This was my first playthrough of Storebound, and the game surprised me immediately. I expected something closer to Lethal Company or R.E.P.O. As in run in, grab things, run out, die stupidly. Instead, the game threw me into something stranger, more atmospheric, and far more puzzle-focused than I expected. It leans into this surreal supermarket aesthetic, like Windows 95 swallowed The Muppets show and spat out a neon fever dream. Somehow it works.
The beginning hits fast, almost too fast. You’re dropped into this enormous mall with different tasks , and for a moment, nothing makes sense. You move from aisle to aisle not entirely sure what to pick up or where to go, and the silence between those bright lights only adds to that disorienting feeling. But it’s not the frustrating kind of disorienting. It’s the kind where you keep thinking, “Okay… what is this place?” and that curiosity keeps pulling you forward. The objective is simple: escaping. Yes, like an escape-room, only a little more dinamic. For now, there are only two episodes/maps, and the next ones will be released next year.
The moment Storebound truly clicked for me was in Chapter Two. There’s a section where one of my friends got thrown into a maze while the other and I ended up in a security room. Six fixed cameras, a static map where we couldn’t see him, and a cluster of buttons labeled with symbols that made no sense at first glance. The maze player had to describe whatever scraps of the environment he could perceive (objects, lighting, symbols) and we had to decode his location, then trigger mechanisms in the room to open doors or shift platforms for him. It felt like being trapped inside a cooperative brain, all three of us trying to align our mental maps with the game’s language. It was clever as hell. Stressful, hilarious, and satisfying in the way only a well-designed asymmetric puzzle can be.
I barely touched the consumables and upgrades on my first run, so I still don’t know the full depth of the progression system. It seems to tie into the abilities/passives you unlock over multiple runs. Plus, the lack of clarity wasn’t a dealbreaker, I made it most of the time without using them properly.
Team play matters here. There’s also proximity voice, walkie-talkies, and a sanity system quietly winding through everything, even if you don’t fully notice it on the first playthrough. You can wander around independently during quieter moments, but the game shines when you’re forced to work together. I definitely leaned on my friends early on while I was still figuring out the logic of the place, but once we synced into the game’s rhythm, everything flowed more naturally. Storebound feels designed for small groups who enjoy talking things through, experimenting, and solving problems together. Alone, it wouldn’t have the same personality (or it might, I haven’t tried venturing solo!).
And speaking of personality, the world has plenty. The employees/monsters patrol the store, but they’re not omnipresent or too aggressive. They feel more like a strange punctuation in the space than the primary threat. The real “danger” is the atmosphere, the artificial stillness, the retro-looking animations, and the sense that this megastore is operating on rules you’re not supposed to understand yet.
Difficulty-wise, it lands in a sweet spot: enough challenge to keep your brain working, not so much that you hit a wall. My only hesitation is replayability. Unless the chapters shift or randomize, I don’t feel compelled to run them again, but as a first playthrough, it was genuinely memorable.
Storebound is perfect for people who love cooperative puzzles, unusual worlds, and light horror that leans more into weirdness than terror. It’s funny, inventive, and strangely charming. If Embers keeps building on what they’ve established here, this could turn into one of the genre’s most distinctive co-op experiences.
SCORE: GO BUY IT!
Watch the vod with the playthrough here.
Notes:
• Played co-op (3 players), Episodes 1 & 2
• Portuguese Version 👉 MoshBit Gaming.
