Antarctica is quite possibly the perfect setting for anything remotely horror related, given its absolute remoteness. All you’ll find there are penguins, seals, and fungus, it is as no where as no where can be, of course serving as the setting for The Thing, so I guess maybe that’s there too. And soon, the tundra will be home to another piece of horror media, a psychological horror game called Cryptica “where the apocalypse is just the beginning.” Oh goody!

The setup for Cryptica is, initially at least, one where you might say “oh yeah, I can see that happening.” You are put in the role of one Ari Harper, who’s looking for his sister, having disappeared along with a crew of filmmakers while making a documentary in Antarctica. So far, so “yep, that sounds about right,” up until the Eldritchy horrors start appearing, which occasionally manifest in the form of, judging by the Steam page, sort of half-mummified humanoids with wings floating ominously in the air, pristinely white pyramids, and bloody icy caverns.

How much any of that is “real” or not is apparently up for you to figure out, as that aforementioned fungus I mostly jokingly mentioned in my opening paragraph factors into the game as well thanks to some permafrost melt that has brought life to new types. This is possibly worth a bit of pause, as the Steam page does make reference to fungus-induced auditory and visual hallucinations, and I do think that this could wade into some murky territory if handled poorly, but I won’t jump the gun on it just yet.

Details on what it is you technically actually do are slim, but from what I can glean it looks walking sim-ish, in the vein of something like SOMA. I like SOMA! So I’m always happy for more of that sort of thing, and I’m pulled in by the surprisingly bright and pretty vibes Cryptica is giving off currently. As it stands there’s no release date apart from a 2026 window, but you can wishlist it on Steam right here.