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Game Title: Incoherence: Dark Rooms

About the game: https://youtu.be/SkL909hdjYc

Playable Link: https://store.steampowered.com/app/4617940/Incoherence_Dark_Rooms_Demo/

Platform: Steam

Description: Incoherence: Dark Rooms is a room-drafting game similar to Blue Prince, combined with classic survival horror gameplay like Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

You are Astrid Kepler. You awaken in a strange yet familiar room with multiple doors, with no recollection of how you got there. As you explore, you discover that this strange place you are trapped in is constructed of interconnected rooms drawn from your own memories, beginning with fragments of your childhood and gradually extending into the later years of your life.

Every door you open leads to an unpredictable space. You must explore, solve puzzles, and manage limited resources as the mysterious structure constantly evolves around you. But you are not alone. Something else moves through the rooms with you, adapting to your progress and growing more dangerous the deeper you go.

Free to Play Status: Demo

Involvement: I am the creator!

Hi! I’m an Environment Artist from Ukraine, formerly at Crytek Kyiv, and this is my solo-developed psychological horror game, Locked In: The Ward. Its first gameplay reveal was recently featured by IGN.

Locked In: The Ward is a first-person psychological horror game set around the abandoned Ravenrock Research Facility. You play as a woman who has no memory of how she got there and gradually uncover the facility’s past, Project ECHO, and the mystery surrounding Subject #0012.

The game is focused on exploration, puzzles, environmental storytelling and psychological horror. Strange events become increasingly difficult to distinguish from reality — lights behave unpredictably, objects move, sounds appear where they shouldn’t, and the environment itself can change around you.

There’s no traditional combat focus. I want the tension to come from exploring the facility, solving its mysteries and never being completely sure whether what you just experienced was real.

The current reveal trailer shows an early build, and several mechanics and paranormal events I’m working on aren’t shown yet. Future trailers will reveal much more.

I’d love to hear what you think about the atmosphere and concept so far!

Gameplay Reveal Trailer: https://youtu.be/7Nr9YT6fqlQ
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5277740/Locked_In_The_Ward/

I’m an Environment Artist, and for the past while I’ve been developing my first solo game, Locked In: The Ward, in Unreal Engine 5 alongside my full-time job.

I’m handling pretty much everything myself — environments, lighting, level design, gameplay systems, cinematics, UI, audio implementation, and the marketing side of the project.

A few days ago I finally reached the point where I felt comfortable revealing the game publicly.

One thing I decided to try was simply cold-pitching the reveal trailer to IGN. I had no PR agency, publisher, or existing contact there.

I kept the email short: a brief introduction, what the game is, the fact that I’m a solo developer from Ukraine and previously worked as an Environment Artist at Crytek Kyiv, plus links to the finished trailer, Steam page, and press kit.

They replied and were interested in featuring it. After everything was confirmed, it took roughly a week for the trailer to go live on their YouTube channel.

I launched the Steam page around the reveal as well, and the game has now passed roughly 200 wishlists. It’s obviously a small number compared with established indie launches, but for a first reveal with essentially no marketing budget, it gave me some useful early data.

A few things I learned from the process:

• Have the trailer, Steam page, screenshots, key art, and press kit ready before pitching.

• Keep the pitch short. The goal isn’t to explain the entire game — it’s to make someone interested enough to look at the materials.

• Being a solo developer can actually be part of the story, but the game still needs to look interesting on its own.

• One media feature doesn’t magically market the game for you. I still had to post on Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, contact creators and gaming sites, etc.

• Marketing has honestly been one of the strangest parts of solo development for me. My professional background is environment art, so suddenly learning outreach, press kits, Steam presentation, trailers, and community management has been a completely different discipline.

The biggest takeaway for me is probably just to send the pitch. I had no reason to expect IGN to answer mine, but they did.

I’m still very early in figuring all of this out, so I’d also be interested to hear from other solo/indie developers: what gave you the biggest wishlist bump after your first public reveal?

Trailer IGN: https://youtu.be/7Nr9YT6fqlQ
Steam: https://store.steampowered.com/app/5277740/Locked_In_The_Ward/