It’s often a fine line between weaving a suspenseful story or a nonsensical wild-goose chase; even more so when you break up the tale into episodic content and deliver it piecemeal (see Lost, for example). Decay – Part 3, from indie developer Shining Gate Software, sometimes toes this line a little dangerously, threatening to further confuse the player by throwing up more questions rather than delivering much-needed answers. That the game manages to continue pulling the player along on that slowly-fraying plot thread is down to the fact that this is a cryptic tale woven as a labour of love, and a not-inconsiderable amount of skill.

Initially, Part 3 feels like a backwards step. The opening sequence, which serves as a mini-prologue to this third chapter, contains some awkward left-stick movement sections which are a departure from the d-pad switching of screens from the previous instalments. Textures feel even more rough than before, even after factoring in the lo-fi aesthetic that budget and time demands of the series. Puzzles feel simpler too, with applications for each found object becoming immediately apparent to the player. This feeling of an overall drop in quality suddenly disappates about halfway through the hour-long playtime, however, when Shining Gate’s love of cryptograms and passcodes brings a new dimension to proceedings. One such puzzle requires that you scribble down the solution on a scrap of paper with a pen – yes, real items in the real world – in order to proceed. Watching the solution appear before you from your own scrawled workings is a unique thrill, a nostalgic nod to old-school gamebooks and a crossover of analogue and digital that is entirely absent elsewhere in the genre.

Of course, it helps that such moments are also embellished with moments of unease, or, in several cases, absolute terror; this is, after all, a horror game. We’re not ashamed to admit that one moment in particular made us jump and shout out in pure fright. Pure shock tactics are not new to the genre by any means, but that still does not diminish their effectiveness. Other sights are not quite as heart-stoppingly terrifying, but are still no less scary; Decay – Part 3 is the most disturbing episode yet in the series, with some really adult material contained within. Those with a sensitive nature should proceed with caution here.

There are some flesh-creeping moments in Decay – Part 3.

One aspect of the experience which remains undiminished throughout is Johannes Rae’s excellent sound design, as chilling and effective here as in the first two episodes in the story. The music is also fantastic and of a quality that could sit comfortably alongside soundtracks of big-budget retail releases and not be outshone. Even the gripes with the plot exposition are addressed somewhat towards the end of the game, too, as the developers finally plug a few gaps in the player’s knowledge of what the hell is going on. Those who have played the previous instalments will already know the name of the antagonist. In Part 3, we uncover more about his motives, and what your part in all of this is. That doesn’t stop Shining Gate throwing another twist into the game’s climax, but we’ll forgive them that, considering it continues to pique our interest in where the narrative is going next.

One thing that is less easy to forgive is the short playtime of the episode. Running at around an hour, depending on how taxing you find its puzzles, there is also little need to replay the episode.The first installment in the series was 80 MSP, but at 240 MSP for the subsequent episodes, it does veer away from impulse-buy territory. Fans of the genre will still want to pick this up, as will those who want to support indie developers whose love for their craft is so apparent through their games, but others may be more reluctant to spend so much on so little playtime.

Although Part 3 could be argued as the weakest in the series, it still illuminates just how unique Decay is that we haven’t experienced a game quite like this elsewhere. That crossover into the real world – with the necessity to work out codes on bits of scrap paper – wont be for everyone, but there’s no denying the compelling atmosphere that Shining Gate has gone to great lengths to achieve here. The plot needs a conclusion, but it’s still one story we wouldn’t want to miss the end to.