Palmyra Orphanage

About Palmyra Orphanage

Palmyra Orphanage is a first-person paranormal horror game by Steppe Hare Studio, released on Steam in September 2019. Its makers built the floor plan from real blueprints of Russian orphanages and drew the events and characters from real cases of child abuse recorded during inspections.

In a remote corner of post-Soviet Russia stands the orphanage Palmyra, which somehow survived the collapse of the country and the fever of the nineties until every mention of it vanished from the archives. You were separated from your brother there as a child, and you have finally found a clue: the documents about where he was sent. To find them you go back.

The rooms are not empty. Ghostly footsteps echo in the corridors, and the shadows of the dead cry out and try to drag you into their memories. The building belongs to the principal: he wanders, he waits, he hates. Only stealth and attention to every step keep you alive. You light your way by candle through dormitories, washrooms and old classrooms, finding the marks the past left behind, and several endings let you decide how the story ends.

It suits players who want slow, oppressive stealth horror with a heavy, real-world subject, and who know Russian and Soviet settings from games like Summer of '58.

How to play Palmyra Orphanage

1. Explore the orphanage room by room, from dormitories to classrooms.
2. Light your way with a candle and search for documents and clues.
3. Listen for the principal and stay out of his sight and hearing.
4. Piece together the orphanage's history and choose which ending its ghosts deserve.

Tips

• Move slowly: the store says careful attention to every step is needed.
• Learn where you can break line of sight before you need it.
• Read every document; the riddles of the shelter are solved only by finding all the marks of the past.

Questions