Drowned Lake, the unsettling Brazilian folklore-inspired horror game from Monumental Collab and publisher Critical Reflex, just opened its public playtest on Steam. Revealed through a new trailer on November 23, 2025, the playtest gives players their first hands-on experience with this unique blend of fishing mechanics, survival horror, and found-footage aesthetics set deep in Brazil’s coastal forest where legends warn that trespassers rarely return.
- What Is Drowned Lake
- The Found Footage Horror Aesthetic
- How the Fishing Mechanics Work
- The Three Character Perspective System
- Resource Management and Survival Elements
- Connection to Previous Games
- Brazilian Folklore and Cultural Inspiration
- How to Join the Playtest
- Release Window and Platforms
- FAQs
- Why Horror Fishing Works
What Is Drowned Lake
Drowned Lake tells a non-linear horror story through three different character perspectives, all connected by the mysterious disappearance of Bento, an amateur documentarian who vanished while investigating the cursed waters. When he goes missing, three strangers are drawn to the lake to find him: a reporter who knows the lake hides dark secrets, an old fisherman returning after years to confront what lies beneath, and a third character whose identity remains mysterious.
The gameplay uniquely combines multiple perspectives and mechanics. Players explore the lake from an isometric top-down view while navigating by boat, using a fishing rod not just to catch fish but to collect evidence, equipment, and lost items from the murky depths. The game shifts to first-person perspective for investigation segments where you solve puzzles, examine clues, and piece together what happened to Bento and the countless others who disappeared before him.
But this isn’t just about catching fish and solving mysteries. The waters themselves are hostile, filled with what the developers describe as abominations lurking beneath the surface. As you disturb the troubled lake, you awaken forces that don’t appreciate your investigation. The fishing mechanic becomes increasingly tense as you realize anything could be attached to your line when you reel it back up.
The Found Footage Horror Aesthetic
Drowned Lake distinguishes itself through a disturbing found-footage aesthetic that makes you feel like you’re interacting with something forbidden, even cursed. The game presents itself through multiple analog media formats including VHS camcorder footage, creating ambiguity about whether you’re recording events as they happen or watching footage someone else recorded.
This approach draws heavy inspiration from found-footage horror films but adds interactivity that transforms passive viewing into active participation. The developers at Monumental Collab explained they want players to feel like they’re not only watching but also interacting with something forbidden. The grainy, degraded visual quality adds authenticity while obscuring details in ways that amplify dread.
The game is set in a fictionalized Brazil of the 1990s that the developers describe as one they’re not certain ever existed, blending real cultural touchstones with folk horror elements and supernatural mythology. This temporal setting allows them to leverage analog technology limitations as intentional design choices rather than graphical compromises, making the VHS aesthetic feel authentic rather than gimmicky.
How the Fishing Mechanics Work
The fishing system serves as Drowned Lake’s primary interaction mechanic during the boat exploration segments. Unlike cozy fishing games where you’re hooking crappies for relaxation, here every cast creates tension. Your fishing rod becomes an investigation tool, allowing you to dredge up evidence, lost equipment, and horrifying discoveries from the lake bottom.
But you’re not just pulling up clues. Sometimes you hook actual fish that provide resources. Other times you reel in abominations, malformed creatures that suggest the lake has been corrupted by whatever dark force claimed so many victims. The game doesn’t clarify what you’ll catch until it breaks the surface, creating moments of dread as you watch your line strain against something heavy in the depths.
This mechanic follows in the wake of Dredge, the breakout 2023 horror fishing game that proved the genre combination resonates with players. However, while Dredge leaned into Lovecraftian cosmic horror, Drowned Lake grounds itself in Brazilian folklore and folk horror traditions, creating a distinctly different atmosphere rooted in cultural mythology rather than existential dread.
The Three Character Perspective System
Drowned Lake’s story unfolds through three playable characters, each bringing their own perspective and motivations to the investigation. The reporter character knows the lake conceals something and presumably has journalistic reasons for exposing the truth. The old fisherman returns after years away, suggesting he has personal history with the lake and unfinished business with its submerged secrets.
The third character remains largely mysterious in promotional materials, though their inclusion suggests the narrative explores multiple angles of whatever tragedy connects these strangers. This multi-perspective storytelling allows the developers to reveal the truth gradually, with each character uncovering different pieces of the larger puzzle.
Importantly, death isn’t necessarily game over. If one character is defeated by the lake’s dangers, you can retrace their steps with a different character. However, the game features procedural elements that ensure you won’t encounter the same resources and challenges in the exact same locations, forcing adaptation rather than simple memorization of previous runs.
Resource Management and Survival Elements
At its core, Drowned Lake requires players to investigate, manage resources, and survive the lake’s many dangers. The inventory management system visible in trailer footage suggests you’ll need to carefully balance what you carry, choosing between evidence, equipment, consumables, and whatever horrifying items you dredge up that might prove useful later.
The survival elements create constant tension. You can’t simply explore every inch of the lake in a single trip. Limited resources force difficult decisions about when to push deeper into dangerous waters versus retreating to safety with what you’ve found. The game punishes recklessness while rewarding careful planning and risk assessment.
This resource scarcity also feeds into the game’s permadeath system with character switching. Losing a character means losing whatever unique perspective and abilities they brought to the investigation. You might have been close to a breakthrough when your current character falls victim to the lake, forcing you to approach the same mystery from a completely different angle with someone new.
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Perspectives | Isometric boat exploration + first-person investigation |
| Playable Characters | Three distinct characters with unique motivations |
| Core Mechanic | Fishing for evidence, resources, and abominations |
| Visual Style | Found-footage VHS aesthetic with analog media |
| Setting | Fictionalized 1990s Brazil with folklore elements |
| Death System | Character switching with procedural elements |
Connection to Previous Games
Drowned Lake expands on Monumental Collab’s previous work in this fictional universe. The studio first explored these concepts in Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter, a game jam prototype about Bento, the night fisherman who disappears in the lake. That short experience served as proof of concept, testing whether players would engage with the unique blend of fishing and horror.
The studio also released Teleforum in October 2025, a free visual novel set in the same universe. This brief experience follows two reporters entering an elevator, knocking on a widow’s apartment door, and asking about her deceased husband, their former colleague. Everything connects to a mysterious VHS tape, and the narrative plays with ambiguity about whether you’re recording or watching footage, themes that carry directly into Drowned Lake.
These smaller releases demonstrate Monumental Collab’s commitment to world-building across multiple projects. Rather than treating each game as isolated, they’re constructing an interconnected Brazil-of-the-90s universe where cursed media, folk horror, and tragic human stories intersect. Players who engage with Teleforum will recognize thematic connections and possibly direct narrative links to events in Drowned Lake.
Brazilian Folklore and Cultural Inspiration
What sets Drowned Lake apart from Western folk horror and Japanese-inspired horror games is its grounding in Brazilian cultural mythology. The developers at Monumental Collab specifically wanted to explore a unique cultural background that games don’t feature as much compared to settings in Japan, North America, or Europe. This creates opportunities for horror based on legends and folklore that international audiences likely haven’t encountered.
Brazilian folklore includes rich traditions of water spirits, cursed locations, and tragic figures whose restless souls haunt the places they died. The coastal forests contain their own mythological ecosystem distinct from Amazonian legends that Western media occasionally references. By tapping into these lesser-known traditions, Drowned Lake offers genuinely unfamiliar horror rather than retreading the same ghosts, demons, and monsters players have seen countless times.
The developers also emphasize wanting to imbue humanity into the cursed setting. Rather than presenting faceless victims or pure evil entities, the game explores how ordinary people become entangled with supernatural forces, their personal tragedies amplifying the horror. This approach aligns with folk horror traditions that ground supernatural elements in recognizably human motivations like grief, guilt, and desperation.
How to Join the Playtest
The Drowned Lake public playtest is currently live on Steam and requires requesting access rather than simply downloading like a traditional demo. Visit the game’s Steam page and click the Request Access button to join the playtest queue. You’ll receive a notification when your request is approved, typically within hours though timing may vary based on demand.
This playtest structure allows the developers to gather more controlled feedback and potentially limit simultaneous player counts for technical testing purposes. It also creates a sense of exclusivity that generates word-of-mouth buzz as players share their experiences, though the reality is most requests get approved relatively quickly.
The playtest doesn’t include multiplayer or cooperative features despite some player speculation. This is a single-player narrative experience where you alone face the lake’s horrors. The developers are using the playtest to gather feedback on pacing, difficulty balance, puzzle clarity, and overall atmosphere before finalizing the full release.
Release Window and Platforms
Drowned Lake doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet beyond targeting PC through Steam. The developers initially aimed for second half of 2024 when the game was first announced in 2023, but development has extended as they refined the unique gameplay systems and expanded the narrative scope. The current playtest suggests the full release is approaching, though no specific date has been announced.
Platform availability remains focused on PC for now, with no announced plans for console versions. This makes sense for an indie studio with limited resources, allowing them to optimize for a single platform rather than juggling multiple SKUs. Console ports could follow if the PC release proves successful, particularly for PlayStation and Xbox where indie horror games have found audiences.
FAQs
How do I access the Drowned Lake playtest?
Visit the Drowned Lake Steam page and click Request Access under the playtest section. You’ll receive a notification when approved, typically within hours. The playtest is currently live and accepting new players.
Is Drowned Lake multiplayer?
No, Drowned Lake is a single-player narrative experience. While you play as three different characters throughout the story, there are no multiplayer or cooperative features.
What is the game’s release date?
Drowned Lake doesn’t have a confirmed release date yet. The game is targeting PC via Steam, with the specific launch window to be announced. The active playtest suggests release is approaching.
Who develops Drowned Lake?
Drowned Lake is developed by Brazilian collective Monumental Collab and published by Critical Reflex. The team previously created the free visual novel Teleforum and the game jam prototype Our Lady of the Drowned Lake, Zero Reporter.
Is it similar to Dredge?
Both games combine fishing mechanics with horror, but Drowned Lake leans more into found-footage aesthetics and Brazilian folklore rather than Dredge’s Lovecraftian cosmic horror. Drowned Lake also includes first-person investigation segments and multi-character storytelling.
What happens when my character dies?
If your character is defeated, you can continue the investigation with one of the other two playable characters. However, procedural elements ensure you won’t encounter identical resources and challenges, forcing you to adapt your approach.
Is the game scary?
Drowned Lake focuses on atmospheric dread and found-footage horror rather than jump scares. The combination of isolation, cursed waters, mysterious disappearances, and things lurking beneath the surface creates sustained tension throughout the experience.
Will there be console versions?
Console versions haven’t been announced. The game is currently targeting PC via Steam, with potential console ports possible after the PC release depending on reception and sales performance.
Why Horror Fishing Works
The combination of fishing mechanics and horror has proven surprisingly effective since Dredge demonstrated its potential. Fishing naturally creates moments of vulnerability where you’re stationary, focused on a specific task, unable to quickly flee danger. The anticipation of what you’ve hooked, the tension as you reel it in, and the reveal when it breaks the surface all mirror horror pacing perfectly.
Drowned Lake takes this foundation and builds something distinctly its own through Brazilian cultural context, found-footage presentation, and multi-character storytelling. The playtest represents your chance to experience this unique horror experiment before the full release, exploring cursed waters where documentarians vanish and folk legends prove terrifyingly real. Just remember what the warnings say: you’re not safe here. The lake doesn’t forget those who disturb its depths, and some mysteries are better left drowned.