The Utility Room
Genres: Horror, Atmospheric, Thriller, Adventure
Play modes: singleplayer, VRONLY
Release Date: 6-2-2023
Developer: Lionel Marsden
Our verdict
8/10
- Difficulty: Easy
- Players: 1
- Playtime: 2–4 h
The Utility Room is an experimental VR-only journey from solo developer Lionel Marsden. After three million years of travel you step through a door into the backstage of the universe, a barren rocky landscape of giant stone heads where a being called the Bin Man keeps existence running. It is closer to a surreal walking simulator than a puzzle game, and suits VR owners who want atmosphere, scale and something genuinely strange.
Players rate it Very Positive, with 215 of 249 reviews in favour. The few written reviews focus on scale: one describes the vast foggy landscapes and towering entities as inducing a fear of huge things, and others call it bizarre in the best way. The later chapters, where you go from unnoticed tourist to someone causing real disruption, get specific praise, and one player calls the ending the most uncomfortable thing they have felt in VR.
The clearest complaint is accessibility: jumping requires squeezing both controllers, swinging your arms and pressing a button at once, which one seated player with limited movement could not do. Most finish in two to four hours, so the price is steep for the length. Get it on sale if you like art-house VR horror; skip it if you want puzzles or limited physical effort.
Pros
- Huge megalithic world that makes you feel tiny
- Ending flips you from tourist to disruptive intruder
- Unusual, art-house take on VR horror
Cons
- Arm-swing jumping is hard for seated or limited-mobility players
- Little actual puzzle solving
- Pricey for a few hours
About
The Utility Room is not a traditional VR game. It is not inspired by anything. It is not set in a cyberpunk-Esque city 150 years in the future. There's no shooting or flashing lights or gumball machine gameplay. It is a place that no one has ever seen or visited and it is a place where you do not belong.
Fans of experimental or atmospheric horror games, Journey and the Kid A Mnesiac: Exhibition might appreciate the experience that The Utility Room offers.
Whilst there are some gameplay elements, it can be best described as more of a Journey. One that takes you across a barren, rocky, and dangerous world. Many of the environments and beings found within the Utility Room are Megalithic. There is no doubt that you will feel very small, dwarfed by the scale of the world as you travel across it.
Most entities that inhabit this world will pay little attention to you. Though It needs to be said that this world is a lot bigger than you are. It is dangerous, and nothing will account for your safety.THE WORLD
You have been traveling for 3 million years across space to the edge of the Universe. In that time, you have become very strange. Your body is... different from how it once was but you are excited nonetheless. Your destination is the entrance to 'The Utility Room', a famous cosmic landmark many know of but never visit. Beyond the door, a supreme being known only as "Bin man" oversees the maintenance and heavy lifting required to keep existence stable and temporal. It is rumored that he was personally employed 13.8 billion years ago as the cosmic caretaker.
Those with megalophobia be warned that this game will make you feel very uncomfortable.
CONTROLS
Players can both teleport and move using smooth locomotion. This is because some areas are too precarious for smooth locomotion meaning players will have to use both.
There are two forms of jumping in-game. A traditional 'jump' and 'Leap'. Some gaps can be jumped normally, larger gaps will require you to leap.
Leaping is unique in The Utility Room. When the grip on both controllers is squeezed they begin to vibrate faster and faster. The faster the vibrations, the bigger the jump when the player swings their arms. By giving the player less mobility than in traditional games and disarming the player they become more vulnurable in the world. If they miscalulate a jump they will suffer the consequences. Fans of games like Boneworks or Bonelab might find this version of jumping cumbersome.
Climbing is also optional in the game but is not a major gameplay element.
COLLECTABLES
In the world are collectables. 8 in total representing the different giant rocky heads that each have different jobs within the Room. Information can be learnt about them in the HEAD LOG once they are collected.
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If you choose to enter. Don't do anything foolish and don't get spotted. Your chances of leaving are slim. Good Luck!
Note: The game performs best using Oculus OpenXR. Streaming/recording is best on quality setting: HIGH.
The Utility Room Steam Game is a reimagining of a 360 Film from 2019 of the same name.
