Repose

Repose (2025) is a retro traversal horror game where you search for damaged oxygen tanks in an abandoned data centre. To play you use limited energy to navigate the grid-mapped facility, unlock shortcuts and kill twisted enemies before returning to a safe point to re-energise. It stands out for this energy-based movement that leads to risk versus reward decision-making to determine how far you can explore before needing to turn back.

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You play a new employee of a mysterious company, tasked with recovering damaged oxygen tanks from eight increasingly confusing and terrifying levels of their data centre. You start with 40 energy, losing one per step. Energy is restored at beds, with one located at the start. As you explore, you unlock shortcuts back to the bed, allowing you to delve deeper each time you head out until you eventually reach a new bed. Armed with an axe, you must quickly kill the gun-wielding monsters that lurk within before being shot.

As you progress, the man who did your job before you appears in your dreams, gifting you a pistol to shoot the monsters. You can also acquire traps to kill them, though the catch is both shooting and setting traps consume energy unlike using the axe. At some locations, you find tea flasks to carry with you that can refill your energy without needing a bed.

The result is a dungeon-crawling game where the skill lies in carefully planning each action to manage your energy, rather than in intense combat. The horror feel is amplified by the simple grey pixelated graphics that mimic low-light visibility.

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Our examiner, Jake Kendall, first checked Repose 8 months ago. It was re-examined by Jo Robertson and updated 7 days ago.