DREDGE meets Silent Hill f in surreal Chilla’s Art demo—and I’m hooked already

Chilla’s Art is back with a completely new form, and this time we’re headed to the ocean. The open water greets you with open arms, offering a boat, gas station, merchant, and a small sandy beach to trick you into thinking you have spawned in paradise. But it’s more like purgatory. The singular task to “go to school” brings you back down to reality, even though nothing you’re looking at makes much sense.

This is UMIGARI, an upcoming indie horror fishing game—and it’s like nothing we’ve ever seen from Chilla’s Art.

A dev I always look forward to seeing what comes next is Chilla’s Art, best known for The Closing Shift, Parasocial, The Bathhouse, and Aka Manto. With a distinct look and identity that focuses either on the supernatural or stalker villains, Chilla’s Art has made a name for crafting consistent slow-burn horrors with janky yet creepy imagery. In a similar vein to Rayll’s Fears to Fathom series or Puppet Combo’s many titles, Chilla’s Art has a signature, but the latest demo is very different from what this dev usually releases.

UMIGARI is a fishing simulator that follows the typical sim rulebook: Reel in fish, sell for profit, and spend your hard-earned cash on upgrades. Simulators have been increasingly popular on YouTube and Twitch, with titles such as Schedule 1, Hellmart, PowerWash, and Supermarket Simulator, alongside the highly anticipated Quarantine Zone and We Harvest Shadows. There’s something strangely comforting and addictive about these games, and Chilla’s Art knows this. It’s easy to get distracted by bigger fish, more money, and new places to explore, but there’s something off about what’s at the end of the line. Fish with hands as fins and human teeth, screaming as the harpoon hits their skin.

It begs the question: What exactly are you?

On the surface, there’s nothing particularly nefarious going on. Yet, similar to DREDGE, Subnautica, and Iron Lung, it’s about diving underneath the rippling waves to uncover the darkest secrets. Japanese folklore sits at the heart of this entry, where symbolism and strange dialogue reminiscent of Silent Hill will make you question what exactly you’re playing.

Chilla’s Art games are getting weirder by the second, and I’m all for it. Shinkansen 0 and Cursed Digicam could be the titles that pushed the dev into a new, experimental identity where confusion, disorientation, and panic are top of the list to craft a horror you’ll never forget. It’s impossible to predict Chilla’s Art now, and that’s a good thing.

No official release date has been given at the time of writing. That Chilla’s Art dreaded build never left, and UMIGARI‘s demo conclusion is one that’ll surely make you want more. It’s clear why Chilla chose to give us a good 30 minutes to an hour of gameplay early, because UMIGARI has already reeled me in, and I know I’ll be swept away when this surrealistic adventure drops.