Critics praise Tenebris Somnia retro horror across Steam and consoles

Tenebris Somnia, the point-and-click survival horror FMV adventure from Saibot Studios, launched on October 16 on Steam, Steam Deck, Xbox, PlayStation, and Nintendo Switch, with New Blood Interactive publishing.

On Steam, the game costs $19.99, a 20% discount from $24.99. Steam user reviews read Positive based on only 26 reviews as of October 17, 2026. Game Informer published its review on October 22, describing Tenebris Somnia as a hair-raising and entertaining throwback that updates older adventure, survival-horror, and full-motion-video styles.

Prima Games published a review on October 15. The reviewer ranks Tenebris Somnia as their favorite horror game after the original Silent Hill 2 and says it is the best game they played all year. The reviewer had never heard of Andrés Borghi or Saibot Studios before playing.

Noisy Pixel published a review on October 15. Its reviewer called the game a nearly perfect blood-soaked concoction of retro survival horror gameplay and grotesque full-motion-video sequences.

VICE described the game on October 16 as a psychological horror game from New Blood Interactive that blends pixel art with live-action cutscenes.

Nightmares of monsters massacring Ivan bring Julia to his apartment. The filmmaker’s home is the setting for a dialogue-free tale about obsession in art and romance that lasts eight hours. Game Informer says the game takes place entirely within a dreamlike version of a four-story apartment building where the player traverses floors collecting and combining objects and deciphering clues to solve well-crafted puzzles.

Combat against grotesque monsters involves melee and gunplay with deliberate animations that recall classic adventure games while avoiding mechanical clunkiness. The player manages limited ammo and health in a way that feels tense but not oppressive. Playing conservatively pays off because few non-boss threats require engagement if the player can evade them.

The live-action scenes fit thematically because the story centers on a horror film shot by Ivan and Julia that significantly impacted their former relationship. Julia’s visible fear, concern, and determination as she moves through a dreamworld built from Ivan’s memories helped the Game Informer reviewer connect with what might still be a featureless pixel sprite.

The review says Tenebris Somnia sometimes relies too heavily on telling rather than showing when explaining the lore of its supernatural threats, though the reviewer never felt lost or confused. The review says Tenebris Somnia taps into nostalgia for older horror games without seeming dated, and an indie horror film woven into it strengthens the experience instead of seeming like a gimmick.

The Prima Games reviewer gave the story a perfect score and said the game lasts around 4 to 8 hours, with multiple endings adding replayability. The reviewer calls Tenebris Somnia a half-movie, half-game unlike anything seen in gaming before, with actual movie scenes inside the game.

The reviewer says Tenebris Somnia calls itself retro on Steam and evoked an era when games prioritized art and storytelling over extracting every cent of profit from players. It does not hesitate to explore heavy, even distasteful themes, but in the most tasteful way, calling it a brilliant bit of game design.

No real voice acting exists because dialogue and monologue are all handled by text boxes, which the reviewer does not mind. The reviewer says the game explains so much to the player and never leaves them to wonder. This is a good thing because one incorrect assumption could derail perception of the story.

The reviewer never felt outright scared the way horror games used to make them feel, but Tenebris Somnia did a fantastic job of getting them to feel on edge and unsettled at times. Jump scares are horribly overused and cheap in general, but in Tenebris Somnia it is like some evil genius planned them out, with two specific moments where their soul left their body.

The reviewer advises against playing Tenebris Somnia alone in the dark at 3am, even though it is not all that scary. The review was conducted on PC with a Dualsense PS5 controller, and a copy of the game was provided by the publisher for review.

Noisy Pixel’s review says Julia, a filmmaker haunted by nightmares of her director ex-boyfriend being torn apart by white-eyed humanoid monsters, uses her old key to enter his locked apartment after sleepless nights. Ivan cannot be found, so Julia tries to leave but is blocked by one of the monsters from her dreams. She is then transported into a distorted reflection of reality.

Noisy Pixel describes the gameplay as retro survival horror in the style of the original Clock Tower, using full-motion video for the cutscenes. Enemies are plentiful and resources such as healing items and ammo run out fast. The reviewer reloaded their save a fair number of times. Almost every boss encounter includes an underlying puzzle rather than run-and-gun, and many require a handful of attempts to conquer efficiently.

Progress comes mainly from solving environmental puzzles. Most are intuitive, but some are more involved and require specific interactions based on vague clues. Pixel hunting for points of interest was more essential than the reviewer would have preferred, though critical items are usually immediately visible. The reviewer played through the entire game in one impromptu long-form session and stayed glued to their seat.

Saibot Studios built the game, led by filmmaker Andrés Borghi and Tobías Rusjan. New Blood Interactive published it. The publisher said no generative AI was used at any point in production. VICE reports the idea was first conceived in 2022, with a demo released on Steam in 2023.

A film crew in Argentina created the live-action cutscenes, VICE reports, with developer Andrés Borghi serving as writer, editor, and director of those scenes. New Blood Interactive’s team traveled to Buenos Aires to observe a horror shoot on the floor of a 17th-century Argentine cathedral covered in fake blood, HappyGamer reports.

Marcos Berta, credited on “When Evil Lurks,” supervised the practical monster effects, molding silicone masks and prosthetics for the creatures. HappyGamer reports that New Blood handled localization into English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese with humans. New Blood says it created the in-game art and animation manually, with each pixel and frame drawn individually. The audio and music, New Blood says, came from a human composer.

On Steam, the store page tags the game as Adventure and Indie. New Blood Interactive said, “And absolutely no generative AI was used anywhere at any point in production.”