When I have free time, one of my favorite things to do is browse the Steam new releases tab to see what new, under-the-radar releases are available each week. As I was looking through games, Solitary in the Library caught my eye as a new indie horror game from Japanese developer CHOCOMAME.
Solitary in the Library follows a girl named Ayumi who works as a librarian in her school. The game leaves plenty of mystery in Ayumi’s past at the beginning, but it makes it clear that she has struggled to make friends in the past due to her heterochromia. You’re tasked with taking care of the library and cleaning up before it’s time to go home, which often includes picking up books left out by students, returning them to their place, and shooing away students who remain in the library after closing hours.
While things seem plenty normal, strange occurrences begin to happen, and the library itself immediately becomes a tense atmosphere to navigate. Solitary in the Library chooses not to focus on traditional jump scares or in-your-face horror, but instead, opts to go the psychological route. As the days progress throughout the week, things continue to become stranger as you finish your library tasks for the day. Not to mention the fact that your tasks themselves can get incredibly strange.
As you’re putting away books in their respective places, you might come across a fallen book or bloody footprints that appear out of nowhere. These, of course, lead to more things that can ultimately make it feel like Ayumi is falling into an endless spiral of madness. I was thoroughly impressed with how CHOCOMAME was able to create a tense atmosphere, despite the game mostly taking place in one single room. You might hear children laughing creepily, the hallway might completely disappear and become an endless pit, or a stuffed animal could decide to teleport and make noise in the library.
Along your journey, you’ll encounter a variety of puzzles that are akin to those found in Silent Hill or Resident Evil. One of my favorites involved navigating an endless corridor and finding a way to obtain four clocks, then solving a message to determine what times should be placed on each of them. Some puzzles can leave you running around or thinking aimlessly for a minute, but I was able to complete them within a reasonable amount of time. I was impressed and surprised by the thoughtfulness of multiple puzzles, especially the last one, which involved a cabinet.
While these all help to build the atmosphere, I found the game’s voice acting to be the strong glue that helped bring this vision together. The entire game is voiced, with Japanese dialogue from Ayumi, Yui, and Yamashita, the three main characters. If there’s any one area I feel that could have added to the experience and immersion, it’s animations for characters. Characters’ mouths do not move when they speak, and while it is understandable that this was not added in due to the size of the game, I feel it could have made certain scenes land even better.
The narrative of Solitary in the Library is overall solid, but it’s worth pointing out that some plot elements failed to land. Ayumi’s story was slowly laid out throughout each of the days, but in the end, I was left a little unsatisfied. The game does a good job of keeping players interested, even offering multiple endings to experience, but some plot elements were left a little vague or unclear. Some of this can feel purposely left to player interpretation.
By the time credits rolled, I was impressed with this indie production and what it was able to accomplish. The atmosphere was memorable, the puzzles were engaging, and I genuinely was excited to see what came next each day. I find Solitary in the Library to be worth your time, especially at $3.99. Despite its short runtime, the game manages to accomplish much of what you’d want from any horror game. I’m looking forward to what’s next for CHOCOMAME.
Disclaimer: Solitary in the Library was reviewed on PC via Steam.
