Sepulchre re-opened in commercial horror The Charnel House Trilogy

Written by Jack Allin — February 19, 2015 at 21:39

In 2013, gamers were treated to a disturbing surrealist freeware adventure aboard a train called Sepulchre, which hinted strongly of more to come. Today that "more" has been revealed, as the original game by Owl Cave will be surrounded with both prequel and sequel installments in the commercial release of The Charnel House Trilogy this April.

The original Sepulchre was an "unsettling take on trains, historians and huge bags" that starred museum curator Dr. Harold Lang. Awaking aboard a most unusual train, players had to interact with fellow passengers in order to "piece together Dr. Lang’s memory and steer him through turmoil and train-based unease."

Bookending that story in The Charnel House Trilogy will be a prequel episode, "Inhale", and a follow-up finale, "Exhale". The former casts players in the role of a young woman named Alex Davenport as she "waits impatiently for an urgent delivery. A delivery that will change her life. Haunted by snatches of a past she can barely face, Alex longs to escape her room, her apartment, her life. And yet unseen forces seem to conspire against her." The finale picks up Alex's story once again after she too awakens in a familiar location following a a "brush with tragedy". Players must help Alex in her "desperate search to find the doctor she met and travel to the mysterious island of Augur Peak. Can she survive the journey? Why does she want to escape? And what is the dark and terrible secret from her past that doesn't seem to want to stay hidden?"

If the pixel art on display has a familiar style, it might be because one of the artists is Ben Chandler, whose credits include the 2014 Aggie Award-winning Blackwell Epiphany and Wadjet Eye's upcoming Technobabylon. While the name Owl Cave may not be instantly familiar, the design team also has an established genre pedigree, with Richard & Alice's Ashton Raze and Lewis Denby co-developing the game along with another artist, Ivan Ulyanov. Unlike their previous adventure, The Charnel House Trilogy will be fully voiced.

There isn't long to wait for The Charnel House Trilogy, as the game is slated to be released for PC in April on Steam. In the meantime, you can still download and play the original Sepulchre. Registration is required, but the game is free to play.