The Floor Is Breathing: Taking Tell-Tale Heart To A Whole New Level
Last week, when I wrote about Everything Is For Humanity, I mentioned how it reminded me of the Robert Heinlein book The Puppet Masters. So when I saw another title on itch.io that was giving me vibes of another book/ short story, I decided to dive right in. This time I was reminded of Tell-Tale Heart by Edgar Allan Poe, which is a fantastic short story if you haven’t read it and ties itself into one of my favorite Simpsons episodes, “The Telltale Head.” While I usually like to have lots of pictures, this week there won’t be many. With a lot of darkness being used in the environment and any pictures, I could take have some spoilers on them so this week will not have many.
The Floor Is Breathing has some story aspects that fit in with the story Tell-Tale Heart. Taken directly from the itch.io page, The Floor Is Breathing is a short game that explores the deteriorating mental state of a serial killer in the days leading up to their capture. Set in 2007, Play through multiple perspectives as you try to understand the deaths of four innocent people.
With a promising setup, I was even more intrigued when I started. The police interrogate the serial killer as the killer reveals she enjoys the feeling of their breathing through the floor after the police find four bodies in the house. We start out given an odd-looking list of chores, check under the bed for monsters, fix a window, watch some TV, and go to sleep. A pretty simple and normalish-looking list. With jump scares aplenty, I never felt like I was safe playing The Floor Is Breathing. From the moment you watch your first night of TV, you can feel the breathing happening, and it is creepy as hell. On the other side of The Floor Is Breathing, we play as the police investigating the murders, and that side of the game is also scary as hell. Our first investigation leads us through the house with nooses all over as it describes the first mutilated body.
As the days go by, there is more of a movement in the whole house, with everything pulsating up and down. We also go through the process of disposing of a body while the bible is being quoted to you “Then Elisha prayed, O Lord, please open his eyes so that he may see.” All while we as the player are having this surreal audio pumped into our ears.
With a surprise ending and twist that I don’t want to spoil, it does a fantastic job of re-contextualizing the story and environment that we have come to grow accustomed to. The story is a roller coaster and should definitely be experienced. It does a good job of showing what can be done with such a small space and some great audio. While it didn’t keep up the idea of the short story Tell-Tale Heart, I’m glad the title alone pulled me in because The Floor Is Breathing isn’t something I will be forgetting anytime soon. Indie Developer TottalyFungal really knocks it out of the park. Having released some other titles on itch.io like DOOMORI ETERNAL and Blood Blade and Bone, they have found their groove, and it is on display here.
The Floor Is Breathing is rather short, and while it is very doom and gloom, it is rather fun and almost relaxing to have a great experience in such a short time. I’m excited to see what TotallyFungal has coming next for us. You should absolutely go check out The Floor Is Breathing on itch.io and TotallyFungals other projects over at itch.io.
For more interviews, editorials, and reviews, stay locked over at DreadXP, and while you are over at itch.io, check out the “Worthy of Better, Stronger Together for Reproductive Rights” bundle, put together with the help of many developers and Abbey aka ScrunchoSpeaks, the bundle benefits National Organization for Women and Center for Reproductive Rights.
Categorized:Editorials Horror Gaming
