Combining P.T.‘s creeping tension and Sifu’s penalty system, indie dev Amir Younesy of Youviverse has revealed Cerebral, a psychological horror game where death makes puzzles easier, but at a significant cost. Cerebral is currently slated to launch on Steam.
The story is a simple but effective one: You are trapped in a simulated nightmare, where every choice you make pushes you closer to freedom, or to collapse. The simulation’s system is constantly looking to rewrite your mind, thereby erasing information on your captors. As a way to “encourage” your compliance, the system will make it easier for you progress through the simulation’s puzzles by your deaths, but in doing so, the system erases story clues, and drains mental health. Hit zero, and your progress is wiped.
According to the developer, the choice of penalty for Cerebral is a design choice meant to make players feel real tension without relying on cheap jumpscares. Further upping the tension are the unpredictable events in the simulation, and multiple endings available to you.