I SHALL NAME THE DEAD demo launches on Steam

A new surreal mystery-horror adventure has arrived on Steam with a playable demo. I SHALL NAME THE DEAD casts players as Imaculada, a woman trying to identify nameless dead in a cemetery while a strange Worm curse steadily corrupts her dialogue choices.¹²

Naming the dead

The demo covers the opening portion of the game, set in the Necropolis cemetery at the centre of a city called Metropolis. The dead have been denied names and graves, leaving Imaculada to speak with them, follow their clues and identify them before they can be cremated.²

The central twist is Imaculada’s Worm curse. It eats at her organs and interferes with the choices presented during conversations. Players can use matches to cleanse an option, or deliberately allow the corruption to spread and alter how an exchange develops.²

The game avoids relying on jump scares, instead mixing mystery, horror and surreal magic realism. The full release is planned for 2027, with Japanese language support, while the current demo is available through Steam.¹²

Our opinion

This is a promising premise for a horror game because the threat is tied directly to conversation rather than simply hiding in the next corridor. A demo that lets players test the Worm’s effect on dialogue should make I SHALL NAME THE DEAD easier to judge on its own terms, without asking anyone to take a trailer’s word for it.