Typically, you wouldn’t expect a space shooter to have horror elements attached to it, but that’s where developer Italian Games Factory is hoping to succeed with their upcoming title Haunted Space, which is set for release on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and PC.
Harkening back to the days of Wing Commander: Privateer, Haunted Space blends sci-fi horror with “a story-rich adventure based on exploration, fast-paced dogfighting, trading and ship crafting, with customisable flight simulation and intense multi-stage boss battles.”
Haunted Space centres on the second age of human civilization, which has reached the distant Neterun galaxy and discovered a powerful energy called Sonic Matter, which has resulted in settlers flocking to the systems to harvest the resource. As things go, humanity discovers they were not alone in the system.
You take on the role of a Raider, in the service of the Human Empire, as you traverse the galaxy, taking on quests across multiple systems, or striking out on your own to fight, explore and scavenge resources and credits.
Sounds pretty typical for a sci-fi shooter, right? Well, according to the devs, Neterun is full of monuments and relics left by an ancient civilization and the galaxy is haunted by their ghosts. You’ll be discovering the reasons for their presence and “fight for survival against their supernatural threat in a story inspired by the dark and twisted tales of Heavy Metal and 2000AD.”
That’s more like it.
While no release date has been announced as of yet, you can wishlist the game on Steam, as well as check out the official site.