REALPLAYERSDev, a seemingly solo dev on Steam, has just released their debut title for early access. WE ARE SO DEAD is a “seance horror game” that marks the beginning of a “new genre where your dead friend warns you, probably too late.” This mechanic is executed co-op style, for up to six players. One player “died first,” and only they are able to “see what’s killing the others.”
Because the goal of WE ARE SO DEAD to end the game with minimal casualties, multiple players can be killed and join the selected dead player as a ghost. Ghosts are equipped with the ability to “see the demon, the dangers, and the way out, but unable to be heard by the living.” Despite this, they are still able to communicate with each other, and must do so to find and collect relics that are required for the ritual to banish the demon. However, ghosts are only able to see these relics; they cannot touch them. In order to complete the ritual, the living players need to assemble relics individually, bringing them back to where the game started, while avoiding deadly obstacles that are invisible (to them).
Ghosts can attempt to communicate ‘invisible’ dangers with the remaining living players by doing “ghost things.” Ghost activities in WE ARE SO DEAD consist of “flicker[ing] lights, open[ing] and close[ing] doors, go[ing] through the living and [making them] feel it, and as a last resort: scream[ing], loudly.” Additionally, ghosts can spell out written messages to the land of the living using a seance board, but this is notoriously unreliable. One example of how this could go wrong is in the description: “You spell H-E-L-P. They read HELL and cheer. Someone gets dragged into the dark.”
WE ARE SO DEAD had been scheduled to fully release today, but since it accumulated “100,000 wishlists in one month,” the developer explains that they would “love to keep expanding it further together with the community, as there is a huge amount of potential for what else could be added.” Early access is expected to last around six to twelve months, but this timeline could change depending on user interest. REALPLAYERSDev intends to add at least two more worlds with a total of eighteen floors, and is open to increase this amount pending feedback. WE ARE SO DEAD is currently available on Steam for Windows users only.