Developer duo Talha & Jack Co have announced their third game, Abide, described as an “extreme” stop-motion first-person horror game to be released on PC.
The game’s announcement was revealed with a Kickstarter trailer, showcasing its trippy visuals and uncanny art style created with prosthetic gore effects and dolls which have been handcrafted using ball-jointed art doll techniques, painted with modelling acrylics, and then animated using traditional stop-motion techniques.
Jack King-Spooner from Talha & Jack Co, said: “All the dolls are made. All the models are scanned in. The stories are written, the voice actors have been contacted and the first lines have even been recorded. We have a detailed and robust design document outlining the structure and its twists and turns. We need time to pull it all together and we need time to dream and explore and make the best possible game we can.”
The studio’s previous two games, Mashina and Judero, used similar techniques with the addition of digital lighting, shaders and post-processing effects to give their games a unique creepy appearance.
Abide’s unsettling story is inspired by giallo fiction, splatterpunk novels, Ken Currie paintings, and East Asian and low-fi horror cinema. The game will take place at the St Boniface Retreat, where players will witness some unorthadox methods used to treat and rehabilitate its residents. Abide‘s day and night cycle will split its tone and mechanics into two halves, allowing players to choose how they will spend their time.
During the day, players will investigate the retreat and get to know the residents. There will be tasks to complete for residents or they can choose to attend group therapy sessions. The retreat will run on a schedule which players will need to learn in order to spend their time wisely, gather clues, and build up trust in the community. Each of the fully voice-acted characters in Abide has a story revealing why they’re at the retreat and in need of rehabilitation. By building trust with them and completing tasks, players will be able to uncover each story.
At night is where the true horror of Abide will take place as it embraces an entirely different tone as players break curfew to uncover the true horrors going on behind closed doors, needing to sneak around and survive to do so.
To deal with Abide’s potentially triggering and sensitive subject matters, Talha & Jack Co has consulted clinical therapists during pre-production to ensure these topics are handled appropriately.
Talha & Jack Co is looking to raise $34,114 for the game’s development via its Kickstarter campaign, which will run until February 28th 2026.
