
Topics: Indie Games, Steam, PC, Free Games
It’s never been a bad time for horror gamers, with new terrifying releases coming out all year round.
This upcoming release may be one for PC gamers who enjoy horror to keep an eye on, which now has a free demo available for anyone to download.
The game is Black Omens: House of Crimson Silk, a new horror game that combines Silent Hill with Fatal Frame in an intimate first-person setting.
Set in a fictional version of Edo-era Japan, the game has you play as Idate Chiyo, a junior investigator of the Tokugawa Shogunate’s Magical Arcane Division.
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Your first assignment is to investigate the isolated Hon'iden Mansion, which is hidden deep within the forest surrounding the city of Gōtsu in Shimane Prefecture.
This location is described as a “once-prosperous household now abandoned” and is full of many spooky terrors waiting to be unfurled.
Developer Nimbus Games has stated that it has tried to depict the era with a “heady mix of authenticity and terror in mind”.
According to local rumours, numerous sightings of strange disturbances have been circulating in the countryside.
Nearby folks from Gōtsu whisper of restless spirits residing within the walls of the mansion, where legend tells of the wealthy family that once lived there, seemingly vanished overnight.

Played from a first-person perspective, Black Omens has you exploring this mansion for clues, as well as solving escape room-inspired traps to unlock new areas as you piece together the mystery at the centre of the game.
As a member of the Magical Arcane Division, you also possess some supernatural powers which allow you to interact with paranormal forces beyond reality, which may (or may not) help you to purge the mansion of its curses.
At its heart, though, Black Omens is a horror mystery about piecing together the fate of a powerful merchant family that had mysteriously disappeared, so expect a big narrative focus to be on finding clues that you need to cross-reference to put the full story together.
Some players who have already checked the demo out have left reviews, calling out the atmosphere and setting as the game’s biggest strong point.
One Steam review reads: “I liked the visuals, atmosphere, sound design! And I liked the idea of playing as like a psychic, very good idea!”
Another reads: “Highly recommended if you're a j-horror game fan. If you played the demo for their now-cancelled game Chiyo, this will be familiar, as I'm pretty sure this is what that game is now going to become.”
A review on itch.io reads, “Really cool game with some fantastic scares and creepy atmosphere! Awesome job looking forward to the full release!”
The demo for Black Omens: House of Crimson Silk is available now on Steam and itch.io. As for when the full game will release, a concrete date has not been confirmed yet.
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