Ritual Tides’ Devs Showed Me a Horrific Monster and a Massive Dong at Gamescom

During Gamescom, I met with Vertpaint Studios to learn all about Ritual Tides, a Lovecraftian psychological horror game set on a fictional island off the coast of England. It’s a harrowing thing at first blush, boasting intense, mutated creatures, a suffocating vibe, and notes reminiscent of Silent Hill, Resident Evil, and The Forest.

However, what I took away from the preview wasn’t just a sense that this will be a standout horror title well worth exploring. I came away with something physical, and perhaps a little trauma from being exposed to a mutant’s phenomenal phallus.

I’ll explain…

Ritual Tides Has Me Interested and Just a Bit Terrified

I love a horror game, and more so when that horror is focused on something that makes you feel just a bit uncomfortable. There’s plenty of value in a jump-scare fest of a title, but Ritual Tides goes beyond that and presents something deeply eerie and concerning.

For instance, I was introduced to Agnes, one of the game’s most disconcerting and fearsome mutant creatures. It’s extremely tough to explain what Agnes is, but fortunately, the team at Vertpaint gave me a collectible figure to take home and terrify my four-year-old son with:

Agnes, like many of the game’s mutants, is a writhing mass of flesh, teeth, arms, and legs. She’s a throbbing heap of viscera, and just looking at her makes a few goose pimples prick up on your skin.

Now, to the dong.

In my preview, I was exposed to Walter, a much more docile mutant creature who served me a cup of tea. Did I mention the game is unequivocally British? Walter is harboring a secret, and it’s one that the team at Vertpaint couldn’t wait to share with me.

I was directed to an Instagram post that showcased Walter in all his lengthy glory, complete with a backlit shot that perfectly silhouetted his dangling participle. Given that Lovecraftian horror revolves around tentacles as a core aesthetic, I’m hoping he can’t wield it as a weapon in the same way.

Silliness aside, Ritual Tides was one of the most exciting games I saw at Gamescom this year. It features a true FPS system that gives your character weight and a sense of inertia, allowing for deeper immersion, and the visual palette on display is nothing short of sumptuous.

The game taps into some of our most primal fears, including (sorry, arachnophobes) skittering spiders, deep, dark caves, and creepy old ladies in rocking chairs. It’s a semi-open-world title split into multiple regions, and it offers a risk-vs-reward gameplay loop that pushes you to face said fears to acquire the best items.

What I love is that the game has been pieced together on a relatively small budget, but despite that, it looks phenomenal, and the team is obviously very passionate about what they’ve built.

They’re so passionate, in fact, that they’ve hidden girthy secrets in places you might never have seen them if it weren’t for reports like this.

Ritual Tides can be wishlisted now on Steam. Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server if this sounds like your kind of game.

For more Insider Gaming coverage, check out the full breakdown of my preview of The Witcher 3: Songs of the Past, and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter