Estimated reading time: 5 minutes
“Today's adventure destination, is Down”
Kletka opens with a simple and easy to understand premise: gather together with your crew of inmates or solo and venture into the obscure world below.
My initial thought was the game paid some homage to other titles such as “Content Warning” or the wildly popular “Lethal Company” in it's “explore, loot, survive” construct, but there are some unique elements that make this horror game veer into the supernatural and often times surreal. You are a criminal condemned to the Kletka, a man-eating elevator that travels through a supernatural gigacomplex floor by floor. Can you survive the horrors of the complex, or will your sins catch up to you?
When you enter the Elevator from your beginning zone, things are amiss immediately upon noticing the gaping maw installed on the lift's ceiling. This will be an important feature throughout your journey downward, being both an asset and a liability depending on your actions. Where other dungeon crawling expeditions have you gathering coins and gems for trade, Kletka keeps things on brand with it's nod to recycling as you will be gathering empty green bottles to use in various manners throughout the unexplored levels as a form of currency.
The corridors encountered can range anywhere from a full hallway filled with bright lights and apartment dwellings housing unspoken layouts of long forgotten residents, to unspeakable and often times indescribable encounters where reality itself is warped in such ways that the development team had a real field day twisting ones expectations. Gravity may not apply, the walls may not be walls, or the entrance that you had once known could be nonexistent. On top of all the wondrous ways this environment alters one's concept of reality, it throws enemies and dangers along the way to keep you on edge at every turn and twist.
Some floors you stop on may entice you to gather every small item on hand ranging from upgrades and tools to basic necessities such as backpacks and fuel, only to render your faulty sense of safety obsolete as a cascade of wall worms burrow into you and your team. Perhaps the power for the lights will turn off spontaneously as an alarm hearkens throughout the halls, providing minimal warning that the area is compromised and soon to be the grave for all not aboard the elevator, or maybe it will consist of a nightmarish loom enveloped in shadow and paranoid whispers misleading you to seek a non-corporeal treasure that disintegrates into dust when you grab onto it.
The elevator, or “Kletka” has four primary components to it's function:
The Engine controls the speed and break of the lift for you and your team to traverse safely to the next floor. This can be repaired and tinkered with by wrenches or by hand, at the cost of electrical shock and injury to the player. Wrenches are strongly suggested.
The Fuel tank can be refilled with Gas canisters found among the numerous floors and levels. If you run out of fuel, feeding Kletka raw meat will add fuel to continue the adventure downwards. There are optional things you may feed Kletka and it might provide you with more fuel. The living rodents scurrying around different halls might provide a good snack if all other options have been exhausted, or perhaps a fallen enemy, perhaps a fallen comrade? Get creative.
The Scanner will give you and your teammates a rough idea of what conditions plague the floor you have stopped on and what goodies you may find strewn amid the rooms and corridors. Be wary of the warnings it gives you as it may mean certain doom for everyone as the higher risk doesn't always lead to higher rewards.
The Kletka. This creature is simply known as Kletka. It eats what you feed it and stores various tools as well as gives back to the exploration team in different surprising ways. I've yet to anger the Kletka or let it go hungry, maybe there is something else hidden in it's purpose?
With the controls ranging from floating, to swift, slippery to wobbly, the character movement's are affected by certain situations throughout the adventure. Thankfully the basic conditions of the camera control are preset in a way that will not induce motion sickness in it's players. Smooth and clean response time with every action taken. Some perks will cause your player to jump higher or take less damage, some may just have you consuming raw meat for added health bonuses.
Inventory management is simple and tidy. The user interface is crisp, clean and simplified enough to keep to the point, not bombarding the players with copious amounts of instructions as a clipboard explains the gist of one's journey ahead and keeps things under a shroud of “what if I did this...” appeal. Kletka takes a formula and molds something fresh around it, filling up the void and giving players a new experience on every descent into the many levels below. If you are a solo adventurer or gather together up to 3 friends to explore with you, there will be stories to be shared and moments to be had in every stop along the way to your destination. Replay-ability is a very big feature in this title.
Audio is fantastic as you find cassette tapes hidden on various floors. Maybe if you are lucky you will find the famous “Flight of the Bumblebees” which has become a classical tune to dance to in the descent. Proximity chat has a very pleasing echo effect in large chambers and smaller corridors, making the world feel that much more fleshed out level after level.
I've no grievances save the exception my foolish desire and falling to my own greed. Wandering far into a maze without weapons, or stepping carelessly into a beartrap amid the shadows of a dark room. The pricepoint is low, the polygons are too. Kletka lands a solid 9.
Score: 9 / 10
