All Games > Adventure Games > The Tartarus Key
Community Hub
The Tartarus Key
There’s no way out for Alex Young who wakes up to find herself locked in a strange mansion filled with puzzles, traps, and cameras following her every move. Whether she and her companions live or die, and find the truth behind their abduction, is up to you in this first-person mystery thriller.
All Reviews:
Very Positive (157) - 93% of the 157 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
May 31, 2023
Developer:
Publisher:
Armor Games Studios

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Curator Review

Recommended
By Casey Explosion July 14

“Taking the trappings of the Survival Horror genre but focusing purely on the puzzles, The Tartarus Key is an engrossing and rewarding experience with great atmosphere and gorgeous PS1 style visuals.”

Features
Languages:
Interface Full Audio Subtitles
English ✔
Includes 16 Steam Achievements
View
all 16
Points Shop Items Available
View
all 19
Awards



Download The Tartarus Key Demo

Buy The Tartarus Key

$19.99
Add to Cart

Buy The Tartarus Key Bundle BUNDLE (?)

Includes 2 items: The Tartarus Key, The Tartarus Key Soundtrack

Bundle info
-10%
$24.28
Add to Cart
 

Reviews

“The Tartarus Key may not be the flashiest horror game you play this year, but it may well be the most fiercely unique.”
8/10 – GFinity

“I found The Tartarus Key is so clearly and lovingly designed, and such a weirdo breath of fresh air right now, that I'd go so far as to call it a must play for puzzle fans.”
Rock Paper Shotgun

“In the ways it simultaneously pulls from, makes fun of, and honors its inspirations, and finds a new way forward to deliver its thrills, Vertical Reach's paranoia-driven indie horror is just end-to-end enjoyable for horror gaming fans of all walks.”
8.5/10 – video games are good

About This Game

The last thing Alex Young remembers is being at home alone in her apartment… so why has she suddenly woken up in this strange mansion? All the doors are locked by bizarre puzzles and traps, there are cameras following her every move, and she keeps thinking she sees… things… out of the corner of her eye. If she wants to escape alive, along with the other captives she discovers, she’ll need to use her wits in this adventure thriller.

Inspired by the look and feel of classic horror games, The Tartarus Key serves up a mystery filled with twists and turns, and more than a few deadly surprises. Rely on brains over brawn to help Alex survive, but beware - not everyone might make it out alive.

Features:


  • Escape a deadly mansion filled with dangerous traps, and rescue Alex’s fellow captives… or fail, and leave them to a grisly fate
  • Uncover three different endings, and dig to the heart of the mansion and the strange secrets it and your captors hold
  • Solve puzzles and challenges reminiscent of escape-the-room games in a variety of unsettling and bizarre scenarios
  • A tense, atmospheric adventure that relies on puzzles and plot instead of combat or chase sequences

The Team:


Leonor Parra: Founder of Vertical Reach and the artist making The Tartarus Key as atmospheric and unsettling as possible. Hates jump scares and vowed to make a game that's downright spooky without them!

Kevin Colegate: The programmer in charge of making a game that plays as smoothly as you remember the classics being! A lover of retro games, he hopes The Tartarus Key surprises people with its blend of authentic vibes and puzzles.

Josie Brechner: Josie Brechner (she/they) is a composer, sound designer, and musician from Brooklyn, NY. She's made emotionally-driven sound worlds for games like EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, Blossom Tales 1 & 2, Mixolumia, Best Friend Forever, Freshly Frosted, and now The Tartarus Key. She has toured the US and performed electronic music internationally under the name Visager. Music from Josie’s three open-source Songs from an Unmade World albums has been used in hundreds of projects around the world.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Implied acts of violence. Significant displays of blood. Infrequent depiction of alcohol consumption.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS *: Windows 7
    • Processor: Intel Core i3-3240 (2 * 3400), or AMD A8-3850 (4 * 2900), or equivalent
    • Memory: 4 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GeForce GT 640 (2048 VRAM) or Radeon R7 250 (2048 VRAM)
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
    Recommended:
    • OS: Windows 10
    • Processor: Intel Core i7-950 (4 * 3000), or AMD FX-4300 (4 * 3800), or equivalent
    • Memory: 8 GB RAM
    • Graphics: GeForce GTX 745 (4096 VRAM) or Radeon HD 7770 (1024 VRAM)
    • Storage: 1 GB available space
* Starting January 1st, 2024, the Steam Client will only support Windows 10 and later versions.
View all

What Curators Say

40 Curators have reviewed this product. Click here to see them.

Customer reviews for The Tartarus Key

Review Type


Purchase Type


Language


Customize
Date Range
To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar.

Show graph



Playtime
Filter reviews by the user's playtime when the review was written:



No minimum to No maximum

Display
Show reviews in selected display order





Learn More
Show graph
 
 Hide graph
 
Filters
Excluding Off-topic Review Activity
Playtime:
Played Mostly on Steam Deck
There are no more reviews that match the filters set above
Adjust the filters above to see other reviews
Loading reviews...