One common survival horror setting is the “basement horror”, where you are trapped in a horrible basement filled with flesh-eating zombies or mutants, and your only equipment is a feeble light source which is as likely to draw the monsters to you as it is to allow you navigate. Themes of hubris and “what have we wrought!” are also frequently involved. Well, this is a mission in this exact vein, and while no major surprises are in store, it does what it says on the tin.

Sinister Night is made with high definition assets (high-res textures and custom high-poly objects/AI). This is not underpinned by super-detailed brushwork, so there is a clash between the assets and how they are deployed. Z-fighting on decals is farly common too. There is, however, a very interesting feature in the form of a lantern which projects light before you – the effect is not perfectly realised, and has its inconsistencies, but it is atmospheric, and makes up for a lot of the mission’s other problems. After all, this is a dark mission – you will have trouble seeing properly with regular gamma settings, and using the lantern will be your main navigation tool in the monster-infested mansion. There is a certain technique to using it in a way that helps you without drawing the monsters to your position, and learning it is pretty cool.

The level itself is fairly short, with a sequence of spaces which lack the surprise or variety of other levels in the contest. Loot is placed entirely haphazardly (much of it in various prison cells?), and AI patrol routes are very predictable. This is unfortunate because the new enemies are creepy, and would work wonderfully in the darkness. I am on two minds about the soundtrack: it is overwrought and clichéd, but it does work if you try to believe in it.