Hope Deferred

Hope Deferred is a first-person psychological horror RPG.

Explore nightmare worlds and search for understanding in this PSX inspired dungeon crawler. Influenced by King’s Field, Dark Souls, Silent Hill, True Events, and Delusion.

Find your way out of a psychedelic nightmare. Get subjected to religious psychosis. Uncover the truth. Break the cycle.

You wake up in a locked prison cell. Everything is red. On the wall of the cell is a mirror, and when you look into it, you see the truth. Your cell unlocks, but you’re far from free. Explore a non-linear world with interconnected level design, each space more dream-like than the last. Talk to NPCs or slay them. Read the signs or ignore them. Take the path set for you or find another. Read a bunch of scripture against your will. Interpret its lack of meaning. Worry about the mental health of another. Accept there’s nothing you can do for them.

Souls-inspired but far from Souls-like.

No dodging, no parrying, no blocking, no rolling. You aren’t a hardened knight or agile hunter, you are a frail prisoner, and escape is your only hope. Fight monsters, if you want. I know that’s what you expect, so go ahead. A mediocre variety of enemies for you to press the attack button at. Experience multiple endings, make choices, do it all differently. Maybe then you’ll understand.

Learn to love 4:3.

Go into the options menu and see that you can change the resolution. Accept that 1024×768 is the way it was meant to be.

Come find me.

I’m there waiting for you.