The Wickie: Journey of a Lighthouse Keeper winds up on Steam

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

First-person thriller set in the 1930s Outer Hebrides available now to download for Windows PC

Being a remote ighthouse keeper must be a lonely job that would tax anyone's sanity at the best of times, but throw in some terrible weather, limited 1930s technology, and a whole lot of unnerving Lovecraftian-style horror and you've got a better sense of the challenges – both mental and physical – that await in Crispian Robson's newly released thriller, The Wickie: Journey of a Lighthouse Keeper.

Players assume the role of Bill Fisher, a lighthouse keeper's assistant in the Outer Hebrides, the "most distant and isolated of the Scottish isles." Bill hopes to find solace there from the troubles of his own life, but instead, over the course of five days he finds only an increasingly disturbing series of mysteries. When not maintaining the lighthouse to protect passing ships, you'll have time to "navigate secret paths, ancient ruins, and places reclaimed by those with sinister agendas." Under such unforgiving environmental circumstances, however, you'll find that "danger lurks everywhere," whether from "falling, drowning, freezing, or being crushed"... or perhaps something even worse. And as one terrifying event follows another, your very grasp of reality will be threatened, unsure if you can trust whether what you're seeing is real or merely your mind "fracturing under the weight of cosmic horror."

Inspired by the likes of Lovecraft, Poe, Machen, Hodgson, and Clark, The Wickie may be steeped in horror but is grounded in the realities of its 1930s setting, blending "real-world history with its eerie narrative." There's even an authentic period-appropriate radio station "complete with music, news, plays, and concerts" to listen to. Presented in first-person 3D, the game begins on Gondola Island and allows players to freely wander the natural environments. There will be multiple paths to different quests and "carefully placed mysteries" but no artificial markers or in-game map to guide you, encouraging exploration to discover things for yourself. You'll meet a variety of characters depicted as cardboard cutouts along the way, each of them challenging you to "interpret their emotions, motives, and cryptic words." You'll find revealing clues as well, to be pieced together in your investigation to figure out what's really been going on in this strange place, hidden from the eyes of the rest of the world. Assuming you survive all its dangers (which may be deadly but will not require quick reflexes), a single playthrough should take between 14–20 hours to complete, leading to one of three possible endings. 

The Wickie: Journey of a Lighthouse Keeper is available now on Steam for Windows PC, with the potential for more still to come. According to Robson, there will be "additional storylines, quests, and locations" to be unveiled in future updates spread out over the next three years. 

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