![]() I sat on the stairs for a long time when that music started up, believe me. When the music starts, it means something is about to happen. It made my run all the harder because it was eerie, but also because as gamers, we tend to associate music with specific occurrences in games. It plays more like a sustained note, changing only slightly after long periods have passed, and it absolutely messes with the player. It plays in certain spots for whatever reason, and is so simplistic it’s hard to actually call it music. My chest was so tight from tension that I was actually in pain by the time I’d only gone down about twenty flights. Even on pause, you don’t calm down all that much because you know the game is right where you left off, waiting for you. This game is just one long run, and beyond pausing, there’s no break from the terror. Even most horror games have places that just feel safe so that the player can calm down. Most games have save rooms or little hidey holes where you’ve killed all of the enemies. There is a pause function you can use to give yourself a little break (I had to stop for an hour at one point), but beyond that, there’s no down time. Every single time something in my environment changed, I thought it was time to run for my life.Įach time I tensed up, it was hard to come down from it. I had no idea how they would appear, or if there would be any warning at all. The only screenshot that I saw before playing it was a pair of eyes floating in the dark. The game’s name doesn’t evoke any familiarity and doesn’t call up any meaning you might understand. It happens because, realistically, you don’t know what it is you’re looking for when you play SCP-087. The smallest change in the normal environment is enough to give you the shakes. Just having that little something creep into your field of vision is really jarring when you’re not sure what it is you’re looking for in the dark. There isn’t a whole lot happening on each stairwell, but sometimes you’ll catch sight of something strange on the wall or floor that will bring you to a complete halt. You have a limited light that won’t even reach all the way down the stairwell you’re on, which has the nice effect of always keeping you wondering what you’re walking into. Once you’re on the stairs, you’ll immediately notice just how dark it is. Seriously, go into this game as blind as you can. You only get one run at playing this game as intended, and you don’t want it ruined for you forever. If you do want to play it, I suggest you don’t read anything else on it beyond this article, and especially don’t watch any videos. I had an archive of what happened during the three runs I made at this game, but have scrapped them so as not to spoil this game for anyone. That information alone made my journey down the stairs into the most terrifying experience I’ve ever had with a game and quite possibly in my life. The floor it appears on is somewhat randomized too, so you can never be sure when the thing is going to show up. Once you’re on the stairs, there’s nothing you can do besides walk closer and closer to a creature that is practically guaranteed to kill you. This game is unrelenting in frightening you. The point of the stairwell is that you’re trying to examine a creature that lives at the bottom of it, even though running into it is probably the last thing that will ever happen to you. The furthest I’ve gone down it was 82 floors, but there are reports of people who’ve gone down almost 300 flights. With some fiddling around in the foyer, you’ll open a door down to a stairwell that seems to go on forever. SCP-087 gets right to the point, dropping you a short distance from a creepy old house. What did it stand for? As it would turn out, it stood for the perfect distillation of everything that evoked fear the 40 year old Dalmore when you were used to drinking mouthwash and vanilla extract under an old bridge. The name alone seemed cold yet evocative. One of the more intriguing ones was for a game that was simply called SCP-087, or sometimes The Stairwell. My very first article on the site drummed up some neat leads on new horror games, ones that I’m only just starting to look into. SCP-087 / The Stairwell is free to download at. They may not all be gems, but they’ve all contributed something to scaring the controllers out of people’s hands. The Pillars of Horror is a look at the games, past and present, that have shaped the genre, showcasing the various mistakes and triumphs that have come out over the years. Paralyzed with painful fear on the stairs
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