Eclipsium Review: A sunless world devouring itself.
Housefire Games has slowly built a name for itself in the independent game world by making bold, moody games. Eclipsium, which came out in September 2025 with aid from publisher Critical Reflex, takes players on a first-person experience where every decision and action feels weighty. The firm fearlessly travels where no one has gone before.
Eclipsium isn’t a standard horror game; instead of jump scares, it develops suspense via uncertainty and hesitation. This changes what an interactive thriller can achieve. This project shows how Housefire has changed over time.
The studio has tried mood-driven environments and complex story designs before, but Eclipsium takes these ideas a step further by showing a world where darkness rules and light is both a resource and a metaphor. The idea behind the game is simple yet striking: a dark world is slowly falling apart, and the player’s journey is to navigate this devouring landscape while uncovering its story.
Unique stories are becoming more popular in independent films, and Housefire’s latest shows that trend. Eclipsium isn’t like high-budget AAA thrillers that rely on jump scares or complicated combat. Instead, it uses psychological tension, slow pacing, and the creepy mood of its settings to pull players in. Each step forward is planned, full of unknowns, and meant to keep players on edge.
Importantly, Eclipsium doesn’t ask players to fight monsters in the usual ways. Instead, it focuses on the social and environmental problems that come up when the world falls apart. The best thing about the game is that it keeps you interested with small clues, visual stories, and the constant fear of the unknown. Players are told to watch, guess, and think, which makes the experience of playing both intense and personal.
Every step shifts the balance between hope and despair.
The story in Eclipsium is simple but interesting. In a world where light is dying, players must move through landscapes completely shrouded in shadows to piece together the past of this dark world. The story is told through environmental stories, notes left around, encrypted messages, and brief glimpses of a society about to fall apart.
Housefire doesn’t use heavy-handed explanations. Instead, the game lets players figure out what the signs mean, which makes the experience almost meditative. The main ideas of the book are loss, survival, and how hope can fade quickly. There are times of discovery that feel natural and not forced. As the world slowly falls apart, people feel increasingly alone, and the darkness never goes away. This makes things more tense.
The subtle story design makes you want to play it more than once. Each exploration can lead to new information or secret paths, which reward people who are curious and pay close attention. This is because the game’s main theme is that light is fading, which makes players feel sad as they unravel the story.
Even though there isn’t much conversation in Eclipsium, the story flows well. Slow exploration lets players take in the mood and notice little things that make the place feel more real. It’s an immersive story where the story and the surroundings come together naturally.
The world tells its own story if you’re willing to listen.
The main way to play Eclipsium is to explore, with some light puzzle-solving and interacting with the surroundings. Players must be careful as they move through dark hallways, abandoned buildings, and collapsing landscapes. Their progress depends on how well they can observe and strategically use light sources. The world responds slightly to what the player does, so even small actions feel important.
Navigation is both natural and planned. Players are told to use the few tools they have to change their surroundings, such as turning on light panels, creating temporary paths, or showing off secret items. Movement is smooth but purposeful; running or acting without thinking can have negative effects on the surroundings, which makes things more tense.
Often, interactions require careful thought. A lot of things can be used for more than one thing, and playing with their functions can reveal hidden areas or story elements. Instead of speed or brute force, Eclipsium stresses patience and awareness. This makes it more of a thoughtful discovery game than a typical action game.
A visual symphony of light and shadow.
Small sounds and sights help you feel like you’re making progress. Light flares or changes in the background sounds let players know when they are getting close to a discovery or puzzle answer without actually holding their hands.
Eclipsium doesn’t feature regular fighting, but it makes things more exciting by making you solve puzzles and deal with issues in the world. To get over things, you normally have to adjust the light, switch on equipment, or find out what the visual clues signify. The puzzles are supposed to be hard for your brain, but not too hard. They are meant to make players think outside the box and pay close attention to their surroundings.
Enemies are usually more of a threat to society or the world than actual people. Shadows, floors that fall down, and timed traps can all be used to increase dread without fighting. With this method, attention shifts from reflexes to strategy, observation, and problem-solving.
Eclipsium mechanics work well most of the time. When you solve them, you feel good about what you’ve done, though some people may find the answers confusing at times. People who want action may be let down by the lack of fighting, but it shows that the game values suspense and exploration over violence.
In Eclipsium, XP and success are not very obvious. Instead of standard leveling systems, the game rewards exploration with bits of story, new skills, or small improvements that make it easier to find your way around and solve puzzles. This development feels natural, and it doesn’t break the flow of the story with grinding or figuring out experience points.
Graphically, Eclipsium does a great job of creating a dark, depressing world. Lighting is the most important part of the show. Moving shadows, glowing plants, and small reflections in the surroundings add depth and tension. The models and colors are realistic enough to feel real, but the overall look is strange.
The plan of the world is both big and small. Ruined buildings, empty landscapes, and lonely spaces all convey a sense of a society in decline. The art direction is more about atmosphere than spectacle, aiming to make the audience feel scared and unsure.
Eclipsium has a lot of audio. The soundtrack is basic yet powerful, with background sounds, distant echoes, and subtle musical cues that build tension. When there isn’t any music playing all the time, sounds from the environment—like water dripping, buildings moving, and whispers in the distance—take over, making you feel immersed and uneasy.
Sound design helps people find their way and tell stories. A faint hum could indicate a secret device, while sudden silence could signal that the environment is about to change. Paying close attention to these sound cues is an important part of the game.
Eclipsium is a one-of-a-kind independent thriller that puts mood, story depth, and exploring the surroundings ahead of typical action. Its dark world is hauntingly beautiful, full of puzzles, growth driven by what you see, and real-life tense moments. Some players might not like that there is no fighting, but the focus on light, strategy, and patience makes for an immersive experience that makes you think and feel.
Through its environments, puzzles, and audiovisual design, the game does a good job of creating a feeling of place and story. It’s a meditative, introspective journey where each step counts. Players who fully engage with the story and gameplay will be rewarded. The game Eclipsesium shows how independent developers can break the rules of a genre and change what a thriller can be in games.
