The Green Knight meets Hellblade in this medieval horror fantasy game

It’s not often that a game starts right after your character has just been killed. In the demo for Of love and eternity, a “stylistic dark fantasy horror adventure” that released on Steam earlier this month, players see their characters float aimlessly in a cosmic void of dim gas giants and stars before waking up screaming in the desiccated shell of their mortal shell. It’s a great first impression, the kind that’s only enhanced by the obvious care given to the visuals and setting.

Created by Brazilian game developer Winston Powell, who goes by the name Acorn Bringer, Of love and eternity is a third-person action horror game with a palpable melancholic atmosphere. Players take on the role of an undead knight who, after being slain by a tyrannical king and resurrected in a dungeon-like crypt in a purgatory forest, discovers that his love is lost elsewhere in this realm. With nothing but armor and the burning azure light of his own soul to guide the way, the knight ventures into the dark wastes of this world on a quest to reunite with it.

The demo covers the first act of the game and can be completed in about 15 to 20 minutes. I spent most of my time wandering the winding paths of a rainy autumn forest with only the flickering light in my character’s chest and the occasional flash of ominous red energy to indicate my path forward.

What immediately caught my attention is how damn Good the game looks; the art style and environments evoke comparisons to eg Hellblade: Senua’s sacrifice through the 2000s Wanderer story. The tone of the expository dialogue and the overall world of the game resembles something along the lines of David Lowery’s The Green Knight, a dark and richly detailed experience that emphasizes exploration and introspection over action or combat. The aforementioned relief from Of love and eternity is one of the strongest aspects of the game; it also reminds me of Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy in terms of its ethereal qualities, as well as the flowery ambigram-like design of the game’s logo.

You wander through the forest, discovering new passages, collecting lightning bugs in your empty lantern to avoid groups of moths blocking your way, and finding a place to rest as you acclimatize to the strange horrors of your new environment. Of love and eternity‘s Steam page promises that players will encounter other creatures on their journey, both benign and malevolent, and will have to choose to help, ignore, or fight as they explore every nook and cranny.

Of love and eternity has no release date at this time, but development is ongoing – Powell regularly releases updates on the game’s progress on his Patreon page. The game’s world feels possessed by an aura of ominous foreboding, a dark forest full of even darker secrets. It’s exactly the kind of environment that as a player I can’t wait to get lost in.