How Iron Lung Captivates Us With Isolation
Into the depths of the blood ocean, where nobody can hear you scream.
The fear of being alone and isolated has been explored in some of the best horror movies of all time. With films like The Thing (1982) and The Shining (1980), audiences were forced to immerse themselves in terrifying situations. Being alone in the cold, just you and a few select people, forced to stay in the same place for months without contact from the outside world.
People go mad, turn against each other, lose sight of who they are. Sometimes, there’s a threat outside of their control.
Isolation is one of the biggest horror themes there is. Even going back to the iconic “cabin in the woods” trope, isolation has always been relevant in the horror genre.
It was no surprise that when Iron Lung released—an indie horror game exploring the same topic—that it became so popular among players. It was a game that, despite it’s subtleness in story, caused players and audiences alike to be frozen in fear.
The Premise
You play as a criminal in the far future. Humans have successfully colonized space. The stars and planets are mysteriously dying in what is called The Quiet Rapture.
You will be given freedom if you complete the task given to you by your superiors. The task? An expedition on a moon that may have important resources to save humanity.
But there’s a catch. I mean, there always is.
The moon is covered in an ocean of blood. You’re going to be alone in a dodgy submarine. The submarine is wielded shut to save you from the depths. Your only view of the outside world is a black-and-white camera and a map.
There’s no radio.
Just you.
Even the character that you play as is doubtful of surviving.
Life is uncertain. Loneliness is expected.
What is True Loneliness?
You’ve all been alone before.
Remember being alone in your house? It can be pretty relaxing, being free from having to give a fuck about anyone. Other times, it can be terrifying. Being alone in a city you don’t know, unsure of where to go or who to turn to.
Everyone has been alone at least once in their lives.
But not everyone has experienced the utter hopelessness of total isolation. That’s what Iron Lung simulates.
Playing the game is more so an experience than other true video game titles. Typically, you play a game with skill (think of games like Mortal Kombat or Overwatch), but Iron Lung forces you to instead experience the situation you’re placed in.
Iron Lung is interesting. It doesn’t provide a soundtrack, yet you’re never sitting in complete silence. No, you’re instead listening to the ocean around you, complete with terrifying noises of unknown creatures to boot.
Silence would be the better option.
You have to soak in the atmosphere for your objective. The noises help guide you in the sightless sea. As you get deeper into your expedition, the pictures you take of the ocean floor become more and more unexplainable.
A terrifying deep sea creature is one thing. Strange looking corals and monoliths are another.
Yet, you the player, have nobody to tell this to. It’s just you trying to figure out the sights, trying to wrap your head around what you’re seeing. You have nobody to talk it out with—nobody but yourself.
Not to mention, you have no idea how long you’ve been in the submarine at this point. Hours? Days? How much oxygen do you have? What happens then?
The player’s character has written a note for us to read, explaining that even if they do survive the expedition, freedom is futile. The galaxy is dying, the human race is bound to die—freedom from the submarine means nothing.
It doesn’t matter what the player does. There will never be a happy ending. They will never escape isolation.
There is no hope. This game’s fear relies on isolation and hopelessness. Human interaction and blissful hopes, things that allow for humans to keep going, mean nothing to Iron Lung. They are plot devices, and you will be forced to face the reality of them.
The End
The game ends with the player dying.
A creature attacks the submarine, causing the submarine to implode. The player dies instantly, but they are freed by death.
The epilogue reveals that there is no way to retrieve any of the photographs that the player took during the expedition. It was all useless, and as the player wrote earlier, “an execution.” They already knew they were going to die.
Despite this, the text reads that a solution to the The Quiet Rapture will be found elsewhere.
No answers were found. No “freedom” was obtained.
Humanity is still isolated and doomed to extinction.
It’s… chilling. From the beginning of the game, the player already knows that everything is futile. The expedition meant nothing, the fear the player experienced meant nothing, the player’s death meant nothing.
The player meant nothing.
Yet, they were forced to face this all anyway. They were forced into the expedition despite knowing it will fail. They were forced to face their fears all for nothing.
Everything about Iron Lung is terrifying. It’s a grim reminder that happy endings don’t always exist. People are lonely. People are isolated.
Lonely people die.
Iron Lung forces us to face the most horrific situation one could be in. It’s captivating in that we can cure our morbid curiosity within the safety of our homes, free from having to submerge ourselves into a bloody ocean.