Silent Hill and Resident Evil-inspired horror game resurfaces after a deal gone wrong nearly killed it: "I thought I might never finish this game"
Feb. 6, 2024Retro horror fans, I bring good news: Heartworm is back in business
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It was to my great dismay, then, when in October solo developer Vincent Adinolfi shared a rather dourupdateon Steam, revealing that the game’s original publisher had backed out entirely due to its struggling finances. At the time, Adinolfi pledged to “do whatever I have to to release this game” and launched a Kickstarter.
“They’re a perfect match for our game, and will be supporting us to bring Heartworm to PC,” Adinolfi says.
In this latest update, Adinolfi reveals that the loss of publisher funding was enough to throw the fate of Heartworm into question at one point, but with DreadXP on board, things are looking up again.“There was a while there where I thought I might never finish this game - but that’s not a concern at all anymore. Now I can get back to focusing on creating the best ode to survival horror that I possibly can.”
Heartworm’s story follows Sam, who recently lost some people she really cared about and has since fallen victim to an internet rabbit hole promising a reunion with her dead loved ones. She ends up at a house deep in the forested mountains where there’s said to be a portal to the other side, and well, I think we’ve all seen enough horror movies to know this probably isn’t going to end well for poor ol' Sam.
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The dev promises 6-8 hours of gameplay with multiple endings in the full release. You’ll fight off a variety of monsters using gloriously tanky melee combat as well as third-person over-the-shoulder shooting, and when you aren’t actively fighting for your life, you’ll need to navigate “numerous bespoke puzzles” to proceed.
For more chilling thrills to play with the lights off, head over to our list of thebest horror games.
After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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