Indie horror games have been showing themselves to be the way to go if you like some solid scares. From Dead Letter Dept.’s atmosphere to THRESHOLD‘s loneliness, I’ve said before that this is my preference in the horror area. And now we get an indie game with a big budget look in Agni: Village of Calamity from Separuh Interactive.
Agni uses one of my favorite movie tropes
Check out this Steam description:
“Play as Agni, a determined investigator from a covert Indonesian police unit who defied orders and ventures into a remote village despite ominous warnings. What begins as an unauthorized investigation quickly plunges Agni into a horrifying reality that shatters her understanding of everything she knows.”
Nothing will get me to pay attention faster than an investigator that says, “screw it, I’m looking into it”. Because it always goes south and makes for some good entertainment. Doing it in a horror setting though? I can’t wait to see how that story pans out. Agni: Village of Calamity looks to be inspired by the classic Resident Evil titles, with a fixed perspective and eerily quiet spaces.
An indie game going the cinematic horror route is pretty cool. I’m excited to see what Separuh cooks up with the creative freedom that making games on your own brings. The game is steeped in Indonesian folklore and culture. That’s a big win in gaming for continuing to bring forward the stories of other people.
A horror game that leans into the REAL-LIFE terror of being human
“Agni grapples with guilt, fear of abandonment, and unresolved trauma from her past.” That passage from the Steam page sticks out to me the most. We don’t get a whole lot of horror games that lean into some of the scarier parts of existing. Some of the scariest monsters are the ones we carry or create internally. I’m looking forward to seeing how that manifests in the gameplay over the course of the game.
And of course, I want to see some genuinely creepy shit pop off just on character design alone. In the gameplay overview above, you can see some Silent Hill inspired mannequin action, which never gets old to me. The way people animate those is unsettling every single time. Agni: Village of Calamity doesn’t have a release date yet but be sure to wishlist it to let the devs know you want it and to help give them more visibility. This could be a hit if everything lands the way it should.
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