The Donnerwald Experiment

About this game

An endless nightmare awaits Johanna Prokuri!

She was once a prodigy, capable of creating powerful automatons and other machines.
But three years ago, she lost her creativity during a nightmare.

One day a charming mole named Montgomery appears in her dreams.
He warns her that a Dream Demon "cursed" her with something known as the Mare Noctem.
The loss of her creativity is just one of the symptoms and she's about to turn into a monster soon.

Now the duo is hunting Dream Demons together and try to find a way to get rid of her curse before it's too late.

• An interactive combat system with action commands. Aim with your skills and evade enemy attacks.
  
  
• Build and personify your battle machine to fight off Dream Demons. Find a way for “more inspiration” to unlock additional modules.
  
  
• Many characters, all with their own goals, fears and dreams. You can bond with them if you deem it necessary, maybe it pays off to be nice?

• A big plot tree which allows to see the whole story from different angles.
  
  
• Dogs which can be pet.

• Many special boss battles, all with their own high quality soundtrack.

Latest news

• Announcements·30 Mar 2026Official

  Steam's new Pricing System & Potential Future Updates

  Hey everyone,Steam has recently released an update that calculates the converted cost of games based on 'purchasing power'. I decided to try out this new system for The Donnerwald Experiment and The Murder Hotel. Most regions outside the US will now see a price drop, while those that should technically have an increase in price (like Swiss Francs) will stay the same as they were before.The new prices might take a while until they get updated on the store page.About The Donnerwald Experiment's future: I can't say anything yet, as my goal right now is to finish The Murder Hotel's secret route in April and then wonder how to financially survive.Personally I just want to remake the whole game with all the things I've learnt, from the artstyle to the writing to the gameplay system.Could you imagine The Donnerwald Experiment in TMH's artstyle?Thank you for your time. I apologise for not having anything more concrete to say.
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• Announcements·1 Sept 2025Official

  [Prequel] The Murder Hotel is releasing in 3 days

  Hey, everyone!As you may know, I've spent the past three years working on The Murder Hotel.Technically, this game is a prequel to The Donnerwald Experiment because it features the same antagonists and recounts events leading up TDE.And besides that, it's a detective adventure/visual novel featuring the prominent Dream Demon Gastfenger as the main villain.Yes. The creepy scissorman got his own game before Johanna got her fourth chapter. Life is simply unfair.Back when Gastfenger was second in command, he spent most of his time abusing his warp ability to create absurd murder stories that the main character needs to solve.But that's not where the connections end. Here are two more teasers:In TDE's second chapter, you witnessed the 67th "Who's the Copycat?" show.And in Murder Hotel, you'll experience the 66th.Speaking of copycat ...The last prominent Dream Demon that I want to showcase is the notorious Doppelgänger, this time seen without wearning her usual mask.Like The Donnerwald Experiment, it games features branching paths for a somewhat unique experience.Although this is not the Chapter 4 update for The Donnerwald Experiment, I wanted to share all of this information to demonstrate my continued interest in TDE's lore and ensuring that the plot aligns.I also plan to make a bundle for both games, which will be 20% off.This means that if you've already bought The Donnerwald Experiment, The Murder Hotel will be available at a reduced price, and vice versa.And if you're still unsure, feel free to try out the free demo, which contains the full first chapter of the game.Thank you for your time.
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• Announcements·18 May 2025Official

  The Future of The Donnerwald Experiment

  Hey, everyone! It's been a while since my last update on The Donnerwald Experiment (TDE). As you might have guessed, I've been busy working on The Murder Hotel (TMH), which is slowly getting closer to its release date this summer. I can actually finish games if I want to. What is this update about? At LFG Con in Hof (Germany) where I exhibited TMH, I brought some TDE flyers with me. I didn't show the public any gameplay of TDE since I hadn't registered it, but during breaks, I had the chance to talk with fellow game developers about it and they tried out the game on my Steam Deck. {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32695922/75e804151f0e33db0798b0768660126e3d642625.jpg The comments were actually quite positive, which was surprising to me since I have a negative connection to my previous work. All the negative comments from publishers and my overall sense of guilt overwhelm me whenever I think about it, so it was strange to me that people like TDE. Then it kind of clicked with me. I need to do something. I should probably share my thoughts with you. First, I want to apologize again for not being able to finish it. You took the risk of buying a game in Early Access and haven't gotten the full game yet. Why did TDE "fail" in the first place, anyway? Initially, The Donnerwald Experiment was more close to a "Paper Mario" styled game. But sadly, this was probably the biggest issue with it's identity. The people that want "Paper Mario" styled games tend to expect paper aesthetics or at least overall colorful and wholesome vibes. You know, games like {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32695922/a03ba74daf968b1fe49062d4c06ab83dbc63321f.jpg or {STEAM_CLAN_IMAGE}/32695922/250a996a9894c05c709d3fc34fbfa1929ce24a8e.jpg Compared to them, The Donnerwald Experiment is clearly the black sheep of Paper Mario likes, as besides the combat it's got nothing that compares to them. That was especially clear to me seeing the comments in all the Paperverse Trailers, that no one really cared about it. Why am I telling you all ...
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• Patch Notes·16 Nov 2022Official

  1.2.12 Release

  This is the last update before I work on Chapter 4. -Fixed Bonus Chapter showing the Dream Maschine as broken. -Reduced Motion Blur amount when Alentura is chasing in her unstable form. Sir Hennryk: -Nerfed Axe Throw from Sir Hennryk to cost 2 Stamina now and only deal 2 damage at base. It can still deal critical damage on headshots. (It was wayyyy to broken) Ralf: -Reworked Bite Attack: It now costs 3 Alp to use. It steals 3 Max HP from the enemy, deals remaining alp as bonus damage and heals Ralf by the dealt amount. -Motivate: Is no longer a quick skill, no longer costs 2 Alp, always heals 2 Stamina and makes the target immune to being charmed. Gives Ralf 1 Alp. -Healwave: Is no longer a quick skill, but now additionally grants immunity to being frozen. Gives Ralf 1 Alp. Jasmine Isecar: -Berserk only gives +1 Phy Attack instead of +2. Erika -Gets a new skill: Spare Flask - Heals an ally by 4 if they are not potionsick. -Gets a new skill when upgraded: Green Soup - Inflicts the Almighty buff on the target, giving them +3 PhyAtk but it gets removed upon taking damage. Added a new achievement related to Ralf.
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• Patch Notes·15 Oct 2022Official

  1.2.11 Release

  Gameplay: -Luka's "Angel's Kiss" ability can now be used multiple times, but applies a cooldown debuff on the target character (3 turns). -Luka's Gri Groove now also heals by 2 (in additional to healing the skeleton by 5). -Sir Hennryk's "Axe Attack" now regenerates 1 Alp per hit (previously removed in another patch). -Jasmine's Ice Berserk skill now shows a proper ice flower instead of the Braveheart animation. -Alentura now gives 69 XP after being defeated. Music: -Changed the twins music to Valse Unga. The old soundtrack will be used as their battle theme in a later chapter. Battles: -Moved the camera down by 1 unit. Now there's less empty space in the middle of the view. -The extra space below is now filled with an info tab that shows what the buffs do. Bugfixes: -Fixed the water cave not playing music at early night and midnight. -Added arrows to the Gastfenger chase szene to indicate where to go. -No longer shows Williams face when talking with Berny while he is in Alentura's cage trap. Comments: Luka felt a bit lackluster for a Chapter 3 character compared to Erika, so I decided to make her kit a bit stronger. The heal is only important in the fight against Alentura for now. For Sir Hennryk, only gaining Alp after getting damaged made him a bit too hard to use.
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