The Tartarus Key set to open next year

Wandering through creepy and perilous old rudimentary-3D mansions goes way back to the likes of Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil, but Vertical Reach's upcoming captivity thriller The Tartarus Key is preparing to take players on a nostalgia-fueled return to the games of the early nineties, though without the combat of some of its more famous predecessors.

Alex Young awakens to find herself kidnapped and locked in a strange room with no idea of how she got there or who put her there. Escaping this initial room is just the beginning of her nightmare, however, as it proves to be just one of many in a sprawling manor where each door leads to something more mysterious than the last. Alex soon learns that she isn't alone here: her every move is being observed via a network of cameras installed throughout the house, and a unfamiliar voice contacts her occasionally on a portable radio. What's worse is that there are other unfortunate souls locked up as well, begging for their freedom. You'll need to keep your wits about you if you're to save them (and yourself) and hopefully figure out "who – or what" is "lurking at the heart of this place."

Presented in a first-person realtime 3D style that hearkens back to the early PlayStation era, The Tartarus Key promises an "atmospheric and unsettling" horror experience without jump scares, as its challenge relies on "puzzles and plot instead of combat or chase sequences." The dark, sprawling "house of tricks and shadows" is full of traps and bizarre obstacles, but you will be able to team up with the mansion's other captives once freed. Caution is advised, however, as some of Alex’s fellow prisoners have secrets of their own, and who makes it out alive depends on the choices you make throughout the game, leading to one of three unique endings. 

There is no specific launch date at this point, but The Tartarus Key invites brave explorers to enter if they dare when it releases for PC on Steam sometime in 2022.