Walking Exit 8 and a Movie

Exit 8 is a walking simulator that blends puzzle design with psychological horror without a single act of violence. It spawned a sequel, Platform 8, and ultimately a full live-action film that premiered at Cannes.

Exit 8 was developed by a solo developer and ex-3D artist. The three entries: two games and a film share one core premise: you find yourself trapped inside a liminal space, a sterile subway station, viewed through a first-person lens. Then things start to happen. I won’t spoil what exactly, because the entire experience hinges on surprise. The concept is so simple. This is, in my opinion, the purest form of what video games can do: play with our perceptions and expectations to deliver something unexpected.

Designs like this are right up my alley. They are also incredibly difficult to come up with. When left to my own device, my brain tends toward familiar territory: gimmicks of realism. That approach is fundamentally not that interesting unless you are making the next realistic first-person shooter. Here, you just walk. That’s it. It reminds me of Kingdom, which similarly constrains you to just three directional inputs. Limiting player interaction mecanisms is by itself super interesting.

There is no tutorial, no hand-holding, no explanation. The game just drops you into an absurd situation and lets your mind race to make sense of it. The setting amplifies the unease; blindingly white, clinical and empty subway corridors that feel both familiar and deeply wrong.

Screenshots are not mine. Exit 8 refused to run on my main Linux machine via Proton. It does boot on the Steam Deck, but not smoothly. The developer is not a programmer. He took the full, unoptimized weight of Unreal Engine and used it to render a brightly lit corridor with shiny floors. The technical bloat is almost comedic (the game does run on Switch!).

Exit 8 (Game)

Platform 8 (Game)

Then there’s the movie that premiered at Cannes, featuring a story that digs deeper into the lore and world behind the games and the characters. It serves as the perfect epilogue to the game narrative arc. Watching it after completing both games is deeply satisfying; you walk away with a sense of closure.

Escher is heavily referenced and was certainly the basis for the universe (see the poster of the movie).

Exit 8 (Movie)

This article is about as short as the games themselves. But the experience speaks for itself: I strongly recommend playing Exit 8 first, then watching the movie. Platform 8 extends the formula, but it is the original that is the most interesting. Its surprise is something you need to experience, only once.

Addentum: Funny enough it seems the switch 2 version is the best version, with added content coming from the film!