From indie Spanish studio Path Games, Dark Mass is an upcoming horror game with a unique premise set entirely underwater. The game offers first-person gameplay and realistic graphics created using Unreal Engine 5. Unlike other horror titles set in the sea, Dark Mass aims for a longer adventure of four to six hours involving exploration, puzzle-solving, and a rich story where players’ decisions matter.
Dark Mass puts players in the shoes of Alice, a deep-sea explorer who, with the help of her brother Reed, discovers a mysterious centuries-old sunken manor. Soon after entering it, Alice learns that she isn’t alone, as a dark presence lurks in the cursed-bound mansion. Dark Mass has been compared to some similar underwater horror games like Subnautica and Iron Lung since its reveal, but that’s not where the developers drew inspiration from. In fact, the world of Dark Mass draws from both cinema influences and real-life historical elements. Game Rant recently spoke with Path Games’ Virginia Calvo and Gonzalo G. Luna, studio co-founders and designers of Dark Mass, about the game’s main sources of inspiration.
How Dark Mass Pays Tribute to Iconic Horror Films
As Calvo and Luna stated, the development team at Path Games decided to evoke their love for scary films in Dark Mass and pay homage to classic horror productions like Rosemary’s Baby, Twin Peaks, and Jaws. “Cinema is our main source of inspiration,” they commented. The first-person underwater concept for Dark Mass had already been present in the developers’ minds while the studio was working on Insomnis, its first horror game in early 2022. But it was the 2021 movie The Deep House that gave the team “the final push” to start working on Dark Mass.
The Deep House is a horror film set in France, where a young couple finds themselves trapped in a house submerged at the bottom of a lake with a sinister presence. Similarly, Dark Mass sees protagonist Alice encounter a manor in the depths of the ocean. A dark entity is bound to the manor by a curse, and Alice must uncover its tragic past and escape before it’s too late. Not only is Dark Mass a survival horror title, but also a puzzle-filled experience. Alice will have to solve puzzles based on real-life torture methods from the Spanish Inquisition era as but one example.
Aside from its story premise, Calvo and Luna shared that some of Dark Mass’ soundscapes drew from horror film scores like Sinister.
The Real-Life Inspirations Behind Dark Mass
When developing Dark Mass, Calvo and Luna’s team realized that horror stories have a bigger impact when they are believable. That’s where a touch of their personal lives came in. Since Path Games is based in Spain, the team thought it was a perfect opportunity for Dark Mass’ background:
“As we developed the game’s script and antagonist, we knew we needed a solid backstory rooted in reality. Being Spanish, it’s relatively easy for us to visit historical sites that still hold remnants of the past, and we wanted to bring that texture into the game.”
The developers add that, while the historical elements in Dark Mass are rooted in real-life records, the team also took some creative liberties with them to preserve the game’s mysticism. It is also worth noting that the game will feature both English and Spanish voice-overs.
Insomnis Also Taught the Developers a Few Tricks
Dark Mass is Path Games’ second horror title after its debut game Insomnis. The latter currently holds “Very Positive” reviews on Steam, but Calvo and Luna recognize that some lessons learned from Insomnis played a role when creating Dark Mass by setting the foundations for its world-building. With Dark Mass, players will have a more immersive experience that promotes exploration. The game intends to give players a rich horror narrative with meaningful decision-making. As Calvo and Luna add,
“We don’t want to rely on 200 cheap jump scares — we want the player to walk away with a great story, one they could sum up in just two sentences, and feel our passion for cinema all the way through.”
Dark Mass doesn’t have a release date yet, but Path Games is aiming for a fall 2026 launch window. Calvo and Luna also assured us the game’s next trailer will reveal more details, but fans will have to wait “just a bit longer” for it.