PRISON OF HUSKS

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• Press Coverage·22 Jun 2026

  I usually skip soulslikes not made by FromSoftware, but one Steam demo just won me over

  I'm a FromSoft fiend, but there are hardly any other soulslikes I can stand. I can dig something a bit more removed like the first-person Lunacid or 2D Mina the Hollower, but there's an uncanny valley effect for me with stuff like Lies of P or Nioh: It's so close to being the thing I love, but doesn't quite bring it home... Read more.
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• Announcements·4 Jun 2026Official

  Dev Log 4 - Getting the Vibes Right

  Hello dolls!This dev log, we’re gonna slow things down and dig into what gives PRISON OF HUSKS the retro vibe we’ve all connected to. If you’re feeling a little more hifi, you can check out the action packed trailer we just dropped in the Six One Indie Showcase.But enough of that, lets get a little more low rez.Haunted PSX Render PipelineWe often get asked how we make PRISON OF HUSKS feel so authentic. The Haunted PSX Render Pipeline is our MVP! Created by pastasfuture and Future Reality Softworks. If you'd like to try making your own psx style game, you can try it out yourself here! It’s the suite of tools that controls how the world of PRISON OF HUSKS comes to life on your screen. We’re able to use the tools in the renderer for all sorts of effects such as giving off a bloomy overexposed look, like the game is being played on a CRT! The Fog effect also surprisingly integral to the look of the game, giving the world its misty dreamlike feel.Take a look at what a huge difference the shaders have on your mood and the energy of the scene. That’s the power of Haunted PSX dialed in just right."I messed around with the CRT Volume component to give the effect that has become core to the identity of the game." - Hexosphere From the Fog to Shaders, we’ve made very intentional decisions to make the game look so nostalgic. PRISON OF HUSKS is a love letter to those old games, yes, but we also want to be in conversation with them. How they were made and how they affected us. We hope you’ll find an even deeper understanding of what we mean when you play the full game. But lets talk about how they were built, first.ProBuilderProbuilder is another toolset that helps us construct the Painted World.It’s like having a 3D modeling program right inside unity, which is, um, like, right where you need it.There are no real-time shadows being rendered. That’s all hand painted through a technique called vertex coloring. (Or colouring, as Hexosphere likes to remind me.)Older games used this ...
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• Announcements·20 Mar 2026Official

  Dev Log 3 - Combat - Making the Dolls Kill

  Hello Dolls!We’re back and we’re bringing the fight to you! Here’s a rundown on the many improvements we’ve made to the combat system. Keep in mind, everything here is a work in progress for the final build. While you won’t see these improvements in the demo yet, it brings us one step closer to bringing you the full game! Better Foes - Mode SwitchingDeveloper Hexosphere has been making enemies cleverer by improving their behavior scripts. Lots of different opponents and bosses inhabit the world now and all hold unique characteristics, such as some foes switching combat styles based on distance.For example, this doll here switches from a bow at a distance to a knife when up close. As you can also see, enemies now adjust themselves slightly to look at you and can adjust their aim a bit too!Better Foes - ParryingIf you’ve gotten good with the parry, so did she. Watch out for foes like this.Beware of this knight's powerful parry. Better Foes - Stand OffsEnemies also have Aggression levels which determine how willing they are to pull back from throwing hands and instead try to bait you out for an attack to push your buttons. Above, a knight's long distance attack. Below, a close range move set. TLDR - Wrap UpEnemies can change tactics Enemies can parryEnemies can mess with youUntil Next TimeThanks for reading. All of these improvements, coupled with the changes we discussed in last month’s dev log, should make combat feel much more responsive, alive, and smooth. In the next dev log we’ll take a look at ~vibes~ and atmosphere!All the things we’re working on to make the Painted World feel more varied and exciting! There's a lot of world to build, so we’ll get back to it.
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• Announcements·10 Dec 2025Official

  Dev Log 2 -Animations - Making the Dolls Move

  Hello Dolls! We’ve been busy since last we talked. Your feedback on the demo helped a lot. Much of that feedback was on gamefeel. In this Dev Log, we’re going over animation and game feel improvements we’re making to the full game. APNOIAC - OUR ANIMATORYou met them in the last dev log; Apno is updating and creating new animations. Let us know which of the new animations are your favs in the comments! A STRANGE CREATUREThis odd one was one of the first opponents we showed off. She was actually the first creature designed by Hexosphere, Apno and Moonskinned collectively! As you can see, almost every part of the fight has been revamped since 2024. Look at the difference in speed and polish in those attacks! Above, the first enemy showcase. Below, the most recent iterationA note from Apno:CLEANER ATTACKSApno is also making sure all weapons feel how you’d expect; smaller weapons feel fast, bigger weapons are more committal with bigger windups and follow through. Your comments on animation cancel windows prompted us to take a deeper look at the demo implementation. We’re paying close attention to the timing of weapon attacks and abilities. Combos now flow smoothly into attacks, making spamming more fun! But watch out for the timing of combo exit animations; if you get too greedy, you’ll risk a hit or a mistimed parry, which could be a death sentence!Hexosphere also added dodge recovery animations! You’ll see these after taking a big hit.FALLING!!!We've switched to A* Pathfinding Pro to improve the pathfinding system. Pathfinding tells our enemies where they should move next, depending on where they like to fight! Now you can push enemies off ledges, and after they fall, they will navigate back to you. Unless they died of course :p Note that they will do the same thing to you so be careful!TLDR - Wrap Up Attacks are easier to readLighter weapons feel fasterEveryone can fallEveryone will find youGetting up after panicking looks betterAll of these improvements are for the f...
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• Announcements·8 Oct 2025Official

  Dev Log 1 - Who Are You? What Is This?

  Hello dolls!Welcome to the first of a series of monthly developer logs we’re writing to keep you involved in the project while it’s cooking, and provide some more transparency on the development progress. For our first log, we thought we’d go over what PRISON OF HUSKS is trying to achieve and introduce the team.CORE PILLARS OF PRISON OF HUSKS The core design pillars of PRISON OF HUSKS are:Difficulty and Exploration Retro/Nostalgic Souls-Like vibes Quality > Quantity.DIFFICULTY AND EXPLORATIONWe noticed that there are as many souls veterans interested in the game as there are newcomers to the genre and we welcome you all! :) We want to note that whilst this is a souls-like, we recognize that a lot of players are giving our game a shot with no prior experience. To bring new players into the fold, the team is working hard to include in-game tools that will make the experience feel less punishing without compromising our vision for PRISON OF HUSKS.Our advice to those wary of souls-likes and looking to play one, (maybe ours? *wink*), is to be curious and poke around for secrets. Exploration is likely to reward you with the tools you need to make the game more forgiving. PRISON OF HUSKS utilizes this approach maybe a little more than the average souls-like.A note from the developerRETRO/NOSTALGIC SOULS-LIKE VIBEPRISON OF HUSKS is like a love letter to its inspirations. An ode to the Souls games, Team Ico’s work, the Silent Hill franchise, and the 5th and 6th generation of console gaming more generally. (Think PlayStation 2, GameCube, and the OG Xbox).You can see a lot of this inspiration in the vertical design of the game that encourages you to explore vertically. The world of PRISON OF HUSKS is quite compact, but because of how dense it is, it will feel much bigger.Combat in PRISON OF HUSKS will be reminiscent of the game-feel in the souls games with a few of its own innovative twists.A note from the developerQUALITY > QUANTITYPRISON OF HUSKS is aiming for a more condens...
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