Immerse Yourself in 1990s Scotland in Dead Format
Things are about to take a nightmarish turn on Steam next week. Publisher Oro Interactive and solo developer Chris Evry (Katanalevy) have revealed that their upcoming VHS-inspired horror survival game, Dead Format, is coming to Steam on 10th December 2025. To celebrate this announcement, the team has dropped a new release date trailer. You can check it out for yourself right below.
The story unfolds in 1990s Scotland, where a missing brother becomes the spark for a slow descent into a new and unnerving VHS craze. Whispers of a looming government ban on “Video Ghastlies” only deepen the mystery. Your search soon drifts beyond ordinary reality and into a maze of handcrafted cinematic realms. Each one of them echoes a different chapter of film history. Stepping into a tape means crossing into a world shaped by the tone, grain, and mood of its era.
Katanalevy has built Dead Format from the ground up with era-specific authenticity. Every prop, costume, and slice of VHS footage mirrors the texture of the period they explore. Your apartment becomes the quiet anchor of the journey. It’s a place to sift through clues, study the cassettes, and chart the path ahead. The television waits like a gateway to enter the specific time period.
Each tape draws you into a new slice of horror, from early experimental cinema to the vivid stylings of Italian Giallo and the raw edges of 1980s Body Horror. New threats wait in every reel, puzzles take on their own cinematic logic, and the worlds feel stitched together from the fears that shaped each era.
You can wishlist the game right now on Steam to be among the first ones to experience this unique title.