Night shift horror Psychological horror Short horror Horror PS1 horror

THRESHOLD

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Keep the train on schedule. Don't run. Don't look in the train. The air is thin up here.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (85% of 1,362 reviews); Metacritic 83 from 8 critics
Length: about 1 to 2 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse, partial controller support
Made by: Julien Eveillé
Released: 2024

What frightens High on a mountain where the air is too thin to breathe, you blow a whistle to keep an endless train on schedule, earning air canisters for good work. You are told not to run, not to speak and not to look in the train, and the place, your coworker and the cargo grow more sinister.
Content: dead bodies, suffocation.

THRESHOLD is a short first-person psychological horror game by Julien Eveillé, published by Critical Reflex. You work a shift at a decaying border post high in the mountains, blowing a whistle to keep an endless train on pace while every breath costs you, and the rules of the job and what the train carries grow more frightening.

About THRESHOLD

THRESHOLD was made by Julien Eveillé and published by Critical Reflex, the label behind Mouthwashing and Buckshot Roulette. It came out on Steam for Windows in November 2024.

You arrive at the Border Post, a rotting station on a mountain where a train thunders through without end. Your job is simple: blow a whistle into a megaphone to keep the train at the right speed. Too little and it slows, too much and it races. But the air is thin, and every exertion takes your breath. Good work earns tickets, which buy glass air canisters you bite to breathe again.

Between whistles there is more to do: deliver reports, clean the water filter, collect wood. Mo, your coworker, is off shift but will come if you call and answer your questions, except one. The store's own lines set the tone: do not speak, do not run, do not look in the train. A locked cabin, a blocked tunnel, a grave and messages in blood hint at what the post hides.

The horror is quiet and choking rather than loud: the strain of a body running out of air, rules you obey without understanding, and a regime that wants you to be a good worker. Your choices are tracked, and critics describe several very different endings. It is drawn in a low-poly, pixelated style that recalls late-1990s 3D games.

A first play takes one to two hours. It suits players who liked Mouthwashing or I'm on Observation Duty and want a short, tense job that slowly turns.

How to play THRESHOLD

Buy and install THRESHOLD from Steam and start your first shift.
Watch the lights above the train: when it slows, blow the whistle into the megaphone to bring it back to speed, without overdoing it.
Trade the tickets you earn for air canisters and use them before you run out of breath.
Do the other tasks of the post, such as delivering reports, cleaning the water filter and collecting wood.
Call Mo when you need advice, explore the post, and make the choices that decide how your shift ends.