A demo version of "Mermade," a unique horror game developed by The Mermakers, is now available on Itch.io.
This game is a third-person horror adventure (ADV) set in a dark and shocking world centered around the theme of “human body modification into a mermaid.”
The female protagonist undergoes a gruesome human experiment in a sinister underground research facility, where both her legs are amputated and she is forcibly transformed into a “mermaid.” Players must come to terms with this monstrous new body and aim to escape from a dangerous, abandoned aquarium (research facility) where other failed experiments (creatures) roam.
In this article, we bring you a playthrough report of this game, which features such a cruel and gruesome setting.
◆Your body has become that of a “mermaid”…! Survive both underwater and on land to escape the “abandoned aquarium”
Let’s jump right into the main game. The start screen looks like this: a completely naked woman lies lifelessly on an operating table. The atmosphere is already incredibly unsettling.
The menu includes the standard options—Continue, New Game, Settings, Credits, and so on—with nothing particularly out of the ordinary.
This game supports both keyboard & mouse and controllers. I used a Steam Controller, and the controls and responsiveness were fine—I had no trouble playing. However, the game features some truly spine-chilling mechanics related to the controls themselves, but I’ll get to that later…
Unfortunately, Japanese language support is not available at this time. Rest assured, however, that I didn’t encounter any difficulties while playing. Additionally, the options menu is kept to a minimum, covering only game volume, screen brightness, and control scheme inversion.
It’s finally time to start the game. The premise is that you play as a human woman who, against her will, was made a test subject, had both her legs amputated, and was sewn together with a fish’s tail.Faced with this cruel reality, the player—alongside other “failed” experimental subjects—must overcome the dangers lurking within the facility and escape by any means necessary.
In addition to this hair-raising premise, the protagonist’s painfully distressing appearance is immediately revealed: her eyes swollen as if she’d been brutally beaten, dark circles under her eyes, and graphic scars. The inhumanity of the “experiment” is so striking that it’s hard to look directly at her.
Not knowing how to control the character, I started jiggling the left and right sticks, and the character began to rise through the water. Contrary to the game’s brutal visuals, the controls feel incredibly light and responsive. You can move around freely.
Then, when I head over to the glass-walled area…
I see a woman glaring at me through the glass. She’s holding what looks like a medical chart binder, and her surgical gown is caked in fake blood. Presumably, she’s the one who brutally “modified” the protagonist.
Here’s where the control tutorial kicks in. First, when you’re “underwater,” use the left stick to ascend, descend, or change direction; use the right stick to move the camera; and hold down the R2 button to swim. You can also boost your swimming speed with the A button.
In terms of gameplay, I was impressed by how smoothly and freely I could swim through the water. Although there’s a slight lag, it really makes you feel as if you’ve become a mermaid.
To find the exit, I decided to swim around the tank. I spotted a ladder, but since I couldn’t climb it, I gave up.
So, what to do…? After thinking for a moment, I remembered what I had become and suddenly realized: That’s right—I’m a merman right now…!
So I dove all the way to the bottom and then shot back up in one go! Thanks to that momentum, I successfully escaped from the water just as I’d planned.
Basically, this is how the game works: you rise from the water to the surface and continue exploring.
I’ve finally made it to the surface, and this “land segment” is one of the game’s biggest highlights. Since my character is a mermaid who’s undergone body modification, I naturally can’t walk—instead, I have to crawl along the ground to move forward.
To explain the controls specifically: you use the left stick to set your direction, and by alternately pressing L2 for your left hand and R2 for your right hand, you move forward in a shuffling, crawling motion. In terms of how it feels to play, your movement speed is incredibly slow compared to when you’re underwater, and it’s extremely cumbersome. In other words, players are forced to experience the realistic movements of a mermaid.
This is precisely what makes the game so unsettling; it’s not a “Disney”-style fantasy, but rather a realistic portrayal of the revulsion and terror of crawling around pitifully, which is thrust directly upon the player.
By the way, if you try to jump down from a high place, you’ll have to fall into the water first—otherwise, you’ll crash into the ground and die. It seems the modified mermaids have very fragile bodies.
This is likely the first “crawling” movement mechanic in horror game history, and you’ll use it to explore every nook and cranny of the facility. It was a bit disappointing that I couldn’t find any documentary items that would help unravel the story’s background. I really wanted to know things like, “Why are these experiments being conducted?” and “Why did this woman become a victim?”…
You can interact with objects using the X button. I spotted a suspicious lever, so I gave it a pull…
...it opened a locked door, and I moved on to the next area. That area turned out to be a fairly large tank, but I was attacked by the failed mermaids who had once been victims of the experiments.
If they catch up to you, it’s game over. The bit of chase action added just the right amount of tension.
The protagonist somehow makes it to the room with the operating table—but what awaits them beyond...? And with that, this concludes my report on the demo version.
What did you think?Although this demo is short—taking about 30 minutes to play—its artwork, game systems, and intense, one-of-a-kind world are truly unique, making it an excellent title that lets you directly experience a “too cruel” mermaid horror. Be sure to experience the terror and queasiness that will surely impress even hardcore horror gamers.
By the way, if you open the pause menu, you’ll see a Polaroid photo showing the “cutting lines” for transforming into a mermaid. This meticulously crafted, unsettling world is incredibly captivating. Well, I do think it’s in pretty bad taste, though…
A demo version of *Mermade* is currently available for free download on Itch.io. Additionally, the Steam store page is now live, and the full version of the game is scheduled to be released soon. Let’s look forward to it.
