Publisher New Blood Interactive and developers Andrés Borghi and Saibot Studios released the retro survival horror game Tenebris Somnia on Friday (16). The title combines 2D pixel art gameplay with live-action cinematic sequences filmed on location in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after almost four years of production.
In the narrative, the player controls Julia, a young woman tormented by nightmares in which her ex-boyfriend is torn apart by monsters. Hoping to find peace and check on his well-being, she visits his apartment and uncovers a world of horror that extends beyond her dreams. “I hope players come for the cutscenes and stay to experience the story!” said Andrés Borghi, director and developer of Tenebris Somnia.
Tenebris Somnia platforms, release date and Steam launch discount
The survival horror title arrives simultaneously across current-generation and last-generation consoles, as well as personal computers. In addition to the digital distribution, physical editions of the game were announced through a partnership with the distributor Lost in Cult.
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- Official release date: October 16, 2026
- Consoles: Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2
- PC platform: Steam, featuring a 20% promotional launch discount
- Development and publishing: Andrés Borghi and Saibot Studios, published by New Blood Interactive
- Language localization: English, Japanese and Brazilian Portuguese
Practical monster effects and filming in Buenos Aires for Tenebris Somnia
The live-action sequences were shot in Buenos Aires with a professional camera and production crew, following storyboards planned and directed by Borghi, who also works as a film editor and visual effects artist. During the shoot, the crew covered the floor of a seventeenth-century Argentine cathedral with fake blood and filmed scenes secretly inside the subway system in the middle of the night. In another behind-the-scenes moment, a boom operator ran 20 meters—sliding on his knees for the final 2 meters—to position a lighting effect directly underneath an actor at the exact required timing.
Unlike traditional retro games where cinematic sequences acted merely as a reward for finishing a stage, the live-action cutscenes in Tenebris Somnia connect directly to the gameplay and trigger unpredictably. Players do not know when a live-action sequence will begin or end, as the transition can place them directly in front of an enemy or start immediately after a combat encounter, showing the horrors in graphic detail. Matching the physical film sets to the 2D game locations required integrating practical scenery with limited computer-generated imagery (CGI). To build the monsters, silicone masks and prosthetics were molded directly from the actors’ faces and reapplied with makeup in a process that took several hours per session.
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Production team and cast of Tenebris Somnia
The project brings together professionals from independent cinema and video game development in Argentina and the United States. The live-action cast and technical crew include the following names:
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- Andrés Borghi: filmmaker, creator of The Black Heart and director of the game
- Tobías Rusjan: leader of Saibot Studios (known for Hellbound) and programmer
- Airdorf: creator of FAITH: The Unholy Trinity and executive producer
- Marcos Berta: supervisor of practical monster effects, award-winning artist known for the film When Evil Lurks
- Clara Kovacic: Argentine horror actress who plays the protagonist Julia
- Supporting live-action cast: Pedro Merlo (Ivan), María Eugenia Rigón (Vitra), Esteban Prol (Sanguis) and Yael Tesouro
Zero generative AI policy and 8-bit inspirations in Tenebris Somnia
The conception of Tenebris Somnia began in mid-2022 after Borghi streamed gameplay of FAITH: The Unholy Trinity—a title previously published by New Blood Interactive alongside DUSK and Blood West—and decided to create a pixel art horror game with real actors and real locations. Borghi and Rusjan developed an initial demonstration, which was released in September 2023, before pitching the complete project to New Blood Interactive to secure the production budget. The game draws declared inspiration from survival horror classics such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil, adapting the mechanics of limited resources, boss battles, sound design and puzzles to an 8-bit and 16-bit aesthetic inspired by the NES and Famicom era.
According to executive producer Airdorf, no generative artificial intelligence was used at any stage of the production. All 2D art and animations were drawn by hand pixel by pixel and frame by frame, the audio and musical score were written by a human composer, the code was written by human programmers, and the localization into Brazilian Portuguese, English and Japanese was carried out by human translators. “Even if we had used generative AI to take shortcuts (not that we even know how), we couldn’t, in good conscience, call this a New Blood Interactive game,” stated Airdorf, noting that cutting costs with AI would break the trust of fans who expect authenticity from the studio.
Following the October 16, 2026 release of the game, the producers plan to release a full-length documentary detailing the behind-the-scenes production and filming process. The exact release date for the documentary has not yet been confirmed by the development team.
