Tenebris Somnia comes out this Friday, 16 October, and it’s one of the oddest indie horror releases of the autumn. On paper, it’s a 2D survival horror game that looks back to the 8-bit and 16-bit consoles. At key moments, though, the picture cuts to scenes shot with real actors and practical effects by an Argentine film crew. It’s published by New Blood Interactive, the label behind FAITH: The Unholy Trinity, and a demo is already playable on Steam. The price has been set too, with a launch discount for early players.
At a glance
Tenebris Somnia launches on 16 October on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch and Switch 2.
It will cost $24.99, cut to $19.99 during the launch window.
A Steam demo is available now, and the game is Steam Deck Verified.
Tenebris Somnia brings survival horror back to the nineties
You play Julia, a young Argentine woman trapped in a nightmare full of monsters. As Jessica Conditt explains in her Engadget piece, you have to fight, flee, solve puzzles and manage your consumables to escape. The influences are out in the open: Resident Evil and Silent Hill, reworked as jagged pixel art. The 16 October date was announced in June during Day of the Devs, the summer showcase for indie games.
The Steam page describes Tenebris Somnia as a survival horror adventure in the vein of those classics, adapted to the 2D look of the 8-bit and 16-bit era. Everything you actually play, from exploring to fighting, is pixel art. In the US, the game is rated M for Mature.
Live-action scenes with real actors
The cutscenes are what make the project stand out. At certain key moments, the game switches to a completely different point of view and shows live-action sequences with real actors and practical effects. The crew behind them is an award-winning Argentine film team, according to the game’s store page.
Conditt has seen the trailers and played the Steam demo. She found both styles effective, on their own and together, and describes the filmed scenes as more viscerally haunting than campy, full of hellish beasts and bleeding pointed teeth. The jolt from pixels to real footage is the whole hook.
Airdorf, Andrés Borghi and New Blood behind it
Two names horror fans will know sit behind Tenebris Somnia. Director Andrés Borghi handled the visual effects on the acclaimed Argentine horror film When Evil Lurks and directed the short film Alexia. He had already worked with Saibot Studios on The Black Heart, a fighting game released in 2021, and Engadget describes him as both a visual effects producer and a multimedia horror artist.
The executive producer is Airdorf, real name Mason Smith, creator of FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. Engadget reports that New Blood co-founder Dave Oshry introduced the two, knowing Borghi was a fan of Airdorf’s work. The admiration turned out to be mutual, with Airdorf calling Alexia one of his favourite horror shorts. If pixel-art horror is your thing, METAMORPHOSIS and its damned nun work in a similar visual vein.
Price, platforms and a demo before 16 October
In its Steam announcement on pricing from 24 September, New Blood set Tenebris Somnia at $24.99, with 20% off during the launch window, bringing it to $19.99. Owners of FAITH: The Unholy Trinity get an extra discount, and the publisher promises aggressive regional pricing, particularly in Latin America. The studio adds that it will try to keep as much of that pricing as it can on consoles, and that bundles with other studios’ games are on the way too.
The game is coming to PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series, Switch and Switch 2, according to Engadget. On PC, the Steam page lists it as Steam Deck Verified, and the demo is there now. Physical versions are planned, featuring the final key art by Dakota Lee. It launches in English, Spanish, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese, with Japanese confirmed in the spring after the team showed Tenebris Somnia in Japanese at BitSummit PUNCH in Kyoto.
Until Friday, the Tenebris Somnia demo is the best way in. And if you’re after more indie horror to keep an eye on, Dust till Dawn mixes housework with Japanese horror, with a soundtrack by Akira Yamaoka.
To see what’s landing over the next few weeks, the Hitbox release calendar lists every date with its official source.