First there was “JASON!“, a martyred child whose name cracked a thousand lips, rawed a thousand throats, blistered a thousand fingers. Then came “FENTON!“, a hunter-trickster spirit forsaken by Christ. Perhaps next will be “ROY!” The upcoming first-person survival horror game Rotten Flesh will invite you to shout the name of your lost dog into your microphone, hoping that Roy will bark back to let you know where he is. Fun fact: other, nondog things will hear you shouting too. Have a peek in the announcement trailer below.
Roy has vanished into the sewers and off you’ll go after him. Shout his name into your microphone and if he’s nearby, he’ll bark in response. What a good boy! You’ll surely find him soon enough. Unfortunately, these are horror video game sewers, which means they’re labyrinthine tunnels full of critters, cultists, corpses, and crawling terrors. So shoot them, hide from them, try to sneak past them, solve puzzles, and above all else, find your dog.
“Microphone input is totally optionally and can be turned off which will switch to voice-acting instead for calling, but microphone input is highly recommended for the full experience,” says the solo developer of Steelkrill Studio.
I’m up for getting rowdy. While screaming at computers is often the purview of streamers and YouTubers, I do enjoy doing it myself even without an audience. I had great fun shouting and trilling at voice-activated trousers in one silly action-RPG, for starters. Though I will adjust my microphone sensitivity so I don’t disturb the neighbours.
Rotten Flesh is headed to Steam Early Access for a few months of expanding and tweaking and polishing before a full launch. Steelkrill Studio’s previous horror games including creepypasta ’em up The Backrooms 1998 and LIDAR-scanning The Voidness, which seem well-received by Steam player reviews, so I’m curious.
Roy better not die.
