Game Review: Project 13 (Xbox Series X)

There are a lot of anomalies to discover throughout Project 13, randomised to the point that you might not see them all before you wrap the game up, but one everyone is guaranteed to experience in all its infuriating glory is the thing that harms the overall quality of the game. What is this anomaly? It’s the camera and the question why your character sways and bobs their head like they’re drunk. If you’re prone to motion sickness, be warned.

Ok, obviously this isn’t one of the anomalies you are tasked with reporting in the game, those are at least fun to find, but I can’t express enough just how awful the camera is here.

Call them ‘anomaly games’ or ‘3D spot the difference games’, whatever you want, gameplay is the same regardless. Whereas The Exit 8 was a high point, managing to create dread though subtly, Project 13 takes a blunter approach resulting in a drab and uninspired experience. One that can last anywhere between 10 minutes and 30 minutes, depending on your ability to spot the differences.

So, like always, you play an unnamed person stuck in an endless loop. This one is set in a hallway of a mental health clinic, and your job is to walk down and look for anomalies. Should you see one, then at the end of the hallway, flip the switch and carry on through the door. Should you not see one, head through the door and around the corner will be a big sign telling you what number loop you are on. Get to number 13 and the game is over.

The anomalies in question range from a picture on the wall changing to show something frightening and a wet floor sign displaying an alien figure instead of a human one. To the lights going off and zombies reaching out from the darkness, a giant spider living in the vending machine, and a patient smashing his head against the glass as you pass. As I said, it’s not very subtle.

Nor is it particularly interesting. The location is dreary to look at, there are numerous visual glitches that can be confused for anomalies, and the initial thrill of spotting the differences disappears as you slog your way through 13 rounds of this. Something made all the worse by the awful camera that ruins an already average experience.

Unlike other games of this ilk, Project 13 has a separate mode. It’s called ‘Hardcore’ mode and in it, a wall moves you forward, forcing you be quicker and ensuring there is no going back. It’s a nice inclusion, but few will actually want to try and complete it, especially as there are no achievements tied to it.