The Tartarus Key is an upcoming horror game that channels the mansion setting of Resident Evil, PS1 cutscenes of Metal Gear Solid, and puzzles of Silent Hill to create something totally new, and it has a demo, trailer, and impending release date you should absolutely dive into. Don’t sleep on The Tartarus Key.
Releasing at the end of the month, The Tartarus Key channels the aged-like-fine-wine cutscenes of the original Metal Gear Solid, and blends that with a classic Resident Evil-style setup: you’re stuck in an eerie mansion and need to solve escape room puzzles to get out. Oh, and there are some very strange things happening at the same time.
Check out a new trailer for The Tartarus Key below, which comes to Steam on May 31, 2023.
You play as Alex Young. The last thing she remembers is being alone in her apartment. Now she’s trapped in a massive mansion and must solve puzzles and find other prisoners if she hopes to survive. Cameras follow your every move while the corner of Alex’s eyes seems to keep playing tricks on her, for good measure.
If you’re a fan of the atmosphere and puzzles in the PS1 Resident Evil games over their more bombastic action moments, The Tartarus Key is definitely for you. Founder of developer Vertical Reach Leonor Parra says on Steam that they’re “making The Tartarus Key as atmospheric and unsettling as possible” while they hate jump scares and “vow to make a game that’s downright spooky without them.”
After taking The Tatarus Key demo for a spin myself, I can safely say that atmospheric horror fans are going to have fun with this one. After some escape room-style puzzles to get you familiar with the concept, The Tartarus Key quickly ramps up into unexplained phenomenon territory and some really nice design. It’s pretty straightforward puzzle-solving so far, but the atmosphere and use of the environment for horror ideas absolutely carry it through.
In fact, fellow indie horror game Echoes of the Living also has a demo right now, but this game really channels the fixed-camera roots of Resident Evil instead, even similar including gunplay and zombie movements. So classic horror game fans are eating right now, with indies all over the place giving you the good stuff.
Be sure to check out The Tartarus Key demo if it sounds like something you’d be down to try, as I’m sure classic PS1 horror fans will find something to love.
In the meantime, we’ve got the best VR horror games available on PC right now if you want to really scare yourself, or you can check out the most essential story games instead.
