The Vertpaint team developing the game previously held senior positions at Rockstar, TT Games (Traveller’s Tales) and CI Games (City Interactive).

Ritual Tides will be a horror game with a uniquely dark vision that Vertpaint says will offer photorealistic visuals, and will initially be released on PC only. In Ritual Tides, players will find themselves washed up on a beach with the sole goal of uncovering the island’s terrible secrets. Gruesomely designed enemies lurk, danger is around every corner, and you better hide or run. Ritual Tides presents a “weapon”, but not in a typical way, which frankly sets it apart from other games in this genre. Ritual Tides will make waves in the horror genre. Talent knows no bounds at Vertpaint, with glowing reviews from industry legend and director Jonathan Berube, who called the team “The Seal Team of game development.

Ritual Tides is being developed using what the team describes as a “two-stream” approach, meaning that design and game mechanics are prioritized alongside art research and development. As avid gamers and horror fans, the team is creating something truly memorable that will stay with players long after the credits roll. Enemy variety is central to the development ethos, and unlike other horror-focused titles, Ritual Tides will offer a plethora of encounters, each more uniquely terrifying than the last.

As if that weren’t compelling enough, Vertpaint is purely independent and uncompromising in its uniquely dark vision for Ritual Tides, with no external publisher input to potentially hinder the process. The team also promises to set the visual quality bar for 2025, giving Ritual Tides players a near photorealistic, immersive story to unfold.

“At Vertpaint, we’ve earned a reputation among developers as innovators. With Ritual Tides, we can’t wait to show the world why as we take players on an escapade that combines the charm of true horror with original character designs, all brought to life through meticulous animation and artful conception,” wrote Vertpaint CEO and creative director James Macleod in the press release.

Ritual Tides will be released first on PC in Q3 2025 (July-September), with a later release on “all major consoles” (PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Nintendo Switch 2?).

Source: Gematsu