BODY: Most horror games show you the monster in the dark hallway. Cyan Heart shows you the girl's face instead, and leaves you to guess what's behind her.
Independent Japanese developer Shoei Sio (塩惺瑛) announced on September 14 that Cyan Heart will launch on PC via Steam on October 9, and a Nintendo Switch version is also planned. The game is a horror exploration and puzzle adventure played entirely from a "selfie perspective." Its unnamed heroine films herself the whole time, so her face fills the frame and you can't see what's ahead while she walks. To find your way, you watch reflections and objects around her, check a minimap and listen to teammates on the radio. You can also tilt the camera up or down, or turn it forward to look at something. Her expressions change as she explores, so her face shows you how scared she is.
The story is set in a world that once ran on "Magenta Heart," an energy source that copies physical processes forever. That energy has turned into "Cyan," an unstable version that turns matter into more cyan. The girl enters a facility rumored to hold something that can stop the spread. The place looks abandoned, but because cyan copies what it touches, it keeps running as if people still lived there. You learn what happened through documents left behind, including files on a "Beneath Sanctum Project" dated May 1, 1998. Areas range from dark corridors and research labs to bright rooms full of plants.
A free demo is available on Steam now.
The insider take
Cyan Heart is a good example of how a Japanese solo developer can build an audience before launch. Sio, whose earlier game was Tatarian aster (2021), took the game to Tokyo's indie showcases, including DREAMSCAPE#4 in January and TOKYO INDIE GAMES SUMMIT in March. By February it had passed 6,000 Steam wishlists, and about 75% came from outside Japan. That is common for Japanese indies now, where overseas players on Steam often find a game before players at home do. An eye-catching camera idea also helps, because it looks great in short gameplay clips. Horror fans who miss the lo-fi feel of PS1-era Japanese games should try the demo.
Originally reported by AUTOMATON (Japanese).