Sharkphobia for Windows

Free shark interaction sim

Sharkphobia is a free indie game developed by AzaGameStudio. This action game combines survival horror with the found footage subgenre to create a short, thrilling experience. As a deep sea diver, you unwittingly wander into an underwater cave system—losing your sense of time, then your sense of direction, before everything else follows.

Its combination of realistic graphics and smooth animation, placed under the filter of a found underwater camera, makes Sharkphobia worthy of its name. Add simple, intuitive controls and you get an immersive feel, much like fellow ocean-themed indies CorpseOcean or to a lesser extent, Iron Lung.

Fear the shark and the ocean

Sharkphobia focuses on stealth and exploration as it gives you an accurate feel of what’s underneath the ocean. You have limited visibility and a host of underwater life that is both mesmerizing and distracting—altogether making the game immersive and challenging. With limited visibility in front of you, you’ll have to keep your guard up since it’s hard to tell where the shark will be coming from.

There are no game over scenarios in this game, though. Once the shark catches you, you’re dead yet you can try again. It actually has a short game time to it, which is extended indefinitely thanks to the lack of directions on what you should do plus the combination of natural hazards that make your underwater exploration harder than it should be. 

Lastly, for people who are uncomfortable with ocean depths and closed spaces, you might want to take a step back. It has a single ending, too, which can be achieved in a number of ways. Whether you stick to outsmarting the shark based on its movement patterns or collect key items scattered around, it’s up to you. Should you succeed, the game leaves you with a friendly, slightly unsettling reminder.

Never go diving solo again

Overall, Sharkphobia manages to create a video game experience similar to films like 127 Hours or other survival works that focus on man against the environment. It has realistic graphics masked under a retro filter, plus a host of content that not only enriches the experience but also offers useful real-world knowledge. Short, suspenseful, and leaves the player with something to seriously think about. Recommended.