The Red Exile from eastasiasoft and NipoBox is a minimalist roguelike survival horror game on PS5. Learn more in our The Red Exile review!

 

The Red Exile from eastasiasoft and NipoBox is a minimalist roguelike survival horror game on PlayStation 5. You have been trapped inside a building packed with small red rooms and must find a way to escape. You stumble upon a room with a pentagram, some lit candles, and an ancient tome in the middle. It’s then that you realize that you must find the remaining candles to be able to complete the ritual and exile the killer before it’s too late.

If the killer sees you, you will still have a chance to try and escape by outrunning him. Closing all doors behind you as you enter each room can also buy you an extra second or two so that you can either find a locker to hide in or make a mad dash to the room where you can place the candles to complete the ritual that will allow you to escape. You won’t know what room he starts in, and items will be randomized and placed in different rooms for each run.

 

Since the game is played from a first-person perspective, you’ll control your character with the left analog stick as you look around with the right one. You can run by pressing in on the left analog stick. Pressing in on the right analog stick will make your character crouch. The X button can be used to interact with objects. The items you collect will be added to your inventory in the bottom right corner of the screen. You’ll be able to bring them into action by using the D-Pad. You can then use an item by pressing the Square button.

As you play through the game, you’ll obtain Skill Points. These can be used in the Perks section to activate a series of perks that can aid you so that you can have better odds of surviving. Each perk will have a different cost in Skill Points, which you can easily identify based on their color. Blue Perks cost a single Skill Point. Green Perks cost two Skill Points. Purple Perks cost three Skill points. The most expensive ones are red Perks, which cost four Skill points.

 

What will you be able to obtain from the Perks you purchase and equip to your character? You could purchase the Burglar Perk, which will allow your character to spawn with a crowbar. Doing this will allow you to open up one of the barred doors so that you can have another escape option. Another Perk is True Connoisseur, which will give a 75% chance of an item spawning somewhere on the map after placing a candle. Once you have a perk, don’t forget to equip it!

Trophy-wise, this one has a full trophy list for you to work on. On top of that, it’s a Cross-Buy title, so if you have a PlayStation 5 console, you can download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game and play through each one to get two Platinums for your collection. Each list includes a single Silver trophy and 11 Gold trophies. To get the Platinum, you must visit 300 rooms in total, purchase at least 3 Perks, collect 25 candles over multiple runs, and open a total of 36 blocked doors.

 

The Red Exile is a minimalist roguelike survival horror game on PlayStation that is not going to be for everyone. Due to the randomized nature of the game, you could end up completing it in less than 10 minutes if you manage to find all candles in quick succession before the killer catches you… or you could spend over an hour playing over and over again without being successful. At least you’ll be able to obtain additional Skill Points from each run so that you can purchase more Perks for subsequent runs. The Red Exile is available as a Cross-Buy title, so your $4.99 purchase will allow you to download both the PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 versions of the game at no extra cost.

Disclaimer
This The Red Exile review is based on a PlayStation 5 copy provided by eastasiasoft.