Former DreadXP and Critical Reflex alum Ted Hentschke has teamed up with Jakub Bałuszek-Sobolewski to form Black Lantern Collective, a new publisher dedicated to horror games.
Described as an “all-new indie publisher leveraging the passion and expertise for established horror savants to bring a curated collection of chills, thrills, and unease to the freaky masses”, Black Lantern hit the ground running with ten game announcements, but kicks off its release schedule with Captum Mortum, an atmospheric psychological horror game coming in August.
“Caput Mortum is a short first-person horror experience inspired by retro 3D dungeon crawlers and survival horror games,” the team explains. “Delve into a tower of forgotten nightmares, where every step could be your last. Overcome horrors from beyond death and unlock the secrets of forbidden knowledge.”
Also on the way is a first-person narrative adventure “about tagging billboards and watching your house burn down”, Children of Saturn, rogue-like dice build Dead Finger Dice: A Billionaire Killing Game wherein you take on pole dice against blood-thirsty demon billionaires – as you do – and a “darkly quirky” RPG called Muffles’ Life Sentence set in a prison where innmates are remade to match their crimes. The latter is out now on Steam.
To know more about the very best horror games released over the last year or so, check out the winners of the 2024 Horror Game Awards, where Silent Hill 2 Remake took home the top Game of the Year prize, as well as Best Survival Horror and Best Soundtrack. It also awarded James Sunderland mocap and voice actor, Luke Roberts, Best Performance in the third annual horror game showcase.
Best Indie Developer went to Chilla’s Art, Best Multiplayer went to the brilliant Lethal Company, and the Chinese Room’s Still Wakes the Deep took home Best Indie Horror, as well as Best Technical Achievement. Wrong Organ’s stellar – if disturbing – Mouthwashing won Best Narrative and Player’s Choice.