Horror shooters and action horror Cosmic and Lovecraftian horror 2D horror Horror

Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity

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A fog-bound manor, mad servants, a cane sword and a hand cannon.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Stores: Steam, itch.io
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (80% of 505 reviews); 3.88 of 5 on the PlayStation Store (156 ratings)
Length: 4 to 7 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Keyboard and mouse or controller (full controller support on Steam).
Made by: Steve Gal (Pugware)
Released: 2016

No. 17 of the lantern horror games · No. 14 of the Victorian horror games

Get it on Steam itch.io PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5)Xbox Nintendo Switch

What frightens Sent in 1897 to destroy the source of an unnatural fog around Berelai Manor, you face shrieking servants driven to violent madness by a glimpse of cosmic insignificance. Rooms are dark beyond your lantern, the halls hold gory remains and occult sigils, and every death raises your insanity.
Content: blood and gore, violence, sexual themes and bondage scenes, occult symbols, alcohol and tobacco (german rating), very dark visuals.

Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity is a hard 2D action horror game inspired by Resident Evil, Dark Souls and Eternal Darkness. In an alternate 1897 Britannia you are contracted to destroy the source of an unnatural fog around Berelai Manor, whose servants have gone mad and attack on sight.

About Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity

Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity is the first game in the Skautfold series by Steve Gal, published by Pugware on Steam in May 2016. Red Art Games released it on Xbox in February 2022 and publishes it on PlayStation 4 and 5 and Switch, where it also has French, German, Italian and Spanish text. Its maker names Resident Evil 1, Dark Souls and Eternal Darkness as its inspirations.

It is set in an alternate history: the Angelic Empire of Britannia in 1897. You play a Veimar, bound by a contract with Waltham Industries to find and destroy the source of an unnatural fog that has swallowed Berelai Manor. A strange madness has taken hold of the servants roaming its halls, maids, butlers and seamstresses among them, and they attack on sight, because their madness comes from a deeper understanding of cosmic insignificance. The king said to be behind the fog is guarded by four knights, and you can take them on in any order.

You explore the estate in detailed pixel art seen from a high angle: graveyards under a great tree, an observatory of giant gears, a church floor strewn with bodies, a belltower and attics lit only by the small circle of your lantern. You fight with an Iaito cane sword and a Waltham A9 hand cannon, watch a stamina bar, and heal with injections. A well-timed shot opens an enemy to a heavy strike. When you die you drop your Vitae and can recover it where you fell, and each death raises your insanity, which brings stranger things into the manor. Yth Stones, dropped by butlers or bought with Vitae, raise your health, healing and attack.

The dread comes from the dark and the noise: there is little music, many enemies shriek before they charge, and you find gruesome remains, occult sigils and traps as you search each room. A reviewer found the game very dark even with the lantern, and hard from the tutorial on. After the story there is New Game Plus, a boss rush, a survival mode and the option to play as a knight boss.

It suits players of Bloodborne and Lamentum who want a short, hard pixel-art take on cosmic horror in a cursed manor.

How to play Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity

Buy it on Steam or itch.io (Windows), or on PlayStation, Xbox or Switch.
Sign the Waltham contract and enter the fog around Berelai Manor.
Explore the estate room by room with your lantern and read what you find about the fog.
Fight the maddened servants with the Iaito cane and the Waltham A9 hand cannon, minding your stamina.
Spend Yth Stones on health, healing and attack, then hunt down the four knights who guard the king.

Screenshots

The Waltham Industries contract to sign, over a foggy pixel-art forest with a hooded figure holding a lantern

The white-haired hero with a long sword among graves and lanterns under a great tree, on blood and autumn leaves

A dark observatory room with a giant telescope, clockwork gears and bookshelves

The hero on a tombstone aiming a hand cannon at an open grave in a pale graveyard

The hero in a small cone of light before a blood-stained barricade of piled furniture and a grand piano

The hero with sword and pistol standing on a blood-drawn sigil in a dark attic among candelabras and mirrors

A teal-lit church interior with blood and bodies on the floor and pale ghostly hands drifting in the air

Tips

Learn each enemy's attacks before closing in; even the tutorial kills new players.
Fire the hand cannon at the right moment to open an enemy to a heavy strike.
After a death, go back to where you fell to recover your Vitae.
Kill the butlers you meet: they drop Yth Stones, and upgrading healing and attack makes the fights manageable.
Raise the brightness if you can; the manor is very dark and your lantern's light does not last.

Questions

How long is Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity?

Its developer put a first run at 4 to 7 hours, depending on how fast you master the combat timing. Getting every achievement takes several playthroughs.

Is Skautfold: Shrouded in Sanity hard?

Yes. Players tag it as difficult, and reviewers compare its stamina-based combat and the way you recover dropped currency after death to Dark Souls.

What is Skautfold inspired by?

Resident Evil 1, Dark Souls and Eternal Darkness, according to its maker.

Does it have multiple endings?

Yes. A review lists multiple endings, an optional boss, New Game Plus, a boss rush and a survival mode.

What platforms is it on?

Windows on Steam and itch.io, PlayStation 4 and 5, Xbox One and Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch.