Coming Soon: Yan魇: Parasomnia

Developer: Cerebral Games, Nimbus Games

Publisher: Nimbus Games

Platforms: PC (Steam)

Release Date: TBA

We recently trialled the demo for this Malaysian-set horror. It uses Unreal Engine 5 and shares some of the criticisms we had of the fellow UE5 game, Becrowned. Fortunately, it has a unique, unworldly atmosphere of its own that could easily trump the issues if it goes to plan.

The player or players are the young brother-sister team, Wan Zhi Min and Zhi Han. The pair live in the peaceful square of Wallace Court, but things are not as tranquil as they appear. Their fellow children are disappearing, there has been more than one disturbing suicide, and, to make matters even worse, it’s the Hungry Ghost Festival. At this point, the divide between our world and the spirit realm thins, allowing malicious entities to encroach on the Earthly realm. And they’re hungry—for souls.

With its fixed camera, tank controls and an emphasis on narrative horror, Parasomnia, like Becrowned, harks back to the classic Nineties era of horror games. You can play the spooky demo on Steam now, with the game expected later this summer… hopefully.