Threshold Review

Just make sure the train doesn’t stop, okay?

What The Heck is Threshold?

Threshold is a first-person, bite-sized adventure game where you play as a character with an impossible task at the end of the world. It’s the first solo title from Julien Eveillé, a level, system and game designer on titles like Dishonored, DEATHLOOP and Marvel’s Blade. In Threshold, you’ll climb into a dark elevator after naming your character, choosing your country of origin, and signing a contract for a job. At the end of this long elevator ride, you arrive in the game’s milieu. It’s a seemingly lifeless mountainside trail called the Border Post where the air is very thin.

Your main task is to ensure that the cargo train in front of you doesn’t slow down. When the train slows down, you must spring into action. You’ll direct the train to speed up by blowing a whistle. You quickly learn that after blowing your whistle the combination of a thin atmosphere and blowing forcefully will make it very difficult to breathe at your present high altitude. But you need to breathe!

Your character is then introduced to air canisters that will help. These canisters are made of glass so every time your character bites into one, you’ll hear the unsettling sound of glass breaking combined with subtle grunting. You never see your player character during gameplay except for a mouth in the UI that will be bloodied up a little more after consuming an air canister. The alternative is much worse though, because if you run out of air, you die.

A Death Loop

Having the train and air mechanics explained to you sets up the game’s main loop. Keep the train going while keeping yourself alive until your shift is over. You aren’t completely alone, however. The day that you’re playing through is your first, so you need a training partner. Mo accompanies you while you complete tasks and explore the space. Since the air is so thin, Mo communicates with you by writing notes on his trusty notepad. Your character is speechless though because he doesn’t have a notepad of his own. In addition to explaining your core tasks, he walks you through some of the other subtasks that you’ll need to keep an eye on. This includes showing you how to collect new air canisters to keep yourself alive, collecting wood planks and cleaning up a storm grate at the end of the ravine with your trusty bucket.

It’s not fully one-sided though, as you can ask him questions by pointing at elements in the world.

An Astehtic Game

Critical Reflex has a great eye for a specific type of game and Threshold fits into that mold. Its deliberately low-poly look leads to an unease that will make you feel like something is about to jump out at you at all times. Mo, your in-game companion, looks like a human version of a wooden mannequin from an art class whose expressionless face will also leave you confounded.

Why isn’t he reacting to anything?

At all times, you’ll hear the passage of the train, which adds to the unease that you’ll feel. Combined with your laboured breathing when you get out of breath, you’ll surely be on the edge of your seat for most of the game. Threshold is eerie and grimy both sonically and visually.

My Experience with Threshold

I played Threshold for about two and a half hours in one sitting. That’s largely for two reasons: 1) the checkpoints in this one are few and far between, usually dictated by major events that happen in the world and 2) it’s a game that I found myself confounded and compelled by for my entire playtime. The world is brown and gray but leaves so much to the imagination. Why are we here? What’s on the train? Why is the best way to deliver air in glass canisters where dental work is required after a particularly strenuous shift? Mo also refers to a character named Ni – what happened to them? Some of this gets answered as you play thanks to clues that you’ll find in the world but that will be for you to discover.

There are about a half dozen threads that you can pull at and the game has multiple endings to find. We will avoid spoilers here, but the game’s main ending is one of the most memorable ones that you’ll experience in 2024.

Final Thoughts

If short, dark and moody is your gaming flavour of choice, then Threshold is a 2-3 hour experience that’s worth your time. It can be a little obtuse even with the ability to call Mo to ask questions but since it doesn’t share much direction with you, you’ll need to have patience here to fully unravel the mystery at the core of Threshold.

Final Score: 8/10

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A copy of the game was provided by the publisher for this feature. Reviewed on PC (Steam Deck).  At the time of writing, the game was not officially Steam Deck certified which means that although I could play the game with a controller, some of the in-game functionality like pulling up the in-game keyboard at the start required shortcuts.

Looking for another game with a similar vibe published by Critical Reflex? Check out our review of Mouthwashing!