Game Review: Project 13: Taxidermy Trails (Xbox Series X)

From developer and publisher DRYBREAD comes Project 13: Taxidermy Trails, a ‘spot the anomaly’ game that moves the action out of a mental health clinic (The original Project 13) and into a taxidermy museum.

It’s a vastly improved location and with it, comes vastly more interesting anomalies. However, the experience is ruined by clunky controls, an overly dark location, and a vomit-inducing camera. Seriously DRYBREAD, sort your bloody cameras out.

So, if you don’t know, an ‘anomaly finder’ game is exactly what it sounds like. The Exit 8 is probably the best example of it, whereas Project 13 is one of the worst. In this, the player steps into the shoes of an unknown person trapped inside a taxidermy museum and the only way to get out is walk through it, spotting things that are ‘out of place’ and reporting this by pulling the lever at the end. Do this, go through the door, and carry on. No anomaly? No worries. Head through the door without touching the lever.

Do this 13 times (a number at the start tells you which loop you’re on) and you’ll escape. That’s the game over, whereupon you can start again to see even more anomalies or challenging yourself with the hardcore mode.

If you’ve played one of these before, you’ll get it. Even if the range of anomalies in Project 13: Taxidermy Trails creates a more challenging game. Not only will you have to study and learn how the stuffed animals look so you can spot any differences, but there are numerous paintings, posters, and displays to checkout. It’s fair to say that Project 13: Taxidermy Trails is one of the tougher entries, even if it, once again, lacks subtly resulting in a very few scares.

That being said, it does have atmosphere and a lot of that comes from the environment. It’s a creepy place to be, and some of the anomalies enhance that.

None of these positives really matter though because they’re buried under the negatives. All of which come back to the controls and the bloody camera. Bad enough to take a solid gaming experience and turn it into a bad one.

Thankfully, it’s short, and like other games of this ilk, it can be wrapped up super quickly, depending on your ability to spot the differences. As you see more anomalies and learn what you should be looking for, the entire experience speeds up and most will have their first full run done within half an hour. It’s hardly a satisfying length, but that’s what you get with these games. Don’t expect anything more and you won’t come away disappointed. Project 13: Taxidermy Trails isn’t the worst of the bunch, high praise indeed.