About This Demo

Enter the Island from Which No One Returns

Poveglia: The Island of No Return is a third-person horror and action experience that immerses you in one of Italy's darkest places. Take on the role of Detective William Miller, who, after accepting one last case involving a family disappearance, finds himself stranded on the eerie island of Poveglia. Here, hundreds of souls have been forgotten, and a dark truth awaits to be unearthed.

About This Demo (Unreal Engine 4 Version):

This demo offers a first glimpse into the world of Poveglia. Lasting approximately 45 minutes, it will allow you to:

Experience the core mechanics: Explore, manage your inventory, and face the island's first threats.

Try out strategic combat: Discover that each creature has weak points. Survival depends on your ability to target them and use the right tools.

Immerse yourself in the narrative: Follow a linear and atmospheric story, collecting clues and optional texts that delve deeper into the mystery.Visit one of the darkest places in Italy where hundreds of souls were forgotten in time. After an acclaimed career as a private investigator, detective William Miller takes on one last case; the disappearance of the Family Pierangelli, which has remained in mystery for over thirty years.

Important Development Note:

This demo is built in Unreal Engine 4 and represents an early stage of development. The character and environment models you will see are provisional. Our team is currently working hard on the migration to Unreal Engine 5, where we will implement the official characters with MetaHuman technology and facial capture, final creature designs, and a much higher level of detail and realism.

This demo is the foundation upon which we are building the ultimate experience. Your feedback is invaluable to this process!

Game Features (Previewed in the demo):

Atmospheric horror: Explore a cursed island with a linear and deeply immersive story.

Exploration and survival: Search for clues, weapons, and resources to survive as you unlock new areas.

Strategic combat: Face creatures with strengths and weaknesses. Precision and clever use of objects are key.

Mystery to unravel: Follow Detective Miller's investigation and uncover the secrets hidden on the island.

• Each enemy will have strong and weak points.

The best way to deal with them is to know their weak points to cause them the most damage possible. Depending on the tools used and where exactly the creature is hit or shot, critical hits can be dealt.

Poveglia: Island of non return has a high narrative component, we tell a story with an already written script, so both the story and the video game will be strictly linear, without the possibility of player choice regarding the sequence of actions that occur in the game.

• Read the dialogues and cutscenes to follow the course of the story.

• Move freely through the different levels, they will be unlocked as the character progresses. You can read optional texts that the player will collect in the different levels, and overcome the different obstacles that appear and the possibility of finding hidden secrets in the levels.

• Fight as many times as you want against the enemies that are found and/or appear as you progress through each of the levels. Also you can interact with objects or memories, and manage an inventory of objects.

Making a horror-based video game requires dedication to the narrative of the environment and gameplay that the user will have. Maintain the limit between the feeling of weakness and being able to defend yourself against creatures in critical situations. Added to the entire narrative, it makes it a work very dedicated to detail, both in environments, level design and the way the story is shown.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

“Poveglia: The Island of No Return” is a psychological horror and survival game that contains mature themes and explicit content that may not be suitable for all players. The adult content present in the game is described in detail below so that potential players can make an informed decision before playing.

1. Depiction of sexual acts and sexual themes
The game includes implicit references to sexual acts within narrative contexts, such as dialogue and found documents, which are part of the island's dark plot. However, there are no graphic depictions of sexual acts.

Themes of sexuality are explored in distorted contexts, such as historical rituals and abuses of power, which contribute to the atmosphere of horror.

In some segments of the game, erotic role-playing is used as part of the narrative, but these are presented in a textual or metaphorical manner, without explicit visual content.

2. Graphic violence and horror
The game contains scenes of intense and graphic violence, including:

Dismemberment and mutilation performed by supernatural entities and traps on the island.

Forced suicides as part of the historical narrative of Poveglia.

Psychological and physical torture depicted through gameplay mechanics and cutscenes.

The violence is narratively justified and seeks to generate a sense of horror and despair, but it may be disturbing to some players.

3. Themes of sexual assault and non-consensual sex
The game addresses historical and narrative references to sexual assault, especially in the context of medical experiments conducted on the island. However, these situations are not shown explicitly, but are hinted at through documents, dialogue, and setting.

These themes are present to highlight the cruelty and horror of past events on Poveglia, but they have been treated with sensitivity to avoid gratuitous exploitation.

4. Drug and alcohol abuse
The game includes substance use as part of the narrative and characterization. For example:

Characters who use alcohol or drugs to cope with trauma and horror.

References to medical experiments involving the forced administration of chemicals.

These depictions do not glorify substance abuse, but serve to deepen the characters' psychology and the atmosphere of decay.

5. Self-harm and mental health issues
The game explores mental health issues such as:

Depression, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the characters.

Non-suicidal self-harm (such as cutting) in ritualistic contexts or as an expression of despair.

These depictions are integrated into the narrative to highlight the psychological deterioration of the characters due to the island environment, but may be sensitive for some players.

6. Narrative context and justification
All adult content in “Poveglia: The Island of No Return” is contextualized within the narrative and serves to:

Reinforce the atmosphere of horror and historical decay on the island.

Explore profound themes such as abuse of power, guilt, and survival.

Create an immersive and emotionally impactful experience, but always with respect for the player.

7. Rating and warnings
The game is recommended for mature players (18+) due to the nature of its content.

Players are warned that they may encounter triggers related to:

Graphic violence.

Themes of sexual assault and abuse.

Self-harm and mental health.

Substance use.

“Poveglia: The Island of No Return” is an intense and emotional experience that does not shy away from dark and mature themes. However, all content is designed to serve the narrative and psychological horror, never in a gratuitous or sensationalist manner. If you are a player who prefers to avoid any of these themes, we recommend reconsidering your decision to play. For those who decide to venture onto the island, prepare for a disturbing and deeply immersive experience.