It Sleeps Below the Haar Announced for Autumn 2022

It feels like Arboreta Games might be one to watch in 2022. After their 2021 release, The Black Iris – which our own Jesse G covered and enjoyed – Arboreta isn’t resting on their laurels. They’re coming back strong with It Sleeps Below the Haar, a horror exploration game set in a coastal village in North East Scotland. The trailer is light on details, but shows off some really interesting gameplay mechanics. At one point, a sort of magical staff is shown to reveal doorways hidden in a forest. There are also bits of underwater gameplay shown, just in case you thought It Sleeps Below the Haar wouldn’t fire up your thalassophobia.

What even is a “haar”? I had to look it up. It’s sea fog. A thick, soupy sea fog that appears on the coasts of Scotland, Ireland, and Great Britain. It’s hard to ignore parallels to the work of someone like HP Lovecraft when you start thinking of things dwelling beneath the sea fog. While no enemies are shown in the It Sleeps Below the Haar trailer, and the game is billed as an exploration horror game, I can only assume there will be no automatic weapons or explosions. I’m sure there will be some sort of fish monster, though. If Arboreta skimps on the fish monsters, I might get upset.

No release date has been given for It Sleeps Below the Haar beyond the tantalizing “Autumn 2022” window. You can check out the trailer below, and we’ll keep you updated as we find out more about this spooky maritime exploration game. You can also wishlist the game here.