Video Games
Step Into PSX-Styled Cosmic Horror With ‘The Black Iris’
In the mood for some cosmic horror gaming? Arboreta Games is tapping into that with their upcoming game, The Black Iris. Currently, the game can be downloaded from their itch.io page.
The story for the game takes place in North East Scotland in 1983. An engineer is sent to an abandoned research facility to decommission equipment and gather research material left behind by scientists. Wouldn’t you know it, but the engineer eventually stumbles into an unstable world of phantasmagorical horrors.
Keeping with the current trend of throwback PSX-style graphics, The Black Iris sees you explore a small open world of around 20-30 minutes of playtime, complete with some body horror moments.
You can download the game for free, though you can name your price for the title, as well. All proceeds from this game (after the standard 10% revenue share with itch.io) will go to West Dunbartonshire Community Foodbank, so it’s a win-win.
Grimtaste Studios and DreadXP have announced that their horror visual novel RUNT will launch on August 6 for PC via Steam. The Steam Next Fest demo released in February is still available for those curious to check out the game ahead of launch. Accompanying the announcement is the customary release date trailer, which gives fans a close-up look at the eerie, slow-burn intensity that runs through the game’s mystery.
In RUNT, players step into the shoes of Runt Strayer, the 19-year-old youngest of five brothers, the last surviving sons of a dead cult leader who once called himself the Mouth of God. On the fifth anniversary of their father’s death, the brothers discover a horrific message written in blood across their boarded-up church pulpit: 5 Days. With the town of Skipclaw sealed behind protective walls and humanity no longer the apex predator, Runt must investigate the omen before the fifth day arrives, and choose who to accuse.
Skipclaw is a town in isolation. After a mysterious apocalyptic event cloaked the world in darkness, horrific creatures emerged and replaced humans as the dominant predators. To survive, the townspeople must stay in the light, cover their skin, and hide their faces behind masks. Inside the walls, safety is precarious, suspicion is constant, and the Strayer family, architects of the town’s defenses, sit at the center of it all. Dialogue choices build hidden stats that influence how characters respond to you and which clues reveal themselves. The kind of person you become will determine which truths you’re able to uncover, and which ones you’ll never know.
Sporting a branching narrative experience, you’ll gather clues by speaking to townspeople, interrogating your brothers, and navigating the politics of survival. The order of conversations, the questions asked, and the conclusions drawn will all shape the outcome at the end. Over five days, you will investigate every brother and their secrets, build or fracture relationships with masked townsfolk, survive in a world haunted by otherworldly creatures, and decide who is responsible. On the final day, after choosing a culprit, you’ll see one of the game’s dozen endings.