Tenebris Somnia

 ”Be careful fighting someone else’s demons: it may awaken your own.” -Bryan McGill

***Many special thanks go to my brother and my wife for proofing this review. I could not have easily transitioned back into this review style without the both of you.

Tenebris Somnia-developed by Andrés Borghi along with Saibot Studios-is a retro survival horror action game with a strong story, uncomplicated yet effective gameplay, and a deluge of style. Published by the acclaimed New Blood Interactive, this title masterfully utilizes evocative live-action scenes produced by an adept film crew from Argentina interlaced with retro-inspired in-engine graphics to create an experience that I, personally, do not see myself forgetting for quite a long time. I would like to also make it apparent that a review key was provided by the developer for the purposes of this review, but no further compensation has nor is expected to be delivered for this writing.

Here are only a few reasons to dive into this take on the world of horror:

Story - So as to not spoil much of what makes this title so very intriguing, I will attempt to refrain from writing much further than what is made clear in the opening hours. The player finds themselves playing as Julia as they go to check on their ex-lover, Iván, following gruesome nightmares she has about him. On her arrival, it is quickly determined that Iván is not at the apartment, although it becomes clear that, after interacting with a bizarre tome on the ground, neither is Julia. The following narrative presents an excellently-paced slow burn mystery  and ultimately took me approximately eight hours to finish. The writing is excellent and presents lore-based terms in an understandable way.

Aesthetics - To put it plainly at the risk of gushing, Tenebris Somnia oozes panache in the best of ways. The enemy design is terrifying and distorted to match the world that Julia is forced to survive, locations are believable and grotesque in a surreal blend, the tactful utilizing of sound effects and music or silence compounds the eeriness of the situation, and all of the elements at play hold a brilliant cohesion that aids both the story and gameplay. Live-action cutscenes play seamlessly when specific events are triggered, never appearing jarring nor inappropriate from my own perspective. These live-action scenes are far from being a mere gimmick as they push immersion and allow the mind to bridge the gap with in-engine visuals, strangely permitting players to place themselves in the retro design of the playable space. What I also find brilliant about these scenes is that no words are ever exchanged: the body language and other contextual information bridge the gap over multiple languages as the Argentinian studio spoke fluently to this English speaker.

Gameplay - This title can be played with either a mouse and keyboard combination or controller, although I utilized a controller with the Xbox layout for the entirety of my own experience. Firstly, I would like to proclaim that Tenebris Somnia feels great to play. The controls themselves are also fairly standard, with A being the interact button, X for running (which can be set to toggle through the options menu), B for the inventory screen to appear while LB and RB alternates between items and the mentioned book, and LT and RT to ready and attack with an equipped weapon, respectively. This title focuses on puzzles and story to drive the narrative forward while the combat forces the player to consider the timing of enemy actions. The controls are smooth and responsive, and many unsuccessful encounters I had with opponents seemed to have gone awry from my own hubris rather than game dysfunction. The inventory itself is automatically organized when any item is acquired, deliberately sorting elements by type so that puzzle items always seem to be easy to find. The puzzles themselves aid the narrative perfectly, unraveling a mystery in multiple layers while clever solutions and a multitude of “Ah-ha!” moments that compel the mind to say, “Okay, I will be finished playing for now after this next section,” only for multiple hours to have passed. Overall, each element provides a respectable challenge for the player. My only gripe with the gameplay that I could muster was that I would get stuck on geometry at times, though I admit this was likely due to user error. Alternatively, there are several puzzles that do require either color comprehension or understanding of intonation that-although very well designed-would not be accessible to individuals with deficits in sight and sound, respectively.

TL:DR - Tenebris Somnia is a game that I cannot recommend enough to horror fanatics and those that love a well-paced and compelling mystery narrative. The gameplay-though appearing rudimentary in design-compliments the story so well, and the live-action cutscenes that could have simply been a gimmick elevate the entire experience. I would like to thank the developers once again for the review key for this title; I cannot say how impressed I am to see this have turned out the way it did. Thanks for reading.

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Originally posted on October 16, 2026.