Hey everyone!

I’m currently optimization-hunting for my upcoming first-person survival horror game built on Unreal Engine 5, specifically targeting the Steam Deck.

In my project, Nanite and MegaLights are forced on by default. After tweaking the settings to a Custom Medium preset (using Screen Space reflections/GI and TSR on Balanced at 1280x720), I’m getting a stable 39–44 FPS (averaging right around 40).

As you can see from the performance overlay in first screenshot, RAM and VRAM usage are extremely low, leaving plenty of headroom. The second one shows how the atmosphere holds up with the spooky character model (Metahuman character) in the dark.

For those who regularly play modern indie games on the Deck:

1. Do these frame rates and visuals look acceptable to you for a portable UE5 title?
2. Would you prefer an unlocked 40+ FPS or a rock-solid 40Hz/40FPS lock for better frame pacing and battery life?

Would love to hear your feedback and technical thoughts!

Hey everyone! I just released Ashes of the Sun, a short atmospheric horror walking sim I've been working on for the past year.

It's about 15 minutes long, with retro PS1-inspired visuals, atmospheric audio, and a few hand-crafted locations.

If you're interested you can play it for free here: https://synthaxed.itch.io/ashes-of-the-sun

Hey everyone! I’m looking to get the community involved in designing the main menu for my game, Woodbound.

What would you change about this current setup? Whether you have feedback to improve the layout or want to create custom art concepts for a completely new design, I’d love to see your ideas and hear what you think!

Working on a cutscene styled as a news report. I’m mainly testing camera flow, and how much lore to reveal vs. keep vague. Any thoughts?

The Supermarket" is an idea I had back in 2012, or more likely 2013. It was a concept I came up with when I was just a kid, after watching some horror movies—maybe ones set in a supermarket involving a virus, a parasite, or something similar. Back then, I would sneakily watch them on my parents' TV, and the idea of this supermarket popped into my head; it felt very realistic. The cool thing was that the concept was highly interactive. I wanted players to be able to do whatever they wanted because you were trapped inside this supermarket with no way out. The unique part was the interaction with the monster: a black, shadow-like creature that roamed around, trying to catch you. You would hide among the supermarket shelves, move from one side to the other, and throw objects to distract it so you could head elsewhere, or experiment by throwing things at it—either to escape or to get caught—along with other similar interactions. It was meant to be a prototype focused on these various types of interactions with the monster. It would slowly search for you, and if it spotted you, it would chase you.

In 2026, the year I developed two horror games—the 3D games named H-im and Slender , both using Unity 2.5.

I decided to develop "The Supermarket" at first on Unity 5, but honestly, that version is terrible; it’s really bad, doesn't work well, and has various issues. It truly seems that older engines were better than the recent ones; it always seems to be true that things from the past were better. So, I decided not to use Unity 5 and instead stuck with version 2.5. I chose to keep using that version to build this game and to try, as much as possible, to create something I hadn’t done in the other two games: advanced interaction with the monster and in the game in general, along with advanced AI.

I wrote all the scripts with the help of Gemini, the AI, but they were all conceived, solved, and curated entirely by me, one by one, all thought out using my intuition, my creativity, and my mind regarding the mechanics and everything else.

For none of these three games I used pre-made scripts. I have always created every script from scratch, with the exception of the standard First Person Controller one. Everything else was created by me from scratch to make it work.

I hope I can really get the whole game to be the best I want it to be, in a way that is interactive and exactly as I envisioned it back then, and as I want it to be, so I can show it to you and let you have fun facing this monster, with as much freedom as possible.

The monster will have multiple modalities; it can fly, scan its surroundings, and detect sounds. It also reacts when objects are thrown nearby, and it even interacts with those objects. It does everything.

ALL SCRIPTS CREATED BY ME FROM SCRATCH, I DECIDED TO NEVER USE SCRIPTS TAKEN ONLINE, ONLY THE STANDARD FIRST PERSON CONTROLLER ONE.

The goal of this game is to interact with the monster in every possible way—sneaking around, hiding, throwing objects, trying to escape from him, and experimenting with pretty much everything, because there is no way out. This is a prototype that is specifically built around experimenting with the interaction with this monster.

Remember: Use the E key to take items from illuminated shelves, the G key to throw them, space for jump, and the left Shift key to run.

The game can be found on my itch.io profile named Slender Nightmare's Laboratory.

I'm developing Altitude Zero, a short, claustrophobic retro-horror game where you pilot an old thermal balloon through desolate canyons on a remote moon.

Your goal is to manage your altitude, survive menacing wind and hostile creatures and shut down mysterious drainage stations scattered across the territory.

Game title: The Last Evidence

Playable link: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.fngames.thelastevidence

Platform: Android

Ignited Entry: One of the best horror games I've played and it happens to be free! It's a full length psychological horror game that will keep you at the edge of your seat.

Slendytubbies: Be constantly on alert as your childhood heroes become your nightmares. If you find yourself getting frustrated like I did at times, keep trying as it's definitely worth finishing.

Lumina Veil: The most recently released game out of the three. It reminds me of older RE games but with a more modern story and twist. The main part that takes getting used to is navigating the inventory menu but that's a small price to pay for what the game offers.

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I love indie horror and I'm always looking for more gems to stream and post about (not necessarily free).

Have you played any of the games I talked about?

Feel free to drop some suggestions down below:)

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If you wanna check me out and support me you can find me at @Loukaslad on twitch/tt/yt

Hey everyone,

I'm sharing a major update on my psychological horror adventure game. While the project was originally inspired by Over the Garden Wall, I’ve decided to pivot and expand it into an entirely original universe and story.

To reflect this creative shift, the game is officially changing its name from Unknown’s Shadow to Woodbound.

Woodbound focuses on surviving a dark, mysterious forest where players must navigate deception, rich lore, and deep atmospheric horror. Building an original world gives me the freedom to craft unique gameplay mechanics without any boundaries.

If you were interested in the early concept, thank you for the support. Follow my account to stay updated on Woodbound as development continues!

Game is called Tache Noire

Since 2016 I have always wanted to make 3D games, especially horror ones, thinking that maybe I could pull it off. I remember in 2016 I even started, which is something I never do because it annoys me to waste time with YouTube tutorials and things like that, but I started searching and watching them. And I remember some of them were about Slender or Saw games. And I tried in 2016 in general to make some games, but they were very basic, or even less than basic. And so time went by, I was never able to make anything in 3D, except for something with the Coppercube Engine that I did in 2023/2026.

But recently, thanks to the help of artificial intelligence that helped me with the codes, scripts that I obviously don't know how to code, with my intuition, creativity, leading, and energy, but also many meltdowns with these artificial intelligences that often didn't understand, at that point, little by little, I realized I was managing to create a real, proper Slender project quite well. The best 3D game I've managed to make so far! 😁✊🔥

I saw a lot of Slender games made during 2012-13, because from 2020 to 2023 I set out to download all the demos, all the versions, even pre-alpha and alpha, of every type of fanmade Slender game to get this Guinness World Record and played them on my YouTube channel back then. And the fact was that I already knew enough about how one a Slender game had to be made, so I recently decided to download various versions of the Unity Engine. Not the most recent one, no, because it lags, it's poorly optimized, it crashes just trying to create a project where I build it, and it starts giving me errors when there’s nothing that should be giving me errors because I’ve just started. What did I decide to do? To download version 5, so an older one, but I didn't really get on well with it. And then I decided to download 4, which I couldn't use because of a licence and servers problem, 3 either, but 2 yes, the 2.5 version of Unity worked finally, and is the one I am using to make this project. So it will also have that look, that aesthetic very similar to 2012, because the engine is also very old. And I'm getting into it, I'm working with this engine and so it's really a project made in the old style, exactly perfect, in my opinion, for Slenderman as a project in general. And I'm putting, I have put many structures in the map, many interesting things to explore. I've adjusted the basic errors that the first newbies in Unity developing games left as errors and as problems or shortcomings and I have fixed them, and so at least from that point of view it should all be ok and very good.

I've poured a lot of my creativity and ingenuity into this game, creating an Slenderman that's a bit different from the usual—more aggressive. He spawns in places you’d never expect and is quite challenging; you'll need lightning-fast reflexes to avoid him. You must constantly analyze your surroundings to find the eight pages hidden in specific locations across the map. You'll clearly need to explore the entire map thoroughly, not just to find the pages, but also to discover some curious and interesting spots. Once you find all eight pages, you win the game.

And Yeah! Slenderman is back! Slender in 2026! haha ;D

Game link on Itch.io on my profile named Slender Nightmare's Laboratory.

Been working on this for two days! What do you think? It's a surreal emergent psychological horror

OUT NOW on Itch. Io

The Harrow family vanished after acquiring an antique mirror. Conduct a paranormal investigation in their home, as you step into the shoes of paranormal researcher Richard Edwards, uncover the mystery behind the families disappearance and banish the entity before it fully crosses into our world.

Ghostmirror is a first person paranormal psychological horror game inspired by horror movies & focused on delivering an immersive, atmospheric & terrifying paranormal investigation experience.

Thank you :)

I'm looking for a first-person horror game I watched on YouTube around 2016–2018. It had semi-realistic graphics (similar to Visage or Layers of Fear) and was about 1–2 hours long.

What I remember with high confidence:

You play as a police officer/detective investigating a missing persons case connected to a circus clown/serial killer.

The game starts at night. Your police car is parked outside a short wooden fence with its red and blue lights flashing. You start already standing next to the car with a flashlight.

You enter the property through a small gate.

Inside the property is:

• a small log cabin
• a white RV (I don't think you can enter it)
• a movable ladder lying near the RV

The house is ordinary at first, not covered in blood or torture equipment.

Inside I remember:

• lit fireplace
• armchair
• kitchen visible immediately after entering (very small house)
• lots of pizza boxes on a table
• newspapers about missing people and a circus clown

While picking up one of the newspapers, the character automatically notices a torn piece of clown costume underneath the armchair and comments on it.

The front door is initially locked before it mysteriously becomes accessible.

Attic

You have to carry the ladder from outside into the house so you can reach the attic.

I remember boxes in the attic and possibly seeing a child or doll silhouette before it disappeared.

Mannequins

As you investigate, mannequins begin changing positions whenever you aren't looking at them.

I also vaguely remember one crawling behind me while I walked toward the pier.

Outside

A dirt path leads away from the property.

Along the path is a storm cellar door with chains wrapped around both handles and a padlock.

Further ahead is a small wooden pier.

On the pier is a demonic/occult book sitting on something like a wooden stand/table.

Interacting with the book triggers a scripted event where a small blue rowboat carrying a mannequin slowly drifts away from the pier.

The mannequin is sitting at an angle, almost half lying down while facing the player.

Story structure

The game often faded to black or made the player blackout, then you would wake up in another scene.

There were no loading screens between these transitions.

Eventually you wake up in a nightmare carnival.

Carnival

The carnival is outdoors.

I remember:

• carousel
• circus tents
• funhouse

A large/fat clown (kind of Pennywise-like but much bigger) chases you.

He carries a hammer or carnival mallet.

His running animation looked awkward, almost like running was difficult for him.

There was carnival music and the clown laughed while chasing you.

I think I had to collect gears or fuses to escape.

Other details

• First person
• Flashlight
• No visible inventory
• Little or no HUD
• I don't think you could sprint during the investigation section
• Foggy, moonlit forest
• Psychological horror with repeated blackouts/dream transitions

Games it is NOT

• Death Park
• Clown House
• Murder House
• CASE: Animatronics
• Emily Wants To Play
• Outlast
• Visage
• Layers of Fear

I also drew a rough map from memory (attached).