Morteshka, the developer behind The Mooseman and The Black Book, has shown off their latest horror concoction, One-Eyed Likho, in a new trailer.
Do not adjust your monitor. The 4:3 aspect ratio is a feature of this first-person walking sim horror. One-Eyed Likho is based on the Slavic folklore creature of the same name. The developer describes it as “Likho is an embodiment of evil fate and misfortune in Slavic mythology.”
Not only is One-Eyed Likho in 4:3, but it’s also in greyscale. The latter isn’t entirely uncommon, but the former is pretty rare these days when it comes to 3D titles. But beyond those visual quirks, the game looks rather interesting. There’s some good horror imagery and good use of the game’s darkness. There’s a lot of arson depicted, which is always a plus in my book. Morteshka describes it as “burn mechanics,” which I can get behind. The protagonist also burns their fingers if they hold a lit match for too long, which is something I’ve always wanted to see.
I don’t often intentionally seek out walking simulator games, but I usually enjoy the ones that I play. As a cinematic splinter of the adventure genre, they’re an effective way of telling a narrative. Also, they seem to recognize that you can’t just solve every problem with a gun or even a length of metal pipe, which is something we should all learn.
One-Eyed Likho is currently set to release sometime in 2024. There will be a demo for it from October 26 to November 2, 2023.
