Caput Mortum

About Caput Mortum

Caput Mortum is a slow-burn horror game by WildArts Games, a two-person studio, published on Steam and itch.io by Black Lantern Collective. It came out on PC on August 27, 2025, and on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S on December 3, 2025; it is also sold on the Switch eShop. The maker puts one run at two to three hours.

You play a traveller in 16th-century France who reaches a village emptied by failed crops and disappearances. Above it stands a tower built by alchemists, said to be the cause, and you go inside and then down, floor after floor. Columned halls under painted starry ceilings give way to laboratories with shelves of jarred organs and bodies floating in green tanks, and to rooms where writing on the walls tells intruders to flee. Notes and journals scattered through the tower slowly tell what the alchemists were doing.

The controls are the game's hook. On a controller, the default scheme puts the camera and movement on the shoulder buttons and triggers, while the right stick moves your right hand, which you use to open, take and strike. It is meant to feel awkward and exposed without becoming unfair, and some puzzles and enemies ask you to move the hand a certain way. There is also a King's Field scheme, a modern one, keyboard only, and keyboard and mouse.

Monsters attack on sight. You can sneak past them or fight with one of three weapons, but you can hold only one thing at a time, so trading a blade for a key while something follows you is a frequent source of panic. Healing items are limited for the whole game and saves are sparse.

The developer has said the story draws a parallel between makers who misuse generative AI and alchemists who destroy life trying to build artificial beings. It suits players who like quiet exploration, real puzzles and short, dense horror, and anyone who enjoyed the dungeon dread of Lunacid or the descent of Amnesia: The Dark Descent.

How to play Caput Mortum

1. Choose a control scheme: the default, King's Field or modern on a controller, keyboard only, or keyboard and mouse.
2. Climb to the tower and explore each floor, reading the notes, journals and writing on the walls.
3. Steer your right hand to pick up items, open doors and strike at creatures; it holds one thing at a time.
4. Sneak past monsters or fight them with the weapons you find, keeping an eye on your health.
5. Solve each floor's puzzles to open the way deeper into the tower.

Tips

• Play with headphones and the lights off, as the developer suggests; sound tells you what is behind doors.
• Healing is limited for the whole game, so avoid fights you do not need.
• Saves are few, so save whenever you can; one reviewer had to replay a whole level more than once.
• Know where your key and your weapon are before you open a door: swapping them under attack is slow.
• If a puzzle stops you, step away or retrace your steps; reviewers found the answer was usually in a room they had passed.
• If the default controls feel too awkward, the modern scheme plays like a familiar first-person game.

Questions