Vlad Circus returns to town in upcoming Curse of Asmodeus

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Dual-timeline prequel/sequel to 2023 twisted carnival thriller unveiled for PC and consoles 

Circuses are supposed to be fun, breezy affairs filled with laughter and smiles, but Indiesruption's 2023 survival horror adventure Vlad Circus: Descend into Madness offered nothing but thrills and chills instead. Now we can expect more of the same, as the indie Argentinian developer has announced an encore called Curse of Asmodeus.

The first game put players in the big shoes and red nose of a clown named Oliver "Lazy Ollie" Mills, part of the titular Vlad Circus. Sadly, the troupe was forced to disband when everything burned down in a tragic fire in 1921, only to be invited back several years later by the owner and forced to confront the trauma that befell them all. The new game, spanning two different timelines serving as both prequel and sequel to the original story, stars Vlad's brother Josef Petrescu, who was found responsible for the fire and sentenced to death. Here, however, Josef awakens "horribly burned, voiceless, and memoryless" in the town of San Reno, tormented by a demon named Asmodeus. The demon manifests as "an infernal parasite feeding on human sanity" that can only be defeated "through fire, torture, and the agonizing death of the body it inhabits." With the demon's curse plaguing the entire circus and its crew, Josef will need to "navigate a terrifying world of unspeakable horrors and solve cryptic clues" if he's to overcome his darkest fears and "uncover the truth behind his past."

As with its predecessor, Curse of Asmodeus is a macabre pixel art adventure viewed from a slightly elevated angle. Set in "a world of mirrors and shadows where evil lurks in every corner," the game allows players to "shift between fragmented memories" by traversing parallel timelines. Each time period has its own locations to explore and characters to interact with, from "the bizarre inhabitants of the dime museum to the terrifying dwellers of the catacombs." To progress you'll need to solve puzzles and survive "small doses of action" that will put your nerve and survival skills to the test. Every time jump will let you "connect new clues and make crucial revelations that pull back the curtain on Josef’s past," recorded in your journal as you gradually piece together the narrative puzzle linking the "religious fanatics populating San Reno, and the fearsome Asmodeus."

No firm target release date has been announced just yet, but Vlad Circus: Curse of Asmodeus is scheduled to arrive sometime this year on Steam, GOG and the Epic Games Store for PC, along with console versions for PlayStation 4|5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.