All Game, No Filter

Image Credit: Steam Store

Playtime: ~40 minutes
Completion: Demo completed
Platform: PC (Steam)
Genre: Horror / Puzzle / Arcade
Played/Reviewed: 2025

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🧠 First Impressions

Pool of Madness takes the simple game of pool and twists it into something sinister. You’re stuck in a repeating loop of rituals, each one becoming more unsettling and demanding than the last. The concept is immediately intriguing — what starts as a basic round of pocketing green balls quickly turns into a tense, sanity-draining challenge.

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⚙️ Gameplay & Mechanics

The demo introduces its core rules with deceptive simplicity:

• Safe green balls restore progress toward completing the ritual.
• Dangerous red and black balls drain your sanity or reduce your turns left.
• The white cue ball is your lifeline to sink the right shots and avoid disaster.

The first ritual eases you in with small requirements (1, 2, 3, then 4 greens), but later rituals start adding twists — such as introducing the black ball as part of the challenge or obstacles appearing due to the game’s twisted nature.

Image Credit: In-game image by me

There’s even a gun mechanic, allowing you to destroy obstacles that might block your shots. It’s a strange but satisfying mix of precision, strategy, and survival.

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🎵 Atmosphere & Presentation

The tone is pure Lovecraftian dread. The music is eerie and unsettling, perfectly matching the slow descent into madness as you progress. The environment shifts subtly between rituals, warping and changing to reflect the growing influence of whatever cosmic horror is lurking behind the table.

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🔥 Clay’s Take — Will I Play the Full Game?

Absolutely. This is more than just “pool with a twist” — it’s a smart, unsettling blend of horror atmosphere and arcade mechanics. The sanity system, shifting environments, and creeping difficulty give it a unique identity I haven’t seen elsewhere.

If the full version expands on these ideas and leans even harder into its Lovecraftian inspirations, Pool of Madness could become something truly special. The demo is well worth a try — but don’t read too much, just experience it for yourself.

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