Screenshots
Watch trailer on Steam ↗The Aching
Silent Shoals Software · Published by Hadrosaurus Software · Official site ↗
Content notice: Contains graphic pixel-art violence and gore.
Positive — 96% positive (25 reviews)
Last updated 27 Sept 2026
In a dark world somewhere between dream and nightmare you find yourself alone, cold, and without memory of who you are or where you came from. Guided by little more than a silver locket and questions, you must find your way off an isolated island in pursuit of answers.
£8.50
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Price history
Adventure, Indie · 2023 · More £5 - £15 games
In The Aching, navigate an eerie island guided by a mysterious locket. Unravel your past and find your way in this indie adventure from 2023.
About this game
The Aching is a graphical horror adventure game from the demented mind of the Lobdegg, heavily inspired by the old graphic adventure games Sierra and LucasArts released in the 1980s. This title features low resolution 16-color graphics adhering to the extremely limited hardware of the era. Gameplay is driven by a combination of arrow keys and a classic-style parser. Whatever you wish your character to do, merely type it into the prompt and hit Enter.
You play as a pale creature who awakens in a cave with no clue as to your identity or current situation beyond a small locket and a patch of cave wall painted in what you hope is red paint. Now you must explore this other world trying to find answers about your past.
The engine behind The Aching was designed to run on an actual Tandy 1000 computer off of a single floppy disk. For modern computers we emulate the Tandy 1000 environment so that the intended experience can be enjoyed with or without access to one of these old, and now rare, computers.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Microsoft Windows 98 or later
- Storage: 10 MB available space
Supported Languages
Latest news
Patch NotesOfficial
The Aching version 1.09
Please note that the macOS version is 1.08, and will be updated to 1.09 as soon as possible. Changes/updates in version 1.09: Fixed an issue with real MIDI devices not receiving events Fixed "look at" command for the bottle of oil "break rock" and "open rock" were captured as valid input but not handled "look skylight" was captured as valid but not handled Fixed ghost pixels after exiting item close-up view Added interactions to scrolls in lab Added "eat" and "drink" responses to inventory close-up view Added support to read books stored over the bed Fixed compass needle render bugRead full article on Community Announcements (Clarissa the Dogcow)Patch NotesOfficial
"The Aching" patch #1: The Burden of Memory
Salutations from the nightmare realm! We’ve finally rounded off our first content patch for The Aching. It’s been a bit hectic on our side of things with life seemingly throwing everything it can at us all, but I’m happy to say we persevere and “Burden of Memory” is finally ready for the public. This content patch is only about 50% new game content because this also sees us moving over to our heavily improved Gorgon Scripting Engine 2.0. The new engine now supports a full blown MPU-401 driver with sound data configured for both General MIDI and the eponymous Roland MT-32 MIDI Module. Our configuration defaults to Tandy mode still as MT-32 emulation would require ROM images that are still to this day copyrighted and we don’t have permission to provide them with our game. You may be wondering why we don’t default to the General MIDI soundtrack and that’s because we can’t guarantee that a modern platform actually supports GM emulation. We’d also like to point out that there is a shiny new PCM sound driver that supports the Tandy DAC, Disney Sound Source, and even the original Sound Blaster sound card! All three of these are supported by emulation but as they all also sound the same in play we defaulted to the Tandy DAC as we’re already defaulting to Tandy video and Tandy 3 Voice music. These additions bring the engine up to our original target experience! This update isn’t just minor bug fixes and engine improvements though. Oh no! We’ve hidden new rooms, new items, and even a few new puzzles! We hope you enjoy exploring the world once more as you search for the new additions. We’d like to point out that the critical path is unchanged, though now there are alternative solutions to some of the progress gates, including the ability to complete the game without ever suffering any harm! Can you lead the Acolyte to the city on the horizon without getting them hurt?? ~ the LobdeggRead full article on Community Announcements (Clarissa the Dogcow)Patch NotesOfficial
Version 1.04
Fixed a bug where, after the player completes a certain objective, the player's movement was blocked, softlocking the game until a re-loadRead full article on Community Announcements (Clarissa the Dogcow)Patch NotesOfficial
Version 1.03
Fixed a bug in the random number generatorRead full article on Community Announcements (Clarissa the Dogcow)Patch NotesOfficial
Version 1.02
Fixed "type 'exit' to leave" message not always clearing properlyRead full article on Community Announcements (Clarissa the Dogcow)
