Tenebris Somnia launches on Xbox with live-action horror cutscenes

Tenebris Somnia, a pixel-art survival horror game that cuts to filmed live-action scenes, came out on October 16 for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox on PC. It is made by Argentine filmmaker Andrés Borghi and Saibot Studios and published by New Blood Interactive, the label behind DUSK and Blood West. Xbox Play Anywhere means one purchase covers both console and PC, according to an Xbox Wire post written from the publisher’s side.

The game

Players control Julia, a young woman haunted by dreams in which monsters tear her former boyfriend apart. When she visits his apartment to make sure he is all right, she finds the horror is not confined to her sleep. New Blood describes it as classic survival horror: limited resources, tough boss battles, puzzles and a story to piece together.

The filmed scenes are tied into play rather than saved as a reward at the end. The post says a cutscene can start or stop without warning, sometimes dropping the player straight into a fight, which is meant to keep tension high throughout.

How it was made

According to the post, Borghi came up with the concept while streaming New Blood’s earlier horror release FAITH: The Unholy Trinity. He and Saibot Studios lead Tobías Rusjan built a demo, then pitched the full project to New Blood. Production took close to four years.

Filming happened in Buenos Aires with a professional crew. Actress Clara Kovacic plays the lead, and practical monster effects were supervised by Marcos Berta, whose credits include the film When Evil Lurks. Prosthetic masks were cast from performers’ faces and applied with makeup, a process the post says took several hours every time. Locations included a 17th-century cathedral, and some subway shots were filmed late at night.

The publisher also states that generative AI played no part in development. In-game art and animation were drawn by hand, the music comes from a human composer, and localization into English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese was done by human translators. “It’s just not our brand,” New Blood wrote of AI tools.

What’s next

The team says it hopes to put out a full making-of documentary now that the game has launched, and behind-the-scenes clips are already on its YouTube and Instagram channels.