Planned Release Date: Q4 2026

About This Game

Assist a discouraged preacher, a sleepy necromancer, and a restless ghost in their westward pilgrimage; deliver the alchemical Panacea to a world plagued with roiling dysregulation; and explore the scattered bones of a liminal Los Angeles.

This fiction serves as a lens through which a personal tragedy is investigated and processed. Autobiographical vignettes deliver a somber context as the player hurtles towards the inevitable denouement.

Sound & Shoal is a cinematic combination of a walking simulator and visual novel; a record of fraternal devotion and mental illness; and a lamentation in the mode of magical realism.

AI Generated Content Disclosure

The developers describe how their game uses AI Generated Content like this:

Some 3D models in Sound and Shoal were created with the help of AI-powered tools that generate 3D assets from reference images. The only inputs used were images we created ourselves and classical/public-domain artwork (e.g. very old paintings and etchings). No other content types — audio, narrative, writing, or localization — used generative AI. All AI-assisted models were reviewed, edited, and integrated by us, and we hold the appropriate rights to all input material.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Sound and Shoal contains mature themes woven throughout its story and environments. Players should be aware of the following:

Occasional strong language and profanity.
Thematic content dealing with mental illness, and references to suicide.
Depictions of alcohol consumption.
Fantasy violence, plus a dialogue-based recollection describing a more realistic beating (conveyed through text, not shown).
Stylized and artistic imagery that some may find unsettling, including a stylized dog corpse, statues depicting skeletons, and 3D recreations of classical artworks such as St. Sebastian and Greek statuary. Some figures include suggested (non-explicit) nudity in the classical-art tradition.

There are no depictions of sexual acts or sexual assault. Mental illness, suicide, and alcohol use are handled as narrative/thematic elements rather than graphically.