The Flayed Man to be exposed in April on Windows PC

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Short but replayable point-and-click horror game to launch free with a pay-what-you-want option and bonus supporter's pack

Protagonists who wake up in strange places with no memory of who they are or how they got there are commonplace in adventure games. Usually, however, those protagonists enjoy the benefit of still having their skin. Not so the tortured lead character in The Flayed Man, the upcoming free (or not) point-and-click horror game debut by UK-based studio Snoring Dog Games.

There's nothing allegorical about the use of the word "flayed" here. As the titular character, you are literally all guts and bone and veins and sinews that are typically hidden away on the inside. Fortunately you're not bleeding – much – over everything in the "decayed, otherworldly house" you awaken in, but having apparently been skinned alive (or almost alive), every second of this existence is sheer agony. But who are you, where are you, and how and why did you end up in these horrific circumstances? A grave in the backyard presided over by a hideous blob-like "psychosexual demon" seems to hold some answers, or clues to answers, suggesting that your current condition is penance for a life poorly lived. But perhaps there's one last chance for redemption, so it's up to players to "uncover the sins of the past, pass judgement, and decide the Flayed Man’s fate."

Inspired by literary horror writers like Clive Barker and Edgar Allan Poe, The Flayed Man promises to be a macabre but otherwise traditional point-and-click pixel art experience blending "mature, disturbing themes" with familiar gameplay and mechanics similar to Fran Bow and The Excavation of Hob’s Barrow. In guiding the skinless protagonist (in third person, of course, so you don't miss out on any gory details) around the creepy old house and its immediate environs, accompanied only by an "atmospheric and moody original soundtrack," players must thoroughly explore for information and items to use in solving integrated, multilayered puzzles along the way. Eventually you'll have critical decisions to make, with stakes even greater than mortal life and death, and what you choose will determine which of the three possible endings you'll get. A single playthrough is only expected to take about half an hour to complete, but replays will offer new insights (and outcomes) not seen the first time around, and it will take several playthroughs in order to see everything the game has to offer.

The good news is that The Flayed Man will be launched FREE for download on Steam and itch.io on April 17th. Well, good news for players; not so good for the developer, so a pay-what-you-want option will be available on itch, as well as a nominally priced supporter's pack with the artbook and soundtrack included on both storefronts.

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