Urban Legends - Survival, A Nepali Horror Game Preserving Folklores

Once every blue moon, we stumble upon something very interesting. Obviously, it is very rare to come across something like that. Fortunately, we did!

Urban Legends – Survival.

It’s a new mobile game made by Mr. Ashim Shakya, a Nepali developer. Moreover, the game takes inspiration from “Dante Kathas”, folklores used to keep children from roaming around alone and to create an imaginary threat inside them. Basically, it brings forth the entities from those folklores as the horror element in this game.

Plus, it wasn’t on my radar until a colleague recommended it to me. Truthfully, I’m glad that he did. It’s kind of gave me an interesting outlook on where the Nepali game developing community is going. Quite frankly, I want to see more! Honestly, I’ not alone here.

The game was immensely supported by most of the players who have found the gameplay original thanks to the intensive combination of surreal environment matched with creepy music.

“Urban Legends – Survival” was solely developed by Mr. Ashim Shakya in its entirety! According to Mr. Shakya, it took him almost two years to complete this project! Interestingly, the game was a unique way of preserving that horror aspect of our culture. Honestly, it’s really heartwarming if one really thinks about it. If that wasn’t already impressive, the graphics are truly on the next level! So, hats off to Mr. Shakya for completing this feat all on this own!

Urban Legends – Survival

‘Urban Legends – Survival’, is a horror/survival game. Moreover, it features a medieval era of Kathmandu valley where players are bound to encounter various urban legends. Furthermore, the player must survive, remain undetected and trigger certain objectives to continue surviving.

Well, the description kind of encapsulates the game in its entirety.

You play as an average Nepali character with an objective to survive for as long as possible. Moreover, you complete more objectives to gain more scores.

Surely, this isn’t a new concept. Yes, the controls, camera perspective, and ambiance are similar to recent horror/survival games. However, the game doesn’t take a direct inspiration from any games, just some common ideas here and there. Think of it as a Nepali take on the classic survival game.

Urban Legends – Survival: Controls, Gameplay & Objective

The overall control is pretty straight forward.

You get a left-control pad to control the movement of the player. Likewise, you can look around the environment by swiping around the right side of the screen.

Moreover, there’s a compass on the top along with the objective location highlighted in yellow.

On the right side, you get three buttons to control toggle between running mode, change camera mode (third-person or first-person view), and pause.

Likewise, you get a noise meter and timer on the top right corner.

In order to complete the game, the player must complete the objective within the “100-second” time limit without being too loud.

So, what’s the objective?

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You must locate the torch located at the specific temple and step on it. In doing so, you will increase your score point while the timer resets to 100. Likewise, you repeat that to achieve high-score.

Urban Legends Survival: Enemies & Environments

This is the main highlight of the game. The overall environment looks amazing! Honestly, the graphics look far-fetched to be designed by just one guy (but it is!).

The environment is completed with bricked pavements, medieval ear houses along with Pagoda-style temples. Furthermore, the time is set at night completed with thunderstorm and spooky music.

However, the true spookiness is magnified by the appearance of the enemies in this game aka the Urban Legends.

While I was playing this game, I encounter three main enemies: Murkatta, Pret, and something with no name.

So, the Murkatta is the one with the eyes on its chest. Moreover, it has a keen sense of smell and noise. Like the entity in “It Follow” movie, it… well, follows.

Moving on to the Pret, it guards the torches while following a specific movement pattern. Likewise, the third one appears at random.

Mero Experience on Urban Legends – Survival

Before jumping into this game, I didn’t really know what to expect. First, I was greeted with the tutorials, which highlighted the basic controls and objectives of the game.

Finally, I got to jump right into the gameplay! Plus, the game is actually challenging, which is something I didn’t really expect. But it gets easier with practice.

(Below is a short clip of me playing the game.)

Okay, the overall environment is… creepy. Moreover, the music and the location truly help to set the mood for being a horror game.

Initially, there is a slight learning curve. But it is something that gets easier with practice.

Honestly, I thought I won’t get scared. But boy, I was wrong! There were a few instances where I did get scared. In every such situation, the enemy would run up to me, whether I made a noise or didn’t plan ahead.

Well, the panic and confusion do create a perfect mix for that classic horror anxiety.

After two hours into the gameplay, I finally got a high score of 11 points! Trust me, it doesn’t seem as much, but it is the best I could do.

However, if you think you can do better, then go ahead and give it a shot!

Mr. Ashim Shakya’s thoughts on solely developing the game:

I want to focus on our depreciating culture of sharing folklores with children and among one another and its importance, Because this was the purpose behind the creation of this game. Mainly to preserve this rich ritual that we have and to share my imagination across.

Nepal’s gaming industry is very small and just beginning. The main pleasure that I take from my artworks is to inspire people, especially the young generation. I feel very happy that I am engaged in this phenomenon for more than a decade and my motive is the same, to show the power of self-learning and to demonstrate that if you are confident about yourself if you practice solitude, you can do something on your own without the need of a team.”

Is Urban Legends – Survival a Perfect Horror Game?

Not really. While I do love the concept, there are few hiccups within this game.

First, the camera movements are janky. There were times when my character died just because of a faulty camera movement. So, this needs to get fixed.

Second, the game gets repetitive after some point. Sure, it was fun, especially while figuring out the game at first.

However, once you get used to the gameplay, it gets kind of… boring.

Hopefully, the developer implements few variations and more interactions to make the game interesting. Plus, the gameplay will be extra fun if the enemies are a little smarter. Likewise, a story of some kind would go a long way.

Finally, there are bugs.

I completely understand that this game developed by an individual. So, rather than criticize those bugs, I’m just going to highlight them. During play, I came across the main bug.

I accidentally bypassed the time limit. Okay, I roamed around for a while, right. Then, I let the time limit hit zero. After which the game simply says “RUN!” and Pret quickly runs towards you.

And if you survive that, you can simply continue the game without any time limit.

Hopefully, Mr. Shakya will patch it in a future update.

Will there be future updates?

Yes! There are plans to update the game in the future. When? Well, that will depend entirely on the hands of the developer. However, there are plans to add an entity (monster) every two weeks in the game. Moreover, there are plans to release a Paid Version of the game with features like being able to play as one of the urban legends, day time mode, disable ads, etc.

Anyways, this was our review for Urban Legends: Survival game. We do recommend you guys to check it out for yourselves! We’ll be sure to leave necessary links down in the descriptions!