Where did all the gods go? That’s one of the questions you’ll ask in Nowhere, the upcoming narrative-driven horror game from Midnight Forge. It might not be the first question, however. Why the Hel are you searching for missing tourists in the forests of Norway… on your own? The money had best be good.
As a detective, it’s your job to find these missing people, starting with an abandoned camper van, scattered Polaroids, and lots and lots of foliage. This is a stunning-looking game, and the team must have spent an age devising it. Solo dev, you say? Surely they are in cahoots with the gods…
All this talk about gods when searching for missing tourists seems irrelevant, but Nowhere alludes to what happened to the gods after Ragnarok. They aren’t these wise-cracking SOBs garbed in neoprene, but some real sadistic bastards. They’re not happy about being forgotten, and you’re right, slap bang in the middle of where the realms collide and where they’re planning their ‘comeback’.
Think Neil Gaiman’s American Gods or, even more appropriately, Norse Mythology fused with a little Blair Witch Project, which could help build a better picture. You sure won’t be able to appreciate it on the Steam Deck at the time of writing, as it introduced the world of throttling and tinkering with the settings the hard way. Fiddling around with unknown parameters was worth it, though it’s definitely suited to a better-equipped machine.
Nowhere gives off the vibes of a walking simulator as the pace is slow, and the surroundings project a very believable world; though picking up objects and spinning them about can be tedious, so too can hunting for clues such as said Polarioids. However, they evoke a haze of mystery mixed with menace in the form of a darkened holographic Pokémon card that animates when you flip it. There’s an element of dread that you’re in a little too deep – even in the early stages of the demo, which is approximately 30-45 minutes, depending on your investigatory skills/balls to go for it, uncover evidence of ancient rituals, and enter the fog.
Speaking of which, Nowhere gives off a Silent Hill vibe – acclaim indeed – though with a Nordic sense and some dynamic red. Returning to those thoughts on menace and dread, it’s evident that this is not a walking simulator. Take, for instance, the detective elements that resemble the Batman Arkham games and the fact that there are other… things in the forest that aren’t Park Rangers, plus the numerous puzzles compiling all the Viking artefacts that are discovered along the way, Midnight Forge has an ambitious project on hand, that looks like it’ll deliver, albeit, in 2025.
Nowhere is an exciting attempt at melding a handful of genres into one. It is set to be an open-world survival horror experience that begs to be played by fans of puzzles, the supernatural, and, of course, Norse Mythology. While there’s a bit of a wait until the release date, the demo will be live on Steam on August 15th, 2024. Do give it a try and wishlist it, too. Just prioritise your desktop setup over the Steam Deck.
