VHS:BELOW

Oct. 31, 1989. 3:14 AM. A camcorder was found at the bottom of a basement that goes down further than the plans say it should. The tape is still recording.

VHS: BELOW is a first-person melee horror dungeon crawler seen through a dying VHS tape. Every run generates a new set of rooms. Every floor ends with something waiting behind a sealed door. When you die, the tape rewinds to the beginning, but what you gave the dark, you keep.

FIGHT LIKE YOU MEAN IT

• Parry on the red flash. A perfect parry slows time. Follow it with a riposte for double damage.
• Break their posture, then execute them. Executions heal you, refill stamina and charge your special.
• Kick them into walls. Throw your weapon and call it back through them. Slide, air-dash, and chain it all together.
• Purple means dodge. Some attacks can't be parried. Learn which.
• Style rank D to S. Fight well and the tape pays you for it.

THREE RECORDINGS

• THE SURVIVOR: sword and steel. Block, parry, execute. Special: BLOODLUST.
• THE SPIRIT: bow and arrow. Half the health, but it grows back, and a shield every floor. Special: WAILING VOLLEY. Unlocked by killing something you were never meant to find.
• CAM 2: the man who held the camera. A steel tripod, a flash that stuns, and a camera that marks what it films. Special: OVEREXPOSURE. Unlocked by finding his missing footage.

FIVE FLOORS. FIVE THINGS WAITING.

The Tenant. The Hook. The Wedding. The Archivist. The Bell Keeper. Each floor ends in a sealed arena, and the way down only opens when it stops breathing. Behind the bell, something else is waiting. You were not meant to find it.

WHAT YOU KEEP

• Soul fragments from every death and every boss. Spend them at the Soul Altar on 22 unlocks: fire, frost, lightning, leech and rot imbuements, and relics like Second Tape, Glass Cassette and Blood Pact. Once unlocked, they turn up in chests.
• Cursed Tapes: make a run harder on purpose for more souls.
• 10 lore tapes tell what happened down here. Find them all for the true ending.
• A daily tape with the same seed for everyone, a bestiary, 18 achievements, VHS filters and blade skins.

WATCH OUT FOR

• Elite enemies that glow, split, blink behind you or set you on fire.
• A crying child in the dark. A TV playing your last death. A prisoner who might be grateful.
• The Stalker. Stay on one floor too long and something comes looking for you. It cannot be killed.

CONTROLS

• WASD move · Mouse look · Shift sprint · Space jump · Ctrl crouch / slide · Alt dodge
• Left click attack · Right click heavy (hold to charge) · Q block / parry
• F kick · R throw / recall · X special · E interact · M map · Esc pause
• All keys can be rebound in Settings → Controls. New here? Every character has a tutorial on the character select screen.

Photosensitivity warning: this game uses flashing lights, screen distortion and VHS static. You can turn the VHS effects down in Settings → Graphics.

Content: blood, gore, and horror themes.

System: Windows 64-bit. Keyboard and mouse.

A game by Kirb. Main theme "VHS BELOW" by Kirb.

Be kind. Rewind.