About This Game

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO SACRIFICE?

Garlo returns to his family home in the mountains of the Camonica Valley, Italy, looking for silence. Instead he finds the dreams of his ancestors and the rituals buried with them. Hyperarousal is a first person psychological horror game that delves into the genealogy of sorrow: trauma, memory and the wounds passed down from one generation to the next.

/hy·per·arous·al/ noun. A core symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). The body suddenly switches to high alert at the thought of a trauma and reacts as if real danger were present, even when it is not.

• Explore the Camonica Valley through dreams set in different historical eras.
• Every dream has its own gameplay and mechanics.
• Stab the ritual tattoos on your arm to break open Garlo’s perception. There is no way forward without sacrifice.
• The game is watching you and builds a psychological profile from the way you explore and react.
• Solve environmental puzzles that connect the present with the past.
• Multiple endings in the full game.

THE GAME IS WATCHING YOU

The Hyperarousal System was designed together with a psychologist. It observes how you explore, how long you hesitate and how you respond to pressure. These patterns shape a psychological profile that changes Garlo’s senses, the details of the environment and the paths open to you. Important decisions are not always presented as choices.

The same place can become unfamiliar as Garlo’s state changes.

THE ONLY WAY FORWARD IS THROUGH THE WOUND

See what you cannot see, hear what you don’t want to hear.

Three ritual tattoos mark Garlo’s arm. Stab them and his perception breaks open: hidden clues, sounds and paths surface, and the world bends into something he was never meant to see.

There is no other way forward: something must be sacrificed. Every wound pulls Garlo deeper and leaves its mark on him. The more he can see, the less he can tell memory from reality, and reality from hallucination. Only by going through the trauma can he move on.

Inspired by epigenetics, the game treats trauma as an inheritance: the grief his ancestors never processed now lives in Garlo. Breaking the chain falls to him.

PAST MEMORIES ENGRAVED IN THE LANDSCAPE

Relive through dreams the lives of those who lived in the valley before you, from the ancient Camuni to the twentieth century, in places where mythology and history still echo in rock art and folklore. Every dream has its own gameplay and mechanics. Environmental puzzles connect the present with the past, as archaeology, legend and cosmic horror merge into one world. As the line between life and dream blurs, Garlo’s story, his family’s past and the memory of the land become inseparable.

Developed through research into the history and rock art of the Camonica Valley.

DEMO AVAILABLE NOW

The free demo takes you into a dream set in the Camonica Valley during the arrival of the Celts. Download it now and wishlist Hyperarousal to follow the development of the full game.

Mature Content Description

The developers describe the content like this:

Hyperarousal is a narrative psychological horror game with a historical setting. Before playing, please be aware that it contains:

- Archaic violence: ritual and tribal violence in the pre-Christian Celtic Camonica Valley, including bloodshed, executions, violence against animals and period warfare.

- Trauma: the story explicitly deals with psychological trauma, grief, dissociation and intrusive hallucinations. Some scenes may be distressing to players sensitive to these themes. Strobing effects are present.

- Ritual self-inflicted wounds: as a core mechanic, the protagonist stabs the ritual tattoos on his own arm with a knife to alter his perception. The moment of the wound is obscured by a visual effect and is not shown in detail. The act is symbolic and ritualistic, never celebratory or instructive.

Recommended for an adult audience (18+).