Despite its dark and eerie vibe, upcoming horror adventure The Midnight Walk has been announced for release right in the final bright throes of spring. Crafted entirely by hand and brought to life using stop-motion animation, the unsettling, surreal landscape can be experienced both on desktop and VR.
From what we’ve seen of The Midnight Walk so far, it already looks set to be one of the best horror games to come out in 2025.
Directors Olov Redmalm and Klaus Lyngeled previously worked on 2021’s Lost in Random, and their influence on The Midnight Walk is clear to see. Although not a roguelike or deckbuilder this time around, the games share some of the pair’s signature elements: dim lighting, colossal, looming threats, and a seemingly hopeless world you’re compelled to take on with a strange companion.
The team has ramped up the chills in this latest adventure. A blog post written by Redmalm describes the inspiration of the game coming from Lyngeled’s penchant for sculpting, saying “One day he came to me with a little creature built in clay; a childlike humanoid with a flame coming out of its head.
“We immediately started talking about a game where you’d have to protect this little creature as you journeyed through a dark fairytale world, filled with fire-eating monsters who want to devour you and your flame.”
Claymation seems to be taking off in the weird-indie-games scene lately, with Judero potentially being 2024’s best RPG, Harold Halibut taking the narrative games world by storm, and cozy digging game Machina having just reached its Kickstarter funding goal this week.
The gameplay trailer reveals face-tearing beasts, lurching spider-like creatures with skeletal heads, and giant hands with eyeballs set into their palms – all enemies that seek to extinguish the light of your flame-headed companion, Potboy. Paired up in a grim world where seemingly everything is out to get you, this first-person journey through The Dark Itself will require you to outsmart an array of endless monsters using the power of illumination (and very tactical hiding).
The Midnight Walk launches on Steam and Steam VR on Thursday May 8, 2025.
The Midnight Walk might scratch the itch while we wait for Lost In Random: The Eternal Die, which is due out later this year. You can also fill the void between now and May with our selection of the best VR horror games and best indie games on PC in 2025.
You can also follow us on Google News for daily PC games news, reviews, and guides, or join our community Discord to stay in the know.