Independent studio Dusty Box has just thrown down the gauntlet for horror fans, revealing its debut title, Cult of Blood, with a chilling new announcement trailer. This survival horror adventure promises to drag players back to the golden age of panic. Players are forced into a hidden village where every step is a negotiation between survival and becoming the final sacrifice in a dark ritual.
Set to launch next year on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox, this title is a must-wishlist for anyone craving old-school dread.
The haunting trailer immediately sets a suffocating atmosphere, teasing fog-drenched streets, eerie candlelit chambers, and crumbling swampy ruins. However, Cult of Blood isn’t just taking inspiration from classic survival horror; it’s resurrecting its essence.
The game uses fixed camera angles to ensure you can never quite see what’s around the corner, blending a film-like visual style with genuine paranoia. Movement is deliberate and heavy, relying on classic-inspired tank controls. Still, developer Dusty Box has added crucial modern refinements for aiming and dodging, ensuring the game feels tense without feeling frustratingly outdated. This is designed to evoke a relentless dread, while twisting the formula with its own unique brand of ritualistic, gore-soaked horror. At the core of Cult of Blood is a relentless focus on tension and consequence.
Ammunition is scarce, healing items are rare, and aggressive enemies mean that every single encounter could realistically be your last. Combat is a desperate struggle, forcing players to manage limited bullets and risk engaging in risky melee combat.
Survival requires more than just dodging. Players must scavenge resources and, more importantly, collect blood souls—a grim currency dropped by fallen foes. These souls are essential for endurance. It allows you to upgrade weapons or acquire new gear necessary to survive the escalating nightmare. Managing this grisly economy is key to enduring the journey. This culminates in a massive, multi-phase showdown against the cult’s queen.
The premise: you are a police officer sent to investigate unsettling reports from a remote, hidden community. What you uncover is a village seemingly frozen in time and cut off from the outside world. Routine investigation quickly spirals into pure horror as you discover a cult devoted to a sinister priestess, who is performing rituals to ascend to godhood. Crucially, the villagers themselves are not supernatural beings like vampires; they are humans stripped of their souls and enslaved to the cult’s dark will, adding a heartbreaking layer of tragedy to the terror.
A true story inspires the game. It is wildly reimagined with supernatural elements. The narrative explores the eternal conflict between light and darkness. Players are ultimately forced to make a climactic choice: destroy the cult and its terrifying queen, or succumb to the power of the ritual.
“With Cult of Blood, we wanted to revive the suffocating tension of classic survival horror, where every corner hides danger and every decision could be your last,” said Angelo Axiotis, co-founder of Dusty Box. “This isn’t just a fight for survival, it’s a descent into a nightmare where you’re the key to a cult’s dark ascension.”
Cult of Blood is currently deep in development and is confirmed for release next year on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox. You can start preparing for the nightmare right now by adding the game to your Steam wishlist.
