LONDON, APRIL 17th 2025 after announcing Occlude in a mysterious form last month alongside the announcement of Pantaloon’s new publishing label, the cards are now on the table.
Today - as an extension of an appearance in the Galaxies Showcase - the lid is lifted on the next game from Tributary Games, with the first details, features and screenshots from the game laid bare as the game’s Steam page goes live.
“Although it's a small game at first glance, we're making something really ambitious here,” explains Tributary Games’ Studio Lead Samuel Partridge, “Occlude is aptly named because it hides everything from the player - the story and the mechanics are both a mystery, at first, and uncovering them is part of the puzzle. I'm forced to be somewhat vague, forgive me, but Occlude is a game that requires you go in with a fresh mind -- we can't talk too much about its inner workings without showing our hand.”
Occlude is not simple. Players are enacting an occult ritual with secret rules at play. You find them by experimenting within a fiendishly clever variant of Solitaire. There are seven Rituals, each their own puzzle, increasing in difficulty.
Occlude is a game stuffed with secrets, and a cerebral, mind-bending narrative that is a puzzle in itself. Players are challenged to piece together the story for themselves from archival documents and scattered hints.
Uncover the sanity-shattering story behind ‘the game that was never a game’ as you chip away at reality one card at a time. Develop your mastery of each Ritual to gain access to even deeper, forbidden lore in the Archives. Learn the rules even as they resist your attempts to decipher them.
The game’s Steam page is now live, with additional information and features, and the first five screenshots from the game. These have also been added to the press kit.
For more information, please contact press@pantaloon.io, or visit the Pantaloon Press Portal for assets, future comms and more.
PANTALOON
Pantaloon is a home for misfits; a game label and pedestal for bold and bizarre indie games, and a nexus of resources and services for developers looking to self-publish. Pantaloon helps indie game studios bring their games to market whilst remaining fully independent.
TRIBUTARY GAMES
Tributary Games is a fully remote games studio with team members in the UK and US. It develops social, novel games with innovative mechanics and rich narratives. The studio’s debut title, KING OF THE CASTLE, was released in early 2023 with Team17.