Shadow Corridor is another horror game that found its way to the Nintendo Switch system. Being ported to the hybrid console, the developers wanted to make sure you can take the horror with you everywhere you go. This isn’t the type of horror where you’ll shoot hordes of zombies in order to survive. Instead, this is a traditional Japanese horror experience so you better prepare for some scary moments.
You and the corridor
Shadow Corridor takes its inspiration from Japanese tradition and folklore, it’s all about evil spirits haunting you due to the mysterious powers of the Noh masks. What’s most noticeable while first playing the game is the lack of actual audio besides your character’s movements. For those familiar with traditional Japanese horror, this won’t come as a surprise since the genre often lacks theatrical music. Instead, it sucks you in by just giving you deafening silence. While walking around in the dark corridors, your footsteps are the only source of noise, meaning you’ll literally jump from your seat when you encounter an evil spirit. There are some jump scares in here but those are never predictable and rather rare. Shadow Corridor doesn’t go for cheap horror, instead, it wants you to feel uncomfortable and scared the entire time you’re walking around in the randomly generated levels. A feeling it really manages to translate extremely well.
No weapons
The goal of the game is to get out of the corridors without getting killed by the evil spirits. It all starts off rather innocent with some scary moments including being caught by neighbors or being scared by a cat passing by. The more you advance, the more complex the labyrinth becomes and the more dangerous the threats you’re facing. Unlike many other horror games, you don’t have a lethal weapon. You’re only harmed with your flashlight and whatever small distraction you can find during your run, things like firecrackers for example. Due to the vulnerability of your character, you’ll never feel at ease and you’re constantly stressed to find the key, solve the puzzle, and hopefully advance to the next level. To encourage players to go faster, there’s a constant timer in the top corner of your screen, which makes it a true paradise for the speedrunners amongst us. It’s a fun addition but rushing the maze isn’t a great idea since it’s filled with danger, a danger you’ll never be able to fully anticipate due to the random design of the levels themselves.
Technical issues
Although Shadow Corridor really offers a unique take on the horror genre, it does suffer from some technical issues. As you can see from the screenshots, the game isn’t really a looker and resembles products of the PlayStation 2 era. While playing, the graphics don’t really matter that much since the atmosphere is truly amazing but the popping in and slow loading of textures does take me out of the atmosphere from time to time. Perhaps it’s better to play this one on a PC since the Switch version suffers from those technical hiccups. That being said, I must admit that most of the time, the game did manage to keep me captivated and locked on my screen. My most memorable session was one in the dark with my headphones on before going to bed. Although I wouldn’t recommend playing it like this if you want to good night’s rest, the game really demonstrated its true power during that specific session. The graphical downgrade and hiccups didn’t really matter back then. It was just me and the corridors, desperately trying to escape before they got the best of me.
Conclusion:
Shadow Corridor offers a different and extremely scary horror experience on the Nintendo Switch. Technically, it’s something from the past but the atmosphere really makes up for that. It’s best played in the dark with your headphones on although I must warn you, doing so won’t help you sleep at night!
