SCP – Containment Breach

Gameplay

The main objective is to guide D-9341, a test subject, through the facility of an unknown site while trying to survive any hazards or death related hazards. The game's main feature is the blinking mechanic. Blinking is a basic mechanic that is measured by the blink bar in the HUD. It is important to keep in mind when encountering SCP-173, a statue that is capable of moving at high speeds whenever it is not in the player's direct line-of-sight; with each blink SCP-173 will move closer to the player. The player can blink manually by pressing the spacebar and can also shut their eyes for an extended period of time by holding down the spacebar. Certain environments (such as rooms filled with decontamination gas) will cause the player to blink more often.

One of the game's primary features is randomly generated rooms. All of the rooms in the game are randomly chosen from a set of hallways, chambers and offices, which are strung together to create the facility. These rooms are divided into three sets: the light containment zones, heavy containment zones and entrance zones. Each set contains a unique set of rooms and hallways that can be randomly generated.

Along the way, the player can find a wide variety of items. These include a gas mask which can protect the eyes from decontamination gas, batteries which can be used to power specific electronics found throughout the facility, key cards ranging from access levels 1 to 5 that can open higher security doors, first aid kits which can heal wounds, an S-Navigator which can be used to navigate the rooms in the facility, a radio that can pick up transmissions on different channels, eye-drops which can slow down the player's blink timer, and SCP-294 which is located in the cafeteria. After using this machine, MTF (Mobile Task Force) Units or NTF (Nine Tailed Fox) Units are possible to come while Subject D-9341 is roaming in the 'Entrance Zone'. The units will most likely kill D-9341. If SCP-173 is close by, they will cede D-9341 and go after SCP-173 instead as their main objective.

Plot

The game revolves around the SCP Foundation, a secret organization dedicated to containing anomalous artifacts, entities and locations that threaten the normality of the world. At some point before the events of the game, several of the Foundation's containment sites are attacked by the Chaos Insurgency, a rogue element of the Foundation, forcing the relocation of many SCPs (the designation given to their contained anomalies) to an unspecified site. A Foundation task force known as Nine-Tailed Fox is established shortly thereafter to defend this site from any possible breaches in containment.

The player takes the role of D-9341, a Class-D test subject (criminals sentenced to death who agreed to work for the Foundation in exchange for their freedom ) who is forced along with two other test subjects to perform tests on an SCP known as SCP-173, which is a murderous sculpture that can move at high speeds when not in the direct line of sight of a person.

During this testing routine, the site's power and door control systems begin to malfunction, allowing SCP-173 to kill the other two test subjects and escape into the ventilation system. A site-wide broadcast then announces that several SCPs have breached containment, forcing the site to be put under lockdown. The player must then guide D-9341 around the facility while trying to survive many of the escaped SCPs which roam the facility.

Later in the game, the player encounters SCP-079, a malicious artificial intelligence (inhabiting a microcomputer), and learns that it caused the power outage when several Chaos Insurgency spies gave it control over the facility. From here SCP-079 will propose that the player reactivates the door control system, allowing SCP-079 to regain control over the doors, in exchange for helping the player escape the facility. If the player re-activates the door control system, SCP-079 will open the doors to two different exits, Gate A and B. From here 4 different endings can be reached.

The first and second ending can be reached by exiting the facility through Gate B. Upon reaching the surface, an alert is sent out stating that SCP-682, a massive reptilian creature, has broken out of the facility near Gate B and that nuclear warheads, kept in the base as a last-measure containment system, will be detonated in an attempt to destroy it. Shortly after, the warheads are detonated, vaporizing the entire area, including D-9341. At the end screen, a radio transmission will be heard as a radio operative requests the deployment of a task force to scout for remains at ground zero. However, the transmission is cut-off mid sentence as a large roar is heard, indicating that the nuclear blast was unsuccessful in destroying SCP-682. The second ending occurs if the player had disabled the nuclear warheads while they were inside the facility. Another alert is sent out advising all personnel to return to Gate B, with a group of soldiers converging on the player's position. The player is thereby killed shortly after.

The final two endings are accessed through the alternate exit entitled Gate A. The ending that plays out is dependent on whether or not the player re-contained SCP-106 while inside the facility. Should the player have not perform said task, SCP-106 will break out at Gate A, shortly before the use of a weapon called a H.I.D. (High Intensity Discharge) Turret is authorized to prevent its escape. The turret fires a concentrated beam of light, forcing SCP-106 to retreat due to its sensitivity towards light. While this is occurring, the player passes by the commotion to attempt to escape through a service tunnel, only to be halted by a group of Chaos Insurgency soldiers. The soldiers note that D-9341 holds too much valuable information to be retaken into the Foundation's custody, before warping them away. This leaves their fate unknown.

Finally, if the player has contained SCP-106, then several task force units will capture D-9341 instead. The end screen plays a recording of a report on D-9341, mentioning his extraordinary luck and ability to overcome any hazardous threats that the containment breach produced; the classification of D-9341 as an SCP subject is also considered.

Production

The game was created by Finnish developer Joonas Rikkonen. When Rikkonen first started working on the game, he was graduating from upper secondary school. While he enjoyed making games, he had always considered it a mere hobby and a "pipe dream". However, after the success of the game Rikkonen decided to pursue game programming at the University of Turku.

Reception

The game has received generally positive reviews. Gaming website Rock, Paper, Shotgun said "It's Warehouse 13 without the quips and the quirks but with a lot more panic, screaming and hiding from creatures made of teeth and wire" adding that "it has a fairly weak model and texture at the moment but hopefully it’ll turn into a massive collaboration". Edge gave the game a positive review, calling it an "indie title made in the low-end Blitz3D engine that casts a cheap-looking creature", but adding it "somehow manages to be scarier than most recent big-budget horror games combined." Jay Is Games wrote that while the game was "not perfect and still a little buggy", it nevertheless "has some serious moments of inarticulate, squealing terror." Nicholas Greene of GeekInsider wrote positively of the gameplay, specifically applauding the use of the blink timer. Greene also noted that its "somewhat dated appearance does absolutely nothing to make it less frightening". The game was featured on PC Gamer's top 50 best free PC games at the number 22 spot, saying that "Containment Breach's power is doubled by drawing on the SCP mythos: a set of invented (or are they?) [sic] internet stories about horrors and monsters locked up by a shadowy organization". With the release of version 0.8 in late 2013, Ian Birnbaum of PC Gamer once again reiterated the site's praise for the game, calling it "excellently scary".