IRE: A Prologue is Ready to Take You Out to Sea This Spooky Season [Preview]

We’re on a boat! And it’s kind of terrifying!

Near the tail end of September, I was lucky enough to get a private demo over Zoom of the upcoming horror game Ire: A Prologue, an upcoming horror game from ProbablyMonsters, a new studio founded by multiple ex-Bungie devs.  At the controls for my 20 minute demo was creative director CJ Cowan, the former story team lead for Destiny, where I got to see the opening few minutes of the game, straight from clicking New Game on the title screen.

I’ve been an avid fan of horror to the point where I’m desensitized to most scares anymore, more in it for a love of the storytelling opportunities than the thrill of actually feeling fear, but I was intrigued to get a look at what would be in store.  For me, one of the first draws for a horror title is the location, as horror in almost all media tends to want to isolate you to one area to amp up the tension and give a clear goal of “escape”.  We’ve seen houses, we’ve seen mansions, we’ve seen entire towns of multiple sizes, nationalities, and eras.  Ire takes place on a ship stuck in the middle of the Bermuda Triangle.  A ship isn’t breaking new ground, but it hits that sweet spot of being a classic location you can instantly see the potential in, but being just that slight bit rarer to where you appreciate seeing again.  And that goes double for the Bermuda Triangle, which despite its legacy, I feel like has been mostly avoided for years now.

Ire gets it’s feet wet quickly, the opening cutscene was quick enough to lead me to confirm that this was the actual opening and not a vertical slice of the game meant for demo purposes.  The player character is a young teenage girl named Emily, after discovering a mysterious door she finds herself aboard a familiar ship in a not so familiar location.  As you explore you learn that this appears to be her father’s ship, and Emily has a lot of experience running around helping her dad keep it up and going throughout her childhood.  And now she has to put all of that to the test to get the engine running and see if she can escape the Bermuda Triangle.

Leading her around are a set of mysterious doors, starting from 13 and counting down, which are also incorporated as the chapter numbers as well.  These doors all return Emily to the safe zone where she can listen to audio notes she finds, recuperate, and figure out what she needs to do next.  The opening tasks are fairly simple, but it wouldn’t be a horror game without a monster relentlessly hunting you through the ship as you try to complete your tasks.

There is no combat in Ire, instead relying on tried and true run and hide, cat and mouse mechanics familiar to anyone that’s played a horror game since that boom started over 10 years ago.  While this style of encounters may have burnt out a lot of gamers, I think the resurgence of proper survival horror games, including the revival of the Big Two, Resident Evil and Silent Hill, has brought enough balance to the Force to where I can be excited that a game is doing this style again rather than exhausted by it.  And it does seem promising in the puzzle department, and as someone that will confidently declare that every horror game needs to have puzzles to feel like a horror game, that makes me even more excited to check it on.

I did also clock the “Prologue” very ominously hanging in the title, and it is confirmed that this is meant to be the beginning of a new original horror IP.  I did ask Cowan whether this meant more of an anthology series that may carry on certain ideas or themes, or a straight sequel that might even see Emily return in some fashion, but I was skillfully dodged in that respect.  

Overall, I was really impressed with the game, and it looks to be perfect to slot into your library for the Halloween season.  A demo is scheduled to drop during Steam Next Fest later this month, with the full game releasing October 28th.  The only confirmed platforms are PC, on both Steam and Epic Games Store.  When I asked about Steam Deck compatibility, I was met with a bit of discussion before being given an answer of “TBD”.  As a proud new Steam Deck owner, I’ll be happy to download the demo and see how it runs whether it has the Verified badge or not.

This preview is based on a hands-off online session with the Publisher/Developer.