The Polar Darkness to descend on Steam in early 2027

• Announcements by Jack Allin
• Published:

Lovecraftian folk horror mystery set in rural Finland unveiled by the creators of Hyperdrive Inn

While many of us are looking forward to a warm summer, indie Finnish developer Horsefly Games is busy preparing us for the next cold, bleak winter season with their upcoming new adventure project, The Polar Darkness.

As its sunless title suggests, the game is set around the time of the Winter Solstice. It's the 1980s, and a "controversial revival movement led by a charismatic cult leader and her child preacher" emerges in the remote northern Finnish village of Sysiluoma. When the child suddenly goes missing in the middle of a sermon, journalist Emma Järvelä is sent to cover the story. Soon, however, she becomes trapped when a blizzard "cuts off all contact with the outside world." To learn what caused the boy's mysterious disappearance, players must launch a "narrative-driven investigation where observation, conversation, and deduction are your most important tools." But "something ancient is beginning to awaken" in this place, and as "conflicting stories emerge and long-buried secrets begin to surface," it won't be easy to "uncover a truth the community has protected for generations.

The Polar Darkness is a side-scrolling adventure like Hyperdrive Inn, the developer's previous game, but that's pretty much where the similarities end and the differences begin. Gone is the surreal setting and colourful fabric-based aesthetic in favour of a "Lovecraftian folk horror mystery" with a grim, more naturalistic backdrop that blends "high-resolution 2D sprite characters [with] stylized 3D environments." Inspired by local legends and history, as well as the genre's classic mystery adventures, the game is described by developer Juho Kuorikoski as "basically a love letter to Gabriel Knight."

Progress is driven by "conversation, observation, and deduction," with some environmental puzzles sprinkled in that are "grounded in the world and its people." There is no rush to "gather clues and piece together what really happened," as the pace of the story is meant to be "slow-burning," propelled only by the "quiet pressure of something not meant to be uncovered." And yet time is very much a factor, as the tale "unfolds across three days using a time-based structure." Certain tasks must be completed to "advance the game's internal clock," but "characters move and events change as time passes," so what leads you choose to pursue will "determine what you see and what you miss." This gives the game additional replay value as "each playthrough reveals a different perspective on the truth."

There is no firm target release date just yet, but The Polar Darkness is due out sometime... well, during the northern polar darkness, expected to launch on Steam for Windows PC in the first quarter of 2027.