With Halloween just around the corner, it's time to dig out the scary games. Echoplex doesn't have zombies, monsters or ghosts, but it does have some pretty thoughtful puzzlework and a creepy digital doppelganger who you must guide and avoid to best its set pieces. It's currently looking for votes via Steam Greenlight and has neat, and free, demo which I've linked to below.
It's also got this trailer, which you should probably watch first:
Against a timer, Echoplex echoes the likes of Portal and QUBE in that you're tasked with flipping switches, unlocking doors and overcoming obstacles within a weird high-tech facility in first-person view. A past incarnation of yourself plagues your every move, which you must systematically use to trip locks and open new areas—however make contact with your shadow, and the level resets. Within each stage's tight corridors, doing so becomes increasingly difficult as each puzzle ups its challenge in turn.
As such, although Echoplex's free demo is short, things quickly become frantic—the anxiousness of colliding with your stalker made worse by its ominous, expressionless stare and glitchy white form. Although outsmarting it goes hand-in-hand with success; besting puzzles quickly feels secondary to getting one up on the clone.
Again, Echoplex currently resides on Steam Greenlight and has its sights set on release next year. The demo is free and can be downloaded via this link, should you fancy it.
