Climate change and extreme weather aren’t what you’d normally expect in a horror game, which is what makes Digital Lighthouse Games’ newly-announced cinematic first-person psychological horror game Encryption intriguing. Set for release next year on Steam, the game blends exploration, puzzle-solving and stealth as you’re caught in the midst of a climate catastrophe burning through southern Italy.
You are Leonardo, and your daughter Arianna is missing. As wildfires burn, your search for her leads to the town of Matera, one of the oldest inhabited places on Earth, then continues deep below. You must search streets once crowded with people and tourists, now deserted as the fire closes in. Piece together forgotten papers and words on damaged recordings: more than one story is waiting to be uncovered, and every one leads back to Arianna.
However, you’re not the only one in town. Shadowy figures move through Matera, and they hunt you by the sound you make. A careless step through water, or a lever thrown, and they’ll know exactly where you are. Silence is usually your best ally, unless you find a way to face them when you can. But as mentioned, they’re not the only threat: with wildfires this close, even the air is not always breathable.
Your smartwatch does more than keep track of what you are carrying, the documents you have read and your next objective. It also monitors your heart rate, your blood oxygen, your step count, and battery life. You’re also carrying a flashlight to illuminate the dark, and a noise detector to help keep silent. You also have a strange artifact with you that you don’t quite yet understand..
Explore the abandoned city, the land burning around it, and the hollows that run beneath them both. The locations in the game are based on real places, on the architecture and landscape of Matera and southern Italy. You’ll need to look closely at what the environment hides: its puzzles are rooted in ancient mysteries, or in ordinary things.
