The Fiend's presence also seems to affect electricity around it, as the lights begin to heavily flicker when The Fiend is near, before going out completely in The Fiend's presence. It is currently unknown if The Fiend does this on purpose.

## Hazards

### Security Cameras

On Decks 5, 6, 7, and 8, there will appear a vast array of cameras throughout the hallways. When you enter a camera's line of sight, they will make a buzzing noise similar to that of a bomb going off. If the you remains in the camera's line of sight for too long, that camera will blare a loud alarm that will attract the monster to the camera. To avoid this, quickly get out of a camera's line of sight, then check on where the camera is looking by looking down the hall. These cameras are especially dangerous if your monster is The Hunter, because unlike The Brute and The Fiend who must travel to the source of the sound on foot, The Hunter can come out from a nearby egg sac or vent, giving the player little time to hide or flee the area. If you find duct tape, you can use it to permanently deactivate the cameras by left-clicking on them with the duct tape in hand.

### Pit Traps

Pit traps are sections of the floor that have somehow corroded and have become unsafe to move on. You can walk on the pit traps safely without any consequences but if you run on them, you will trip and fall, having to press space to get up. This is especially inconvenient if you're in the middle of a chase as you will not be able to move until you get up, giving the monster some time to catch up. Once you activate a pit trap, you can no longer trip on it, so what you could do is purposefully activate a pit trap so that you won't have to worry about it again or you can keep the pit trap active for the monster to trip on during a chase (keep in mind that The Fiend is immune to pit traps due to the fact it levitates instead of walking).

### Vents/Egg Sacs

Vents are hazards that can be found on the upper and lower decks. The Hunter can use these vents as a quick way around the ship. The Hunter will periodically emerge from these vents, followed by a loud shrieking noise. If any loud noise (i.e. a camera or a radio) is set off, The Hunter can quickly come out of a nearby vent, giving you a very limited amount of time to hide or escape without being seen. In addition, The Hunter can also create green, bulbous objects called egg sacs. When you see these sacs, it means that The Hunter is no longer roaming the ship on foot and has entered the vents. These egg sacs work very similarly to how to The Hunter uses the vents, except if the player gets too close to an egg sac, there is a chance that The Hunter can emerge from that sac and chase the player.

### Steam

Steam is a hazard that can be found on the lower decks of the ship and on both sides of the Helicopter. If you step into steam three times in a row, you will get a game over. In addition, if you power the Engine Room and use the phone system to get the monster into the Master Valve Room (Junction #2), you can turn off the entire steam system throughout the ship (except for the steam pipes on both sides of the Helicopter).

## Escape Routes

### The Life-raft

The Life Raft is a orange and black rubber raft that can be found hanging off a ledge on Deck 7. It is considered by many to be the easiest of the escape routes. To repair the Life Raft, you will first need to move the Life Raft away from the ledge by left-clicking on it. Next you will need to find the required items: duct tape to patch up the tears, an air pump to inflate the raft, and a chain spool to use the crane and get the raft into the water. The Life Raft is the only escape route in the game that cannot be sabotaged by the monster. This was made so that there is always a way off the ship. It is currently unknown why there is only one life raft on such a large ship.

### The Helicopter

The Helicopter is a blue and yellow aerial vehicle that can be found on the Main Deck. To use the Helicopter, you must find the following items: Helicopter keys to unlock the helicopter doors, bolt cutters to remove the restraint cables and remove the chains on the nearby containers to find the fuel pump, the fuel pump to fill the Helicopter with fuel, and two gasoline canisters to fill the fuel pump with fuel. Finally, you must turn on the fuel pump. Once you turn on the fuel pump, a minigame will begin where you must prevent the monster from destroying the fuel pump until the Helicopter is full of fuel. If the monster destroys the fuel pump, the minigame will fail and you will no longer be able to escape using the Helicopter

### The Submarine

The Submarine is a yellow exploration submersible that can be found on the lower decks at the bow of the ship. The Submarine is considered by many to be the hardest escape route in the game. To escape using the Submarine, you must acquire the following items: a fuse to power the Submarine Room, a new headlight as a replacement (although the Submarine is missing both headlights, you only need to find one headlight), a welding kit to fix the Submarine's left side, and a sub battery. Once you have found all items, you can begin the Submarine launch sequence. The sequence takes about two minutes and during that time, you must prevent the monster from entering the Submarine Room by using the cart to block the adjacent door. Once the Submarine charge sequence is complete, you can release the Submarine and escape. If the monster destroys the control panel, the launch sequence will be interrupted and the Submarine will be rendered completely useless. It is currently unknown why a cargo ship has its own exploration submarine.