The upcoming folk horror investigative game Hillthorn tasks players with solving a disappearance in a secluded mountain community. Developed by Fool Moon and Finnegan Motors, the studio behind the corporate thriller Inhuman Resources, Hillthorn employs a card-driven gameplay system.
Players step into the role of a private detective. Early in the investigation, a player might encounter elements like a salt line on a trail, suggesting a connection to occult practices. The game's mechanics draw parallels to titles such as Cultist Simulator and The Horror At Highrook. Core actions are performed using verb cards like 'Talk,' 'Search,' and 'Investigate,' which are placed into specific slots. This action then generates new cards representing discoveries or further possibilities, which are dealt onto a tray.
These new cards can be observations about characters or situations, like 'Naive' or 'Anxious,' or they can represent new avenues for investigation. Successfully reaching certain milestones, such as accepting a contract to find a missing person, will change the game's scene and present players with a new deck of cards. The card-based system is designed to sketch out or hint at unseen actions and relationships, creating a sense of a larger, looming world behind the immediate gameplay.
Some cards offer more explicit hints of a spatial environment. For instance, a radio card can be activated, featuring realistic audio that becomes tinny when placed in an action slot. Other items, like a pocketwatch for advancing time and a journal containing hints and settings, carry over between scenes. While the experience appears more directed than similar games in the genre, much of the narrative and world-building is left to implication.
Hillthorn is slated for a November release and currently has a demo available on Steam. It may appeal to players who enjoy folk horror themes and games with intricate card mechanics.