I remember the exact moment I realized something was off about my playthrough of the survival horror game I'd been immersed in for days. There I was, staring at my inventory screen, counting not just dozens but over a hundred pistol bullets - 127 to be exact - while my health kit collection had ballooned to 23. In any survival horror game worth its salt, this kind of resource hoarding should be impossible, yet here I was, feeling more like an arms dealer than someone fighting for survival.

The strange thing was, despite this apparent overabundance, my 18-hour journey through the game's nightmarish landscape remained incredibly tense throughout. I never actually saw the game-over screen even once, which might sound like it was too easy, but that couldn't be further from the truth. What made the experience so gripping were those numerous close calls - the moments when my health dropped to a sliver, when I'd frantically mash buttons to escape a grab, when I'd barely make it through a door with monsters hot on my heels. These near-death experiences created a different kind of tension, one where failure felt constantly imminent even though I never actually failed.

There's something uniquely satisfying about surviving by the skin of your teeth that I find more rewarding than having to restart entire sections. I remember one particular encounter in a cramped laboratory corridor where I found myself surrounded by three different types of enemies. My heart was pounding as I backpedaled, switching between weapons, desperately trying to create some breathing room. I used eight health kits in that single encounter alone, and when I finally cleared the area, I had exactly three bullets left in my pistol. That moment of triumph, emerging battered but alive from what seemed like certain death, created a memory far more vivid than any game-over screen could.

The resource situation did eventually correct itself, though in the most dramatic way possible. Those boss fights that came later absolutely devoured my carefully hoarded supplies. I went into the final confrontation with what I thought was an absurd amount of ammunition - 84 pistol rounds, 32 shotgun shells, and 15 health kits. When the dust settled, I had exactly 3 pistol bullets and one health kit remaining. The game somehow knew exactly how to drain me dry at the perfect moment, creating this beautiful balance between making me feel overpowered at times and completely vulnerable at others.

What fascinates me about this experience is how it challenges conventional survival horror design. Most games in this genre maintain tension through constant resource scarcity - the classic "three bullets and a prayer" approach. This game took a different route, letting players build up substantial reserves while still maintaining tension through other means. The enemy placement, environmental design, and encounter structure created pressure regardless of how many bullets I was carrying. I found myself conserving ammo not because I had to, but because I never knew when I might genuinely need it later.

I'm genuinely curious how this experience might change on higher difficulties or after potential future patches. The developers could easily rebalance the inventory system to make resources scarcer, but I wonder if that would actually improve the game. There's something uniquely terrifying about having resources but still feeling vulnerable - it creates a different psychological dynamic than traditional scarcity. When you have 20 health kits but still nearly die multiple times, it sends a powerful message about the game's threat level.

My normal difficulty playthrough created this rollercoaster where I'd swing between feeling prepared and completely overwhelmed, sometimes within the same encounter. I'd enter a new area with 15 health kits thinking I was invincible, only to burn through five of them in a single brutal fight. The game masterfully played with my expectations, giving me enough resources to feel comfortable before ripping that comfort away at precisely the right moments.

For players considering their own journey through this game, my advice would be to embrace the resource management system rather than fight it. Don't get discouraged if you find yourself accumulating more supplies than you expected - the game has ways of balancing this out naturally. And those close calls? Cherish them. There's a special kind of gaming magic in surviving impossible situations by the narrowest of margins, and this game delivers that in spades. I finished my playthrough feeling like I'd genuinely survived something extraordinary, and that's a feeling I'll carry with me long after the credits rolled.