Agony – PC release date, news, system requirements, and features

With so many visions of Hell already present in gaming, you might think Agony doesn’t have anything new on offer, but you’d be wrong. You might think that with Outlasts, Resident Evils, and Amnesias survival horrors don’t have anything new on offer either, but, again, you’d probably be wrong. What kind of infernal beast is Agony going to be anyway? Let’s take a look.

Basic Agony Info

Agony is developed by a Polish developer Madmind Studio, composed of multiple industry veterans, including people who worked on The Witcher 3. The production has been founded through Kickstarter back in late 2016, and it’s set to launch later this year. Since this is a survival horror with a rather specific story and structure, not much is known beyond some general design ideas, plot premise and visual decisions, and we have them all here for your convenience.

Agony story

The premise is simple, really. You are a soul, condemned to Hell for sins unknown, because you have a bad case of plot-induced amnesia. Whatever lingers in your past, one could safely assume it was horrible enough to send you screaming to the abyss. So good job up there, do better next time. And getting that ‘next time’ is your goal in Agony plotline. You want to escape, and there is only one being that can have any insight on how to go about it: the Red Goddess, reportedly the very being that created Hell in the first place. Of course the way to find her will be fraught with dangers, from the environment and enemies alike.

Agony graphic design

Perhaps one of the most distinctive elements of Agony is its visual presentation. There are plenty of images floating around the Internet depicting some of the scenery and enemies, and with good reason. Whether you find grotesque, twisted, occasionally excessively biological imagery tolerable or not, it’s hard to deny that the creators had a vision and did their best to make it a (virtual) reality. Between walls made of human still living flesh, various body horror monstrosities, all seemingly filtered through a blood-red light… yeah, it can look rather disturbing. On the other hand, it’s also rendered in astonishing detail, with appropriate animations and care all around. One could say it’s going to be a game about beautifully depicted hideous things. And good craftsmanship is always valued.

Agony gameplay

At its most basic, Agony is going to follow the modern survival horror rulebook, with deadly enemies, emphasis on sneaking and hiding, and dealing with occasional environmental or enemy-related obstacle to overcome. The last is going to be particularly interesting in Madmind’s upcoming game. You aren’t just playing any run-of-the-mill soul, see. For some reason probably revealed after the game launch you are going to be able to possess other tormented souls (providing a sort of immortality of sorts, albeit likely connected to some inconveniences) and, more importantly, some of the Hell’s denizens. Picking the right demon for the job ahead of you is going to be a rather common part of overcoming whatever obstacle is going to be thrown your way. At other times you’ll be holding your breath (why does a soul have a breath to hold is anybody’s guess) hiding in dark places as some invincible demon saunters by.

Agony – new trailers

Rather NSFW, and quite unpleasant. You have been warned.