Pneumata Makes You Solve Your Wife’s Murder In A Horror-Filled Town

While battling both the horrors within the complex and those in your own mind

Murders And Disappearances All Over

Clover Hill Apartments, Not The Best Place To Live In

In psychological survival horror game Pneumata, you take on the boots of a former detective named David Hernandez who set out to discover the truth behind the strange disappearances and phenomenon happening in Clover Hill Apartments in the city of Milton. One by one, its residents inexplicably vanish, or found later in several pieces. It’s an unexplainable cold case for a rural town out in Missouri…but that doesn’t seem to be the only reason he’s particularly drawn to the place.

Not only that, these events may just be the clues you need to find out more about the circumstances behind the death of your wife, Jamie. Traverse through the dimly-lit halls with danger lurking within, recover your fragmented memories, and find out what exactly is happening in this accursed building complex.

Put your detective skills to the test by examining the crime scenes found within the gritty building, piecing together the evidence found to better understand what is going on within these corridors and opening up new areas to investigate. But beware—you’re not alone. Scavenge for supplies and weapons around the abandoned complex to help protect you better from the sinister entities creeping about. Run when necessary, and survive.

Face the horrors that threaten to surprise you at any corner, while also battling the horrors in your head caused by your missing memories, and try not to die until you find out the real truth.

Engaging Survival Horror Gameplay

As a fan of brutal and gritty combat in gaming, developer Antonio Alvarado made sure to incorporate it into his own game. True to its name as a survival horror, players will need to explore well to find melee weapons, ranged weapons, and ammo scattered throughout the game, and use these to defend themselves.

Combat is rather dynamic, enabling you to block and dodge to keep your health up and stay alive. When using a melee weapon, land hits enough times onto the enemy and you can trigger a combo attack for more devastating damage. Melee weapons can range from strong and sharp fire axes to blunt force weapons such as metal pipes off walls, and even small tree branches. But just because you’re armed and ready, it doesn’t mean that you’ll be able to take down enemies unlimitedly with ease. It takes a page from survival games where weapons have limited durability, and can break in the middle of combat, leaving you open and vulnerable to attacks.

Firearms are a different story—they require no repair as they are unbreakable, yet ammo is terribly scarce, so save your ranged weapons for battles that count or if you plan to make a gas canister explode. And of course, if all else fails…running away to a safe place is always an option. After all, you still have many mysteries to solve, even with many horrific beings lurking around you.

A Childhood Dream

Deadbolt Interactive is a one-man studio headed by Antonio Alvarado, the creator of the studio’s commercial debut game Pneumata. He shares in a DreadXP interview that he has been making games for about 13 years now (now 14, in 2024), growing up as a “complete gamer” and loving all kinds of video games. Naturally, that steered him towards game development. He took an animation course at 13, eventually becoming fascinated with “learning how games are made.” However, he saw that creating a whole game as a solo developer was a task easier said than done, and he only left that dream of creating a horror game as a concept up until he encountered Amnesia: The Dark Descent, an indie horror game that stands out as one of the classic fan-favorites back in 2010. He revealed in an interview with GamesRadar+ that “It wasn’t until I first played Amnesia: The Dark Descent that my interest in game development really caught on fire. My mind was blown to find out that a team of about five people pulled off such an incredible game that oozed atmosphere.”

And the rest is history—Alvarado has been working on Pneumata in little bits and pieces for about two to three years now, taking and scrapping chunks of code from projects he wrote but never released, before coming up with its solid concept back in July 2022.

In an exclusive interview with DreadXP, Alvarado cited the Resident Evil series, Outlast, and Condemned Criminal Origins as his main inspirations, saying that “these are the three pillars of this game, basically.” The game is also inspired by the works of H.P. Lovecraft, namely The Rats in the Walls, Shadow over Innsmouth, and Call of Cthulhu.

His Own Blend Of Survival Horror

When asked about what the term survival horror meant to him as a developer working on the genre, he answered, “For me, it means being able to play the way that you want to. Meaning, you know, you could probably play this game without having to kill almost anything. I mean, you can run, you can hide, so this game could very much be played similar to Outlast … But there’s also opportunities to play very similarly to Resident Evil, if you want, and that means resource management and inventory management … so it’s just a blend of all those qualities from those two games.”

A good story and how that very story is conveyed throughout the game, as well as engaging mechanics is what makes a good horror game, shared Alvarado to The Horror Game Awards podcast last October 2023. With that in mind, he hoped that his game would deliver those ideas to the players as well.

A Tribute To Classics

Based on the trailer alone, it looks incredibly well-made, accompanied by a haunting soundtrack and snippets of the gameplay to top it all off. In a first-person point of view type of game, the immersion is much more seated, and the fear and horror are cranked up a notch as if you really are David Hernandez, looking for a way out of this nightmare.

For horror game enthusiasts, Pneumata is a must-have on your list, especially if you are a fan of the Resident Evil, Outlast, and Condemned series. Those games heavily inspired the way Pneumata is now, and Alvarado hopes to deliver the best of what those three have to offer, with his own unique flair on things. Find out more about this narrative-driven first-person survival horror that taps into the concepts of loss, death, and the afterlife during its full release!

Pneumata is slated for a Summer 2024 release on PC (Steam), PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. Developer Alvarado has also expressed interest and plans in releasing the game on VR as well after the first launch on PC and console, so stay tuned for more updates!