Lurch

My first thought when the community buzz started framing this as a Phasmophobia cousin was mild skepticism. That comparison gets thrown at every co-op horror release, and most of them earn maybe one session before the group chat goes quiet. Lurch, from the small Australia-based studio Bartic Studios, lands somewhere more specific than that label implies. It is built around a single haunted mansion set in the cursed Dreadwood Forest, and the whole loop is closer to a live escape room than a ghost-hunting simulator. You and up to three others solve environmental puzzles, track down cryptic clues, and look for the way out while demons escalate their pressure on you the longer you stay. That escalating threat is the spine of the tension, and when the pacing clicks, it genuinely works. The mechanical centrepiece is the adaptive AI. The demons do not patrol fixed routes; they read what you are doing and adjust. Hang together as a group too long and they adapt to group tactics. Split your attention across rooms and you invite a different kind of problem. Three difficulty modes let a fresh group find footing before bumping the aggression up, which is a sensible inclusion for a game asking four people to coordinate under pressure. There is also a skill tree that lets characters unlock abilities and upgrades across sessions, giving returning players a small but meaningful sense of progression beyond just knowing the layout better. Community reception is sitting at mixed on Steam with a small review pool, and the criticism coming through is worth taking seriously. Player animations have been called janky, movement feeling slightly off against the otherwise atmospheric environment. The absence of built-in proximity voice chat is a genuine miss for a game where whispering "it's behind you" should be part of the experience. Those are rough edges that feel fixable in Early Access, but they are present now. On the other side of the ledger, players who stuck with it pointed to the sound design and puzzle variety as genuine highlights. The sound work in particular carries atmosphere that the visuals alone cannot always sustain. The honest framing here is that Lurch is a small studio's early bet on a competitive genre, and the Early Access label is doing real work. The core loop, cooperative puzzle-solving under adaptive demon pressure, is sound enough to enjoy with the right group even in this state. Solo play is technically available but the design clearly does not care about you if you show up without friends. No controller support at launch drew complaints from parts of the community as well, so keyboard-and-mouse is your only option for now. If you can field a squad of three or four and have patience for a game still finding its footing, there is something here worth an evening. If you are a solo player or need a polished product today, hold off and check back after a few more updates.

Kai · Scout Team

Indie & narrative

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