Draft:The Utility Room

The Utility Room is a 2023 virtual reality (VR) Indie Surreal Horror Adventure game developed and published by Lionel Marsden in the United Kingdom. It was released for Windows with support for VR headsets on Steam.

In The Utility Room the player embarks on a linear journey across a rocky 'behind the scenes' world inhabited by floating megalithic stone heads reminiscent of Moai figures - that work to keep existence stable. It was praised by players for its sense of scale, strangeness and non-traditional approach to VR and the Horror genre.

An announcement trailer was released for PS VR2 in March 2024.

Gameplay
The Utility Room has minor gameplay elements and could be described as a Walking Simulator. It features instances of environmental storytelling among 26 separate environments. Players use teleport and smooth locomotion interchangeably to navigate. A traditional 'jump' and a VR based 'Leap' are also used to move through the game. Gaps too large to jump require the player to leap initiated by gripping both controllers and swinging their arms.

It begins with the player arriving at a door to the world located at the edge of space introduced with some text:

"At the edge of the Universe lies The Utility Room. The 'Behind the Scenes' where all the heavy lifting takes place. There have been no work incidents in 13.8 Billion years. You are arriving as a tourist. Don't do anything foolish."

Upon arriving, the player causes an accident, causing them to get trapped in the Room. The player must navigate through environments that include surreal geometric caves and mountainous alien landscapes.

The Utility Room is notable for its genre-bending or experimental approach to Horror. Jacob Geller in his video essay Three Specific Kinds of Terror states "I don't really think The Utility Room is a horror game. Or at least it foregoes most of the trappings of the genre. But it does operate on what I'd call "lizard brain fear," a sense of nope so instinctual there's no real need to introduce it."

It uses flat cinema film techniques such as montage and hard-cuts uncommon in VR and a variable linear structure constructed from scenes or set pieces that imitates a traditional timeline or film narrative structure.

The journey ends with a sequence of experimental VR environments that reprimand the player for trespassing.

Development
The Utility Room began development January 2022 as a project initially conceived as a monoscopic 360 film released in 2019. VR was chosen as the medium for The Utility Room as the concept required the player experience a tangible sense of scale replicated by stereoscopic headsets.

The first teaser trailer was released August 3rd on Reddit's r/megalophobia - a subreddit dedicated to sharing posts related to a 'fear of large things'. The post generated the initial interest in the project.

Nicky Vella (Composer) began working on the games soundtrack November 2022 inspired by artists Aphex Twin and Autechre.

Reception
The Utility Room featured in the Venice Immersive "Best of" Immersive section   at the 80th Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica (80th Venice International Film Festival).

The Utility Room currently holds a Very Positive rating on Steam.