DYSTHANASIA

About

DYSTHANASIA is a single player role playing game. It was developed by Madowaku Kobo and was released on November 21, 2025. It received positive reviews from players.

DYSTHANASIA is a single-player RPG offering around 8 hours of intense, horror-filled gameplay. Players control a girl trapped in a sinister research facility, where violence, trauma, and otherworldly threats lurk. With a chilling atmosphere and high stakes, every choice could mean survival or a brutal demise.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

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86%

Audience ScoreBased on 51 reviews

atmosphere5 positive mentions

story3 negative mentions

The game creates a strong atmosphere with grotesque environments and effective sound design, enhancing the horror experience.
It features a large variety of graphic death scenes that are viewable in a gallery, adding to its replay value.
The narrative is engaging, told through exploration and environmental storytelling, which keeps players invested in the lore.

Controls are clunky and the character's movement can feel slow and awkward, making navigation frustrating at times.
The game lacks sufficient ambient audio and music, which detracts from the overall immersion and tension.
Some late-game sections are confusing and feel like a grind, particularly the maze-like areas that can be tedious to navigate.

atmosphere
13 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
39%
23%
The atmosphere in Dysthanasia is characterized by a tense, minimalist background and effective sound design that enhances the oppressive and grotesque environments. While some players appreciate the constant tension and avoidance of jump scares, others feel that the atmosphere lacks the depth of previous titles, suggesting it could have benefited from more attention. Overall, the game excels in creating a chilling ambiance that appeals to fans of atmospheric horror, despite some mixed feelings about its execution.
- “Tense minimalist background music enhances the atmosphere, and the heroine’s Japanese voice acting delivers clear, convincing reactions to danger throughout the game.”
- “Rather than relying on jump scares, it leans into constant tension, a suffocating atmosphere, and graphic consequences for failure.”
- “Dysthanasia's most shining feature is its set design, atmosphere, and world-building lore.”
- “Rather than relying on jump scares, it leans into constant tension, suffocating atmosphere, and graphic consequences for failure.”
- “Dysthanasia is an unapologetically niche, ultra-violent horror title that doubles down on grisly death animations and oppressive atmosphere rather than polished AAA gameplay.”
- “It doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares, but instead builds a genuinely tense and oppressive atmosphere.”
graphics
12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
42%
25%
The graphics of the game feature stylized 3D visuals with well-modeled characters and expressive animations, contributing to a tense atmosphere and graphic death scenes that enhance the horror experience. While some players appreciate the nostalgic charm and the quality of textures on ultra settings, others find the overall graphical performance underwhelming, especially given the hardware requirements. The combination of graphic violence and a suffocating atmosphere creates a unique visual experience, though opinions on the art style and execution vary.
- “Stylized 3D visuals with a clearly modeled heroine, expressive animations, and unlockable outfits.”
- “Still, the graphics and textures look surprisingly good on ultra settings.”
- “Rather than relying on jump scares, it leans into constant tension, suffocating atmosphere, and graphic consequences for failure.”
- “Performance-wise, I couldn't offer much useful info since I have a decent PC (9070xt+9800x3d) so I can run the game no problem, but seeing the bare minimum required a RTX 2060 and the graphics in this game aren't honestly all that impressive for that card's price. The max screen resolution is 1080p, plus there's no in-game VSync option; I'm going to say it's probably not good.”
- “Right off the bat, it feels very amateurish: clunky controls, odd art style, and the whole menu gives off a poor vibe.”
- “But upon finally playing the game myself and finishing it, the shock value is still there, not gonna lie, but I am sad that the atmosphere compared to the last game they made is a bit weak. I guess that's why I prefer their 2D art style, though I am glad that the animations are not half-baked at all; some are even fully-baked to the full body!”
story
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
50%
30%
The story of the game centers on "396," an adult test subject navigating a grim and hostile research facility, with much of the narrative conveyed through text logs. While the plot is praised for its depth and emotional impact, some players feel it lacks sufficient rewards for completing the game on harder difficulties and note that it leaves a few loose ends. Overall, the atmosphere and storytelling are appreciated, though some believe it could have been enhanced with more development.
- “Story is 9/10: 396's story is full of hardships, torture, and brutality.”
- “I just beat the game some hours ago and think the story builds up preciously; while it feels like there might be some loose ends, I also think the main plot really shines at the end.”
- “99% of the story is told through text logs.”
- “Completed the story in a single sitting and I'm not feeling like I got my 20 dollars worth; I kinda wish there was a reward for completing on the hardest difficulty.”
- “The story follows '396', an adult test subject who awakens in a morgue inside a corrupted research facility.”
gameplay
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
38%
24%
38%
The gameplay of Dysthanasia is criticized for its lack of polish and depth, with players noting that the survival horror elements fall short due to limited useful items and janky AI. While the game offers a suspenseful atmosphere and some initial thrills, it ultimately disappoints with its mechanics, particularly in combat and puzzle-solving, leading to a mixed experience over its 7 to 8 hours of playtime.
- “It's around 7 to 8 hours of gameplay on medium if you're taking the time to look for all the collectibles and 100% the game.”
- “The game starts you off not knowing what to expect or when, which builds up the suspense as the enemies are unknown and you are very clearly not a fighter, so the main mechanic is to dodge by crawling and sensing the enemy's field of vision.”
- “If a horror game doesn't have good gameplay, I at least hope for some cool puzzles.”
- “Dysthanasia is an unapologetically niche, ultra-violent horror title that doubles down on grisly death animations and oppressive atmosphere rather than polished AAA gameplay.”
- “In my opinion, this game failed as a survival horror game. I am disappointed that only the first two encounters with a certain monster made me feel terror and thrill. Not to mention, there are only a few items that are actually useful (only two for health and stamina).”
- “The AI in this game is janky at worst and serviceable at best. You can throw things to bait the monsters away, but the throwing mechanics make all throwables useless, and there are rarely situations where you need them anyway.”
music
5 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
20%
60%
The music in the game is notably sparse, with some areas lacking ambient audio entirely, which detracts from the overall experience. While the existing ambient music is praised for its quality, players express a desire for more of it, as the silence can be broken only by unsettling sound effects, creating a tense atmosphere. Overall, the music aspect is seen as an area needing improvement, despite some positive elements.
- “The ambient music is amazing; I just wish there was more of it. Even if dead silence, broken only by wet, meaty footsteps and inhuman screams, can create a much more tense feeling at times.”
- “Barely any music at all.”
- “Worse still, there is a noticeable lack of ambient audio/music in most areas, and in the areas that do have it, it's interrupted whenever you pause to read a document, which further takes me out of the experience.”
- “The music, number of enemies, game length, map layout, puzzles, and even items have all been expanded and improved upon from the version that was set to release on the download site.”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The game offers significant replayability due to its numerous death scenes, multiple difficulty levels, collectibles, and unlockable outfits, encouraging players to revisit and explore different outcomes and experiences.
- “It's got an absolute load of death scenes (plenty more in the patched version), so there's great replayability.”
- “Multiple difficulties, collectibles, and unlockable outfits add significant replay value.”
- “Replay value is high due to various gameplay elements.”
- “It's got an absolute load of death scenes (plenty more in the patched version), so there's some replayability to it.”
- “Multiple difficulties, collectibles, and unlockable outfits add replay value.”
- “Replay value is limited despite the various options available.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find that completing scenes and galleries can become tedious and repetitive, leading to a grindy experience.
- “Scene and gallery completion can feel grindy.”
- “The grinding required to progress is tedious and repetitive.”
- “I found the grinding aspect to be a major turn-off, making the game feel more like a chore.”
optimization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
100%
The game's optimization has been criticized for its high performance cost relative to its visual complexity, with users noting that even minimum requirements (RTX 2060) seem excessive for the graphics quality offered. Additionally, the lack of an in-game vsync option and a maximum resolution of 1080p further detracts from the overall performance experience.
- “The performance cost is high compared to the visual complexity of the game.”
- “I have a decent PC (9070xt+9800x3d) and can run the game without issues, but the minimum requirements of an RTX 2060 seem excessive for the graphics quality offered, especially since the maximum screen resolution is limited to 1080p and there's no in-game V-Sync option.”
- “High performance cost compared to visual complexity.”
- “Performance-wise, I couldn't offer much useful info since I have a decent PC (9070xt+9800x3d) so I can run the game no problem. However, seeing the bare minimum required is an RTX 2060, and the graphics in this game aren't honestly all that impressive for that card's price. The max screen resolution is 1080p, plus there's no in-game VSync option. I'm going to say it's probably not good.”