Tenebris Somnia is a retro survival horror game with a terrifying twist: its cutscenes are live-action settings designed by a disturbing cinema expert. Tenebris Somnia is set to arrive on PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Switch, Switch 2, and Xbox Series X/S on October 16, as announced during the Day of the Devs Summer Showcase. This gives you plenty of time to adjust your Halloween costume.
The meat of Tenebris Somnia takes place in a world of jagged ’90s-inspired 2D graphics, which only makes the sudden switch to actual film that much more effective. You play as a young Argentinian named Julia who finds herself trapped in a nightmare of vicious monsters and otherworldly terrors, and she must fight, flee, solve puzzles, and manage consumables to escape. In terms of atmosphere, Tenebris Somnia takes inspiration from survival horror classics like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, but it has its own dueling art styles.
The game comes from the independent team Saibot Studios and is directed by Andrés Borghi, famous in my country for having managed the visual effects of When evil hidesone of the best horror films of recent years. In addition to his tenure as a visual effects producer in films, Borghi is a multimedia horror artist and director, and he teamed up with Saibot on the 2021 fighting game. The black heart.
Additionally, the executive producer of Tenebris Somnia is Airdorf (legal name Mason Smith), the creator of the famous retro horror series Faith: the unholy trinity. Faith the publisher New Blood Interactive also takes care of Tenebris Somniaand New Blood is responsible for bringing Airdorf and Borghi together in the first place. During the Day of the Devs presentation, New Blood co-founder Dave Oshry explained that he connected the creators because he knew Borghi was a fan of Airdorf. He hadn’t realized the admiration was mutual.
“Andrés was the director of one of my favorite horror short films, Alexia” said Airdorf. “And so I was really excited, I immediately said yes. I didn’t put it together at the time, but I think it’s just a strange twist of fate that we’re working together now. »
From what we can see in the trailers and Steam demo of Tenebris Somniahis two visual approaches are very successful, alone and in concert. The game features vibrant, detailed pixel art, as well as crisp live-action visuals of hellish beasts and bleeding pointy teeth, and the shock of the Switch is part of the appeal. The cinematic scenes are less campy and more viscerally haunting, which I suppose is what happens when you work with an award-winning cinematic special effects team.
Basically what I’m trying to say is that Tenebris Somnia looks fantastic and it finally has a release date just in time for spooky season. The fact that it’s coming to a wide range of platforms – Steam, GOG, and current and just-defunct gen consoles – is just a bonus.
