You know those horror setups that stick because they’re simple and a little twisted? Same Room Same Day hits that nerve right away: I’m a psychiatrist diving into the psyche of a patient named Rosaline, and her negative thoughts have manifested as monsters. Not metaphors—actual enemies guarding the worst corners of her memory. It’s a sharp premise for an indie horror FPS, and after finishing it, I kinda feel like I need a session, too.
What it is (and isn’t)
This is a short, single-player FPS horror you can finish in a few hours—if you can stomach some nasty difficulty spikes. Structurally it’s linear, sprinkled with hidden paths and the occasional surprise (there’s even a one-off mini puzzle). Each chapter opens with a book on a pedestal that drops a scrap of story. It’s not a lore dump; it’s mood-setting. The tone leans more atmospheric psychological horror than jump-scare factory, which I appreciated.
The hook: you walk the narrow corridors of Rosaline’s mind and “treat” trauma with bullets. It’s blunt, yes, but it works because the combat and level dressing commit to the metaphor.
Combat: the therapy session that fights back
You start with a pistol and a shotgun. The pistol’s an underachiever: low damage, tiny mag, instantly sidelined once the game throws you into your first arena-style fight with nonstop spawns. The shotgun steps up—chunky and satisfying—but the reload is sloooow. Early on, one or two enemies are manageable; groups are not. You’ll rely on quick respawns at nearby checkpoints (they’re merciful), plus ammo crates and healing syringes before big encounters.
Then there’s a strange quirk that actually helps: when you die, those supply crates reset, and the game keeps the ammo/health you already banked. It feels borderline unintended, but it’s a life saver. Without it, some sequences would flirt with unbeatable.
Systems that fight you (not in a good way)
Here’s where the friction turns into frustration: reload and healing animations. There’s no auto-reload—everything is manual. If you start to heal during a reload, the reload gets canceled. You heal, but you’re stuck in that full animation—completely exposed—then you swap back to the gun and… it’s still not reloaded. Even worse: timing a heal right after a reload animation can still cancel it, so you loop through reload → heal → still get hit → dead. In regular rooms it’s annoying; in boss fights—where bosses outrun you, summon mobs, and hit like trucks—it’s disaster.
Weapon swapping isn’t a smooth escape hatch either. A weapon wheel pops up, but it takes a beat—and that beat is you standing stock-still in a blender.
I played on Normal, made it to the second boss, and ate the floor ~20 times. I dropped to Easy and still found myself cursing the animation lock-ins. Running away? Doesn’t help much—bosses are faster than you, so kiting is limited. And the cherry on top: you can fire during a reload animation if a couple shells are in—but if the weapon isn’t fully ready, the game can burn ammo straight into the floor. Why? No idea. It feels like a bug, and it wastes precious rounds.
Level design & atmosphere: a consistent, evolving look
For a small project, the art direction holds together. Early areas lean into red, fleshy textures and clinical lighting—a gross, “living brain” look that sells the premise. As you progress, the palette and shapes shift subtly, hinting that Rosaline’s mental state is changing. Environments are mostly linear, but there are occasional side paths if you nose around.
The world isn’t just coherent—it’s consistent. A lot of indies betray their budget with clashing asset-pack quality. Here, models match reasonably well, and the result feels curated rather than cobbled. The UI and menus are bare-bones (you’ll notice on boot, then forget), and the overall presentation stays focused on mood over spectacle.
Difficulty spikes: where tension turns to attrition
This is where I bounced the hardest. The game wants you to juggle slow reloads, non-cancelable heals, swarms of small enemies, and aggressive bosses—all at once. On paper, that’s demanding but doable; in practice, the animation locks prevent responsive decision-making. You know exactly what you need to do—reload now, heal later, swap weapons as a backup—but the game won’t let you flow. The result is difficulty that reads less like “tough but fair” and more like attrition against the controls.
The checkpointing and crate resets keep it playable, but the road between retries can feel repetitive, especially when a single animation mistime buries the run. If you crave hardcore punishment and don’t mind wrestling systems, you might vibe with it. If you want challenge with tight, cancel-friendly inputs, temper expectations.
Story delivery: small bites, decent payoff
The narrative is minimalist but not absent. Those chapter books and the changing environments sketch Rosaline’s trauma without dumping exposition. You won’t get a detailed case file; you’ll get a vibe and a few tidy reveals. I liked the restraint. It matches the game’s length and keeps the focus on the firefights—flawed as they are.
Bugs, jank, and the indie line
Let’s acknowledge the indie jank: basic animations, occasionally clunky interactions, and logic that breaks in edge cases (like that “shooting during reload drains bullets” thing). The difference here is that some roughness undercuts core combat instead of just looking rough. When presentation is janky, I shrug. When inputs feel janky, I swear. Same Room Same Day sits on that line, wavering between “this is charmingly scrappy” and “this is actively in my way.”
Who it’s for
Players who dig psychological horror and don’t need heavy exposition.
Indie FPS fans who value atmosphere and a bold concept over polish.
People comfortable with trial-and-error and repetition when systems resist you.
If you want snappy animation cancels, generous mobility, and fights designed around player freedom, this one may test your patience (and your vocabulary).
Verdict
Same Room Same Day is half a compelling idea—a psychiatrist cleaning trauma with a shotgun—and half a case study in how animation locks can smother otherwise solid encounters. I like the worldbuilding, I like the evolving look, and I respect the attempt to tell a story without overexplaining. But the reload/heal friction, boss speed, and weapon-swap delays kept pushing me from tension into frustration. There’s a good short horror FPS in here; it’s just buried under systems that don’t quite respect the player’s timing.
Still, it’s cheap, it’s distinct, and with enough willpower (or Easy mode), you can definitely finish it. Just… bring patience. And maybe a stress ball.
Try the game HERE. And if discovering fresh indies is your thing, subscribe HERE—comment what I should cover next and I’ll shout out the best suggestions.
Keywords woven in for search
Same Room Same Day review, indie horror FPS, psychological horror game, psychiatrist game, Rosaline, boss fights, brutal difficulty, animation lock, reload cancel, healing animation, shotgun reload, weapon wheel, checkpoints, ammo crates, PC indie horror, short FPS campaign.
Comments
Post a Comment