In 2009, a supernatural event occurred where two young girls living on the top floor of an apartment building in Antalya, Turkey, in apartment number 129. They lost their lives after performing satanic rituals late at night, which caused an earthquake. Other residents in the building claimed that an earthquake did occur, shattering windows and toppling furniture, though no earthquake was officially recorded in the area at that time.

Whether or not the event did actually happen, the building was abandoned, and visitors later reported a heavy smell, symbols on the walls and the feeling of a cursed and haunted atmosphere. This true story/urban myth became the inspiration behind the game Apartment No 129, published and developed by Turkish studio, Dead Witness. Apartment No 129 was originally released on PC in 2024 and is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5.

Emir is a content creator focusing on mysterious events and sharing them on social media. He takes a solitary step into the abandoned building known as “Apartment No. 129” to trace the trail of a paranormal event that occurred in 2009 and shook the entire country. However, Emir will find himself in an unexpected confrontation within this cursed apartment. From the moment Emir takes his first step into the building, he will deeply feel the spirit of the abandoned building and encounter traces of the major event that occurred in the past.

However, Emir, who has doubts about the existence of the creator, will not only explore the past but also confront his beliefs with terrifying events in his own inner world. Within the building, in a battle where mysterious entities and his own fears clash, Emir will need to survive with his faith and intelligence to escape this cursed apartment.

Players take control of Emir from a first-person perspective and must explore the apartment to investigate the paranormal activity from 2009. Players will have to search any rooms they can, using their torch to see their surroundings, find notes relating to the mysterious event and be alert to any undead people and dogs that attack you.

The overall gameplay is simple, as players on their first playthrough will take their time looking through each room to find useful items, notes and other points of interest, while also doing some basic problem-solving by moving boxes and other items to unblock a doorway or use them to get over an obstacle. Finding notes is essential to progress through the game, as they’re needed to actually trigger the next part of the game. So even if you remember a code to unlock a door, you need to see the note first.

When it comes to combat, players can defend themselves with melee weapons or a gun when attacked by undead beings that don’t really have a name, but this adds to the mystery. Combat is one of the game’s biggest faults, looking and feeling incomplete. When attacked, some of the enemy’s animations just repeat the same animation until you’re dead or you kill them. It’s also unclear whether your hits are actually landing or not, though most times you end up defeating them anyway. As underwhelming as the combat is, seeing an undead enemy charging towards you can still be intense and raise your heartbeat.

At first, encountering enemies only happens every now and then, but it becomes more frequent later in the game. Having them appear less frequently early on, surprisingly, works in the game’s favour as players could spend long periods without being attacked, then be caught off guard while they’re focusing on something else.

Players will collect items and weapons throughout the game, which can be accessed in the item menu. Items will need to be switched every now and then, though some important items would be better if they were assigned to a single button instead of having to navigate a menu just to equip a torch or a gun, making it inconvenient. Another fault worth mentioning is that there is no option to invert the Y axis while aiming, so players who prefer this setting, like myself, will be out of luck.

The game relies heavily on its aesthetics to give players an eerie and unsettling experience. The graphics do look out of date in parts, but it also adds to the creepy atmosphere like the early Resident Evil and Silent Hill games did back in the day.

The apartment is as creepy as it gets, first looking like an ordinary apartment building with no power, but as players delve deeper and learn more of the story through notes and things they find, the tension slowly builds more and more. Seeing the first dead body hanging from their neck quickly sets the tone of what’s to come, and soon, more supernatural events will occur.

It’ll become difficult to distinguish between what’s real and what isn’t. Enemies might suddenly disappear, or you might find yourself in a different room after shooting at them. The sound design of random noises close by and far away will keep players on edge, and the screeching from the enemies is truly terrifying. The game is designed to mess with your mind, and those who know more about the alleged true story this game is based on will see and experience references to the story.

The game also has a few live-action cutscenes at the beginning and end with actors portraying Emir and other characters. Emir was portrayed by Emirhan Öztürk, and two of the other actors are also the developers behind this game, with Batuhan Gündüz, the founder, screenwriter, producer and publisher and Burak Bican, a programmer and developer for Dead Witness. Batuhan also has a passion for filmmaking, and it clearly shows in the game. The live-action cutscenes may look like amateur film projects, but they work well with the game’s style and presentation.

The story is definitely the game’s greatest strength and will keep players engaged to see what happens next. The audio dialogue is spoken entirely in Turkish, but subtitles are available in English and other languages. Even if players can’t understand what the characters are saying, the way they express themselves helps convey emotion. Unfortunately, the majority of the game’s dialogue is text on screen when players interact with other characters in-game.

Reading text on screen while a character stares blankly at you takes you out of that moment, especially with long paragraphs to read through. Maybe it was a design choice, but it simply doesn’t work in this game.

When you reach the ending, it feels very abrupt as the screen suddenly goes black and even more text appears, which does explain what happens, but it feels anticlimactic. You’re also given a choice to view more live-action cutscenes that provide more context, but these should’ve just followed the end screen rather than have you manually select them, so everything flows together.

A single playthrough can be completed in about two hours or less, and the two different endings based on the decisions you make provide some replay value. The game may be short, but it only costs around $20 AUD on Xbox and PlayStation and only $11.79 AUD on Steam, which is a great price for what it offers, especially since other games charge more for less.

The game also advertises the studio’s other game, Y. Village – The Visitors, which has the same game mechanics and is also based on a true story/urban myth that occurred in Turkey. It implies that the stories from both games have a connection, which could spark players’ interest to also try out Y. Village – The Visitors after finishing Apartment No 129.

Apartment No 129 may not live up to its full potential, since it has a lot of elements that feel incomplete, and the execution of the story might feel anticlimactic. It still does enough to create intrigue and curiosity, persuading players to keep going to find out what happens next and learn more about the alleged true story it’s based on.

For its price, Apartment No 129 is well worth the purchase for horror enthusiasts and even those who like to learn more about a possible real-life paranormal event that occurred in Turkey.

Written by: Sammy Hanson