Atmospheric survival horror games like Dead Space and Alien Isolation have one goal in mind – get your heart beating as fast as possible. However, almost every survival horror experience out there puts you in the shoes of a human in distress, so how about one that lets you play as a chimp with a gravity gun and a cute rat companion instead? Meet Animal Use Protocol.
Now I know your immediate reaction might be ‘well doesn’t playing as a chimp with a rodent chum break the spooky illusion a bit?’ I understand that concern, but take one look at Animal Use Protocol, and you’ll see that the realistic graphics and dark, Dead Space-y grit of exploring an abandoned research facility make this feel like an authentic survival horror game experience. I’m hopeful that Penn, the “hyper-intelligent” chimpanzee you’ll be playing as, can take us through just as chilling an experience as Isaac Clarke.
Yes, Penn’s rat companion Trip does appear to have something resembling a Tamagotchi strapped to his back, which certainly ups the weirdness factor. But just as long as there’s some sinister backstory to this, I can see it landing.
Speaking of backstory, the overarching narrative of Animal Use Protocol is that Penn is leading a group of tortured and frightened lab animals who are looking to escape from the Anchorage Station testing facility. In the reveal trailer, we see orangutans, penguin chicks, a tortoise, and a rabbit, and while that sounds like someone’s Zoo Tycoon wishlist, I feel like there’s potential for some interesting characters here. It’s your goal to get them out and to uncover the mystery of what happened to this doomed facility.
To raise the tension, you will be “relentlessly stalked by a monstrous chimera of experiments gone wrong” as you look for an escape route out of the lab. All you’ll have at your disposal to evade this monster and navigate your way through the game is a “gravity manipulation tool”, which allows you to attract, hold, and throw objects and, presumably, enemies too.
This is certainly one of the more intriguing horror experiences I’ve seen get revealed over spooky season and I’m interested to learn and see more. However, we all could be waiting a while. Animal Use Protocol is aiming for a 2026 release on Steam.
Until then, here are some amazing single-player games and survival games you can try out instead.
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