NII-058

The institute was shut down five years ago. The power was cut off for unpaid bills, the doors were welded shut, and the copper stayed inside. You came for it at night and fell through the roof. In NII-58 there is no way back up: only down, through the dark building, the flooded basement and the old civil defence shelter, toward the emergency tunnel and the street. You have a flashlight, whatever tools you find, and your own hearing.

Key Features:

• Down is the only way: Three levels that each lead deeper: the institute building, the basement and the shelter under the yard. No level repeats, and every dead end is one you can see.

• Hide or run: Something walks the corridors and listens. Hear its steps, hold your breath in a locker or under a table, or run and slam a door behind you.

• Hands, not menus: Pour petrol into a generator, cut a mesh with bolt cutters, pry doors with a crowbar, drain water with valves, carry fuses to a dead box. Every obstacle is solved by what you hold.

• A flashlight that stays still: A calm, heavy beam that does not swing with every step. It lights the way, and it shows you to whatever is down there.

• Two difficulties: Normal sends you back to the last door you forced open. Hardcore sends you back to the start of the level.

• Short and grim:A 30-40 minute escape in grey 90s PSX style. The notes left by the people who stayed behind are short, and nobody explains the thing in the dark.