The Catacombs of Solaris is a free first-person simulation video game that lets you create cool abstract art on hallways. Developed by Ian MacLarty, this is a surreal art indie game that only requires you to find your favorite room inside its “museum.” However, to do so, you actually need to make the art yourself. Be careful, though, as the mind-bending visual mechanics can actually give you a headache after a while.

The power of distortion

In The Catacombs of Solaris, you begin inside a silent hallway with rainbow pixel wallpaper. It looks like the kind on static TV screens and can actually hurt the eyes if you stare at them for too long. The entire maze is covered in these in varying sizes, allowing you to subtly see where the walls, floor, and ceiling are. However, if you stop and pan your camera, the pixels will actually distort.

This is where your art-making starts. You have to pick a wall and distort it in order to start mixing and matching all of the pixels in a hallway and dispel that annoying static TV screen wallpaper. Take care when doing so, however, as your perception will shift, too, and it will be tricky to reorient yourself with where the walls are at. If you prefer an actual art museum, try out Afternoon Spaghetti.

There are actually three sets of controls, depending on what you’re using. For the keyboard, you either use the arrow keys or the WASD keys and your mouse. For the gamepad, you use the left joystick for moving around and the right joystick for the camera. If you want to reset the walls, simply press R on the keyboard or B on your gamepad. It will also automatically reset after five minutes of inactivity.

Feels lifeless at times

Overall, The Catacombs of Solaris has an interesting premise for an art game. However, it lacks various features that would make a more fun experience, such as settings for graphics, background audio, and a tutorial for the controls and what to do in the maze. It can induce nausea if you’re not careful. Fortunately, you can easily exit once you’re done playing around. If you want a similar game but with puzzles, though, then check out Superliminal.