Iron Lung: Trapped, Blind, and Paranoid

Thalassophobia, hemophobia, and claustrophobia. Three phobias brilliantly mixed into nightmare fuel in Iron Lung. 

With the Iron Lung movie, directed by Mark Fischbach (better known as Markiplier), just released in January 2026, there’s no better time to discuss the game the movie is based on. Iron Lung was developed by David Szymanski and released in March 2022. It’s a single-player game that takes around one and a half hours to complete. Iron Lung is available to play on Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, Windows, and Mobile. 

“Decades ago, every known star and habitable planet vanished, leaving only those who were on space stations or starships. This event became known as The Quiet Rapture. 

With supplies dwindling and infrastructure crumbling, survivors are searching for any trace of natural resources in a universe of barren moons, lit by the ghostlight of vanished stars.

One such moon holds a strange anomaly: an ocean of blood. You are a convict, tasked with exploring the anomaly, in a makeshift submarine nicknamed the Iron Lung. It was not designed for this depth, so you will be welded inside and the forward window will be closed.

There was no time for training.

If successful, you earn your freedom.”

Right off the bat, the opening text to Iron Lung sets up the game perfectly. It gives the player a general idea of what's going on, but leaves plenty to question. This text is your first impression of Iron Lung- that first impression is followed up by the graphics. 

I will admit the graphics aren’t the best; they remind me of Mouthwashing (2024). If you're judging a book by its cover, you’d assume Iron Lung would be this choppy indie horror game with very little behind it. You’d be wrong, very wrong.

The most impressive part of Iron Lung is its atmosphere. Iron Lung cultivates horror through taking away your senses and playing on phobias- mainly thalassophobia, the fear of deep bodies of water. 

Navigating the submarine is the first challenge the player faces. You can't see out the windows; you're following the directions of a proximity indicator and map using coordinates. The player never really knows where the next wall or threat is because of this. The only time the player gets a chance to see the outside world is through pictures they can take with the camera.

The game uses the proximity detector to sometimes throw off the player by having a monster go by and set off the radar, making you believe a wall has just appeared out of nowhere. If you’re quick enough, you might be able to catch a glimpse of one of these creatures by using the camera. 

By traveling to the coordinates on the map, the player can take pictures in these locations and learn new details about this strange world they’re in. 

On top of manipulating what the player can see, Iron Lung uses sounds to send the player into a paranoid spiral. Iron Lung uses sounds to build tension and terror within the player as they try to figure out what exactly is out there hunting them. The sounds have you using your imagination to come up with something that's even scarier than what's actually out there. Was that groan just the rusty submarine, or was it a beast outside?

Iron Lung uses your senses against you. It takes away your vision and only shows you what it wants to through the pictures you take. I suggest using the camera more frequently than you'd think. Iron Lung uses sound to manipulate the player into being terrified of whatever's out there.

The mastery of manipulating your senses and blending three phobias into one horrific game makes Iron Lung one of a kind. With that being said, I leave you with the final line of the game:

“The universe… what’s left of it… is dying. 

But somewhere in the void, there must be hope…”

Check out the Cyclone Chronicle’s Iron Lung Movie Review by Tanner Sullivan.

My Rating