Horror shooters and action horror PS1 horror

Vomitoreum

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Shoot your way through a fog-blighted hellscape painted after Beksiński.

Platforms: PC, Linux
Stores: Steam, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (91% of 995 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Scumhead
Released: 2021

Not on Mac. Vomitoreum is on Steam, itch.io, PC and Linux. It is not in the Mac part of the site you came from.

What frightens A first-person Metroidvania set in a hellscape modelled on Zdzisław Beksiński's paintings: a fog has infected the land and turned its people into wretched mutants, and you, a being born of grave ash, cross bone-lined halls, graveyards and flesh-walled caverns full of grotesque, often nude, demon shapes.
Content: gore, violence, nudity in enemy designs.

Vomitoreum is a first-person Metroidvania shooter by Scumhead, set in a nightmarish world inspired by the paintings of Zdzisław Beksiński. You explore an interconnected land of mutants and demons, gaining tools and weapons that open new paths, in search of a way to lift the fog that infected it.

About Vomitoreum

Vomitoreum is a first-person shooter built like a Metroidvania, released on Steam in July 2021 by the solo developer Scumhead. Its store names Metroid Prime and Dark Souls as the models for its structure, and the Polish painter Zdzisław Beksiński as the model for its world.

A fog has blanketed the land and turned its people into wretched mutants. You play the Nephilem, a vessel made of cosmic ash and the souls trapped in graves, created to survive the blight and find a way to make the fog recede. You rise from a grave factory and set out into ruins full of demons.

The world is one large, interconnected map. New movement abilities, such as the double jump and air dash players mention, let you reach places you have already passed, and secrets and lore are hidden in its corners. Combat comes in short encounters with a small arsenal that grows stronger as you go, with bosses meant to test you.

The horror is in what you see: pixel-art rooms of bone, flesh walls and gravestones, a long-limbed blue creature stalking a red chamber, coffins under a cross, and enemies whose designs the store warns are often nude or resemble genitals. It is grotesque and oppressive rather than full of jump scares. It suits players who like retro shooters such as DUSK or CULTIC and want a world to map out rather than a string of levels.

How to play Vomitoreum

Rise from the grave factory and learn to move, jump and shoot.
Explore the interconnected world and note paths you cannot reach yet.
Collect tools and weapons; new abilities open earlier blocked routes.
Fight the mutants and demons in each area and the bosses that guard progress.
Search the corners of the map for secrets and lore about the fog.

Screenshots

Vomitoreum screenshot: a long-limbed blue creature stalking through a red flesh-walled chamber

Vomitoreum screenshot: a corridor lined with bones and skulls, a gnarled hand raised in the foreground

Vomitoreum screenshot: rows of coffins and gravestones under a black cross

Vomitoreum screenshot: a tree stump ringed by pale mushrooms on red ground in a stone chamber

Vomitoreum screenshot: the player's shotgun aimed across a pool under a blue sky

Tips

When you find a new movement ability, think back to ledges and gaps you could not cross before.
Players note long walks and slow respawns after death, so learn where you can recover before a boss.
Keep track of rooms with secrets you could not reach; the world is built to be revisited.