Threshold review

I played a game called Grunn recently that had PSX-era graphics, but its concept and execution were done excellently. Threshold gave me a similar feeling while playing, and now both have become two of my favourite games of 2024. While it doesn’t last particularly long, it is what it does with that time and the haunting ways it tells its story. You play as someone who works at the Border Post. You work alone for the majority of your time, but those moments are also used to work out what the hell is going on.

In the background of the Border Post, a train is speeding past with a constant stream of cargo. You don’t know what is being hauled across the country at first. All you’re employed to do is keep that train going by blowing a whistle. The problem is, air is thin so you need to have a steady supply of air canisters. Jump or run too much and your lungs start to empty. Blow the whistle without having an air cannister nearby and your body will start to shut down.

You can get air canisters by grabbing tickets from ticketing station located next to the tracks and input it into a machine in a storage building, find fish in the river that runs parallel to the tracks and transfer them into another machine via your trusty bucket, or find them scattered around the small and dreary work area. That repetition if blowing your whistle to keep the train going and stay alive with air might sound repetitive or even monotonous, but there’s always a new part of the story that starts to be drip fed to you once you uncover it.

Mo, the guy who works with you and gives you advice from time to time can be summoned via the elevator, but your inquisitive mind could very well upset and even anger him (ask him about Ni, the previous worker before you, at your peril). You have to choose when to call him and when to explore safely or else it could all go wrong. Threshold gets rather sinister as you uncover the secrets of the Border Post, and one part towards my first playthrough blew my mind with how it was presented on screen. Let’s just say I ended up finding out what was going on with the train.

There’s a blocked off tunnel, a grave, a mysterious cabin that’s weirdly locked, and messages written in blood. Find planks around the grounds to fix walls or build ladders, and stare at specific points of interest to trigger fleeting cutscenes that can shock you. There are multiple endings depending on your choices throughout, and while playthroughs don’t last anymore than a couple of hours, I was left hooked on every new discovery, excited and nervous about what I might find next.

Threshold is another game by a solo developer that does so much with both the time and technology they have. Games don’t need the best graphics, they just need good ideas, and Julien Eveillé has done a superb job on all of these fronts. It’s not exactly a horror, but it will leave you feeling uncomfortable with what you find, and while many will want more from the story or more to do in the short time you play it, this is one of those cool indie games that defies expectations.