Developer-Hidden Fields

Publisher-MWM Interactive

Format-PC (tested), PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series

Release-Out now

See that mountain? You can climb it, though you might not be the same shape when you return. This folk horror adventure tells the tale of Curdin, an earnest young man who has returned to his birthplace, a village in the Swiss Alps, to investigate his grandfather’s sudden death. Disembarking from a bus in a way that evokes The Shining’s intro sequence, you are promptly ambushed by the eldritch. An encounter with a sinister old man leaves your left hand transformed. It now serves as a key, opening passages through the mountain’s rock and into the distant past. Your tools are otherwise prosaic: a journal for puzzle clues and notes to self, a backpack that fills with increasingly esoteric odds and ends, and a not-so-sturdy pitchfork or two to keep hazards at bay.

Heading into the village, you discover abandoned cottages, prowling straw figures and a strange epidemic of easels, perched facing houses or on hilltops. It’s as though lead developer Michel Ziegler has forgotten to pack up his materials after illustrating the game. Mundaun’s standout quality is, of course, its handpencilled art direction, which is inspired by old photos and sketches of mountain towns. The draughtsmanship has gravity: certain images, including the face in the mirror, suck the view in as details alter under inspection. Others conveniently summon your grandfather’s truck to your side (once you’ve found the keys, anyway).