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Watch trailer on Steam ↗Tainted ground
DelCerro · Published by DelCerro
Last updated 11 Oct 2026
A cooperative horror mystery for 1-4 players where every run hides a different ritual to uncover. Explore a tainted forest by day, decode its secrets, survive the night through deduction, and escape by understanding what the forest demands.
Adventure, Indie, Early Access · More free games
Explore the eerie depths of a tainted forest as one of four players, decoding mysteries by day and surviving supernatural threats through clever deduction.
About this game
The forest won't forgive. The night will consume you. The only way out is to understand how.
A ritual lies hidden within the forest. The conditions needed to perform it change every run. To escape, your team must investigate, interpret the clues, and uncover the truth before the forest claims you.
Explore by day
Daylight is your only ally, and it won't last long.
Split up across the forest and investigate its key locations: abandoned ruins, forgotten graves, and some others. Search for clues scattered across the world in ways you won't expect.
Every discovery is recorded in a shared diary. Every clue matters. What seems insignificant could be the missing piece that changes everything.
Survive by night
When the sun sets, return to the cabin.
It is the last refuge left in the forest, but safety is never guaranteed. Paranormal events manifest throughout the night, testing everything you've learned during the day.
Identify the threat. Find the correct countermeasure. Act before the cabin pays the price.
At the same time, you'll need to keep the generator running, manage the electrical system, and prevent darkness from taking over. Surviving the night requires knowledge, coordination, and calm under pressure.
Uncover the ritual
There is a way to purify the forest.
Each session generates a unique ritual built from shifting variables. Success depends on observation, deduction, and communication, not combat, upgrades, or equipment.
The answers exist within the world. Finding them is up to you.
Shared horror
Co-op Multiplayer (up to 4 players): cooperation is at the heart of every investigation.
Split up to cover more ground, share discoveries, compare theories, and decide which clues matter before nightfall. Survival depends on what the group can figure out together.
Key Features
Cooperative investigation for up to 4 players. Split up, share what you find, and piece together the mystery as a team.
Knowledge is your only weapon. No combat, no upgrades. Progress comes from understanding, not from gear.
A living, threatening cabin. Manage the generator, counter paranormal events, and keep the darkness at bay. Every night is a new fight.
Every clue exists within the world. No menus, no quest markers, no handholding. If you want answers, you'll have to find them yourself.
A procedural mystery system. Each run generates a different ritual, forcing players to investigate, adapt, and draw new conclusions every time. There are no shortcuts. The only way forward is to understand how the forest works.
A structured day/night cycle that creates rhythm, escalation, and a constant sense of urgency.
Investigate. Endure. Escape.
The forest has swallowed many before you. Whether it swallows you too depends entirely on what you can figure out.
System Requirements
Will my PC run this? →Minimum
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Core i5-7500
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660
Recommended
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: Core i5-8400
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1680
Supported Languages
*languages with full audio support
Latest news
AnnouncementsOfficial
DevLog #2
Welcome to our second dev log!It’s been about a month since the last one, and even if it doesn’t look like it from the outside, a lot has been happening behind the scenes.Multiplayer: (almost) doneWe can say that the multiplayer side of the game is now complete. It hasn’t been a particularly pleasant journey —there are only two of us working on this— but we’ve reached a point we’re happy with.Does that mean we’re done? Not even close.We’re still polishing bugs, glitches, and weird edge cases before we can fully close the book on networking. The good news is that we now have a stable foundation, which finally allows us to stop fighting technical fires and focus on content and gameplay experience.The suffering of our dummyThis process hasn’t only been hard on us, but also on our poor testing dummy.We’ve made it walk through walls, interact with things that didn’t exist in its world, and break every known law of physics with one single goal: making sure none of that ever happens in a real match.Luckily, we’re not talking about a real person, but a model we use as a visual representation of what other players will see on screen.Also, it hasn’t all been cruelty: it now has arms (yes, it didn’t before) and fits much better into the world it inhabits.General tweaks and improvementsAlong the way, we’ve also taken the time to polish some systems that had been bothering us for a while, especially our event system and lighting.And speaking of lighting…New cabin, new mapThe biggest addition this month, aside from multiplayer, is a new cabin in a brand-new map.The first cabin did its job as a nighttime shelter, but this new one feels much more like a real place: multiple rooms, corridors, and space for a more ambitious gameplay experience.Lighting now plays an even bigger role. We’ve refined events that directly affect it: light bulbs that can explode and need repairing, areas that fall into darkness, and how light behaves in each room and hallway, making everything feel much mo...Read full article on Community Announcements (Javierdo)AnnouncementsOfficial
Devlog #1
Happy New Year everyone!2026 is kicking off, and I’ve decided to start something new for us: devlogs. I’ve never done this before, but it feels like a good moment to begin sharing more regularly how Tainted Ground is coming along.2025 was a key year for the project. It was the year Tainted Ground was born, slowly took shape, and reached its first playable prototype. All of this with just two people working on the game, which has strongly influenced both the pace and many of our development decisions.Who we areWe’re two developers completely new to game development. We come from other areas of software, but this is our first commercial game.One thing we’ve learned the hard way is that making a game isn’t just about developing it: it also involves visibility, marketing, and communication with the community — areas we weren’t particularly prepared for. Even so, we’re taking small but steady steps to bring the project to completion and get it in front of more people.You can follow the project here: 👉 Discord: Here! 👉 YouTube: our channel 👉 Instagram: our page 👉 TikTok: where we don’t do dancesWhere are we now?Over the past few weeks, I’ve been almost entirely focused on developing the multiplayer mode for Tainted Ground.The goal is clear: the co-op experience shouldn’t just be “the same game with more people,” but something that forces coordination and group decision-making, especially during the night.At this point, multiplayer is roughly 80% complete in terms of functionality. What’s already implemented?Co-op multiplayer for up to 4 playersFull synchronization of players, weapons, and statesIntegrated voice chatSynchronized interaction with world eventsFor those of you who played the demo: the adverse events that occur at night in the cabin now require real coordination between players. Countermeasures no longer depend on a single person — the group has to split tasks, react quickly, and deal with the consequences when something goes wrong.This significantly changes t...Read full article on Community Announcements (Javierdo)AnnouncementsOfficial
Demo temporarily offline – thank you for your feedback!
Hey everyone! 👋 We’ve decided to temporarily take down the demo while we work on some improvements based on all the awesome feedback you’ve shared with us.Your comments have been super helpful in showing us what’s working and what needs a little more love. We want to make sure the next version feels even better to play — smoother, more polished, and more fun overall!The demo will be back once we’ve made the necessary tweaks, so stay tuned and thanks again for all your support 💙Read full article on Community Announcements (Javierdo)AnnouncementsOfficial
The new Tainted Ground Gameplay Trailer is finally out!
The new Tainted Ground Gameplay Trailer is finally out! This trailer shows more of what makes the game dark, tense, and unforgiving.We’ve been working hard to make every fight feel raw and every moment atmospheric. Check it out and let us know what you think — your feedback helps us shape the final game.Read full article on Community Announcements (Javierdo)
