The demo for this upcoming horror-RPG-FPS built in the Doom engine might already be the most terrifying thing I play all year, and I can't wait for more

GamesHorrorThe demo for this upcoming horror-RPG-FPS built in the Doom engine might already be the most terrifying thing I play all year, and I can’t wait for moreWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

I knew I was in for a stomach-churning time withDivine Frequency’s demo after I finally acquired my first weapon. I came up to a fenced hallway in the game’s vast industrial underbelly and spied an ominous figure looming way down the hall. The light above it cut out, I turned around, and there it was: a horrible faceless mannequin an eyelash’s length away.

I panicked, started blasting, and swore so loud my girlfriend heard down the hall. Sike! The mannequin is actually completely harmless, and I just wasted precious ammo and weapon durability on a prank. Divine Frequencypunkedme.

This horror-FPS-RPG launched its first Steam demo during 2023’s Realms Deep event, aformer mod projectnow getting reworked into a full game. It’s built on GZDoom, the ubiquitous source port of id Software’s classic, and it’s one of those Doom-based games that makes you say “wait, you can do this in the Doom engine?”

It’s looking like a game with some capital-L Lore, casting you as some kind of agent plumbing the depths of a vast and terrible nightmare realm. There were peeks at some distinctlySCP-flavored background text here and there giving that delicious contrast of banal agency-speak trying to wrangle the unknowable horrors around you. It never felt like I was getting beat over the head with all that Lore, but instead it gave me the great feeling of witnessing the tip of a storytelling iceberg.

The shooting and exploration reminds me most of System Shock 2, of all things. You creep along these utterly vile, rusted underhalls ready for freakish creatures to jump out at you from any corner⁠—these things always seem to be positioned right in your blind spot on entering a room. They go down with just one or two hits from the satisfyingly beefy basic pistol, but you’re also pretty fragile and these things move fast. I particularly hated (read: loved) this one enemy type that both looks and moves like a house centipede⁠—awful, awful little guys just rushing around faster than it feels like anything should.

Ammo is scarce, and Divine Frequency also cribs System Shock 2’s weapon degradation system, one of only a few durability mechanics I’ve ever enjoyed in a game. An exceedingly rare repair consumable always feels like a godsend whenever you find one, and while I always felt the pressure of my resource constraints, I was never on the verge of the demo being unfinishable.

Image1of7Room with roaring fire (not cozy)(Image credit: Good Karma)A rare friendly(?) face(Image credit: Good Karma)Eat the egg(Image credit: Good Karma)This weird-ass bathroom brought me no end of joy.(Image credit: Good Karma)Looks fine(Image credit: Good Karma)No thank you(Image credit: Good Karma)You Recovered(Image credit: Good Karma)

Image1of7

Room with roaring fire (not cozy)(Image credit: Good Karma)A rare friendly(?) face(Image credit: Good Karma)Eat the egg(Image credit: Good Karma)This weird-ass bathroom brought me no end of joy.(Image credit: Good Karma)Looks fine(Image credit: Good Karma)No thank you(Image credit: Good Karma)You Recovered(Image credit: Good Karma)

Room with roaring fire (not cozy)(Image credit: Good Karma)

room with fireplace but it’s not cozy

A rare friendly(?) face(Image credit: Good Karma)

view of talking to a skeleton man

Eat the egg(Image credit: Good Karma)

menu for either consuming the shell or meat of an egg for strange benefits

This weird-ass bathroom brought me no end of joy.(Image credit: Good Karma)

Surreal, brightly lit bathroom

Looks fine(Image credit: Good Karma)

bizarre brightly lit hallway leading downward

No thank you(Image credit: Good Karma)

view to mannequin hiding in closet

You Recovered(Image credit: Good Karma)

boss victory screen Divine Frequency

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The demo also features two surprisingly excellent boss fights, distinct from both each other and the rest of the gameplay loop. One is a puzzle fight reminiscent of theGrymforge encounter in Baldur’s Gate 3, while the other is a straight-up Soulsborne duel focused on timed dodges and a counter mechanic that, while unused in the rest of the demo, was instantly intuitive and fun to learn. The potential for a full game that’s so generous with its different gameplay styles, always surprising me with unique vistas, puzzles, and encounters, has me extremely excited for the complete package.

Divine Frequencywhips, and there’s very little else like it, somehow managing to combine a helpless, overpowering sort of horror with genuinely excellent shooting. I loved 2022’sScornto bits, but that’s a game where the shooting is something you struggle against. Divine Frequency, meanwhile, captures a similar sense of being made less than human in the belly of some great and terrible machine, while also giving you a kickass magnum that blows things into little chunks⁠—the two shouldn’t work well together, but they just do.

Divine Frequency currently has no set release date, but you can try the demo for yourself and wishlist it onSteam.

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