Spanish game maker Vermila Studios was only able to ship one game, Crisol: Theater of Idols, before losing its entire staff.
Crisol Studio loses its entire workforce
Crisol: Theater of Idols was one of the earliest games to be released in 2026, and it immediately made an impression on me, not just for its dark, BioShock-like atmosphere and art direction, but also for its unique and interesting gameplay twist that sits at its heart. As a first-person shooter, Crisol doesn’t deal in bullets like every other FPS game. Instead, ammo comes from players’ own health bar or from dead animals in the environment. It’s a mechanic that creates a bit of a risk versus reward balancing act, where giving oneself an edge in combat comes at a great cost.
While Crisol: Theater of Idols was Vermila Studios’ very first game, it’s also horror publisher Blumhouse Games’ fourth published title. The publisher started just a few years ago, supporting Fear the Spotlight in 2024, then Eyes of Hellfire and Sleep Awake in 2025. While Blumhouse as a film studio produces some extremely popular and well-known horror movies, its new game publishing arm focuses on bringing more eyes to smaller indie and AA games, like Vermila’s Crisol: Theater of Idols.
Vermila studios is technically still alive
Only a few months after Crisol: Theater of Idols‘ February release, Vermila game designer Raul Pernia Alejandro came forward in a thread on X with some bad news. According to him, the entire staff at Vermila Studios has been laid off. While he initially stated the studio has been fully shuttered, he later issued a correction that Vermila Studios is still alive.
As one of the most unique FPS games of the year, it’s surely upsetting for fans to see the studio behind it suffer such a fate. Crisol: Theater of Idols may not have lit it up on Metacritic, but it settled at a more than solid 79 for its Xbox version, with its PS5 version only dipping to 73. It’s safe to say that the quality was there, which is impressive for a first-time studio, but it’s likely that Vermila and Blumhouse just weren’t able to get enough eyes on Crisol. Blumhouse is a very young game publisher, and while that name is extremely recognizable in the movie world, it hasn’t made enough waves yet in the realm of video games to turn heads like Devolver Digital or Annapurna can.
With nobody left at Vermila Studios, its future seems grim. Even if it were able to be restaffed, the identity that was established with Crisol: Theater of Idols likely won’t be present in its future games.
Crisol: Theater of Idols is available on Xbox, PlayStation, and PC.
The post Studio Behind Spanish Horror Shooter Crisol: Theater of Idols Has Reportedly Lost All Its Staff appeared first on VICE.
