Demo offers chilling first look at Insomnia: Chapter One

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

First installment in a series of standalone psychological thrillers coming soon to PC on Steam

If the first chapter in a new series of standalone horror adventures by MelonPolygon's solo Ukrainian developer Anzor Lejava is any indication, then "Insomnia" is accurately named because it'll surely keep you up at night afterward. 

It's 2012, and players assume the role of junior technician Ethan Miller at Perseus Station, a remote Arctic scientific research base. Having carelessly left his wife and daughter behind for the post, Ethan's life is one of strict routine consisting of "maintenance tasks, daily reports [and] quiet evenings beside humming radiators." But something here is not right, and before long Ethan starts "descending into madness, where whispers echo through the pipes and reality begins to fracture." Now, what began as a daily life of predictable drudgery becomes a "nightmare of paranoia, betrayal, and grief." The only way out, if one exists, is to "dig into the station’s recent past" to find out "what price was paid in the pursuit of progress." In doing so you'll gradually come to understand "what really happened beneath the ice – and what still lurks in the dark."

Insomnia: Chapter One is heavily inspired by The Thing and Still Wakes the Deep, proudly wearing its inspirations on its sleeve with a mix of "environmental storytelling, psychological tension, and survival-focused exploration." You'll freely control Ethan in first-person 3D, roaming the many labyrinthine corridors and rooms of the station. At first you'll interact with your fellow colleagues stationed there, in between solving environmental puzzles to perform maintenance tasks such as repairing the generator in the pitch-black basement. You can also seek out "journals, notes, and relics of those who came before." Eventually, however, the "slow-burn descent into isolation and dread" gives way to terror when "the line between reality and madness blurs as the station itself seems to turn against you." You have no weapons to defend yourself, so your survival depends solely on your wits and your ability to "hide, explore, and piece together what's left of reality." There will be hard choices to make along the way, and every decision can "shape the story and determine who makes it out alive."

Insomnia: Chapter One is intended to be just the first in a series of "psychological horror stories, each exploring the limits of human isolation, memory, and guilt" through its own standalone story within a "larger narrative universe." There is no firm target release date for the game yet, but a playable demo is already available on Steam for Windows PC, dropping players into the first fateful moments of the doomed Perseus Station.