LIVING HELL, the new survival-horror game from DEVOUR creator Joe Fender, has launched its first open playtest on Steam. The game is planned for a Steam release in 2027, with Fender developing the project and Future Friends Games publishing it.
The premise turns a train into the centre of a bleak evacuation effort. LIVING HELL takes place in Pelican City after the ozone layer’s collapse has led to widespread mutations. Players must capture mutated specimens, process them into biofuel and keep a train moving toward one of the remaining rockets capable of leaving Earth. That structure gives the game a practical objective beyond simply surviving encounters: reaching safety depends on maintaining the vehicle that carries the group through the city.
The game supports one to four players in online co-op, while also including a fully offline single-player option. That matters for a horror game built around teamwork and communication. Co-op can make a frightening space feel more manageable, but LIVING HELL’s announced systems suggest that other players may also become an additional hazard rather than a permanent safety net.
A survival-horror route built around fuel and movement
Biofuel is the clearest mechanical link between LIVING HELL’s monster encounters and its escape narrative. Mutated creatures are not only threats to avoid; they are also the resource required to power the train. Players will need to capture specimens, then use them as fuel to continue travelling toward a rocket.
In survival-horror terms, that is a resource loop: a repeated cycle in which risk produces the supplies needed to progress. The announcement does not detail the capture process, how much fuel individual specimens provide, or whether every creature can be used the same way. Still, the broad setup implies that standing still is not the intended long-term strategy. The train needs fuel, and pursuing fuel means dealing with the creatures created by Pelican City’s catastrophe.
Numerous locations are planned across multiple subway routes. That wording points to a setting where the rail network is more than background dressing. Different routes may give the journey a sense of changing environments and distinct places to search, although the exact route structure, selection rules and level layouts have not been detailed.
The 2027 release date should also be kept separate from the newly available playtest. An open playtest is a pre-release opportunity to try part of a game; it is not automatically a promise that every planned feature, location or creature is already included. The announcement confirms the first public test is live on Steam, but does not specify its duration or list its precise playable content.
More than a dozen mutants, six characters and a temperature problem
LIVING HELL is set to include more than a dozen mutated creatures, each with its own behaviours. Creature behaviour is especially important in horror because it determines what players learn to fear: a monster that pursues, ambushes, guards an area or reacts to sound can demand very different decisions. For now, the game’s creature count and the promise of varied behaviours are confirmed, while the individual enemies and their specific responses have not been described.
Related coverage includes LIVING HELL Open Playtest Begins as Co-Op Horror Targets 2027.
Players will choose from six playable characters with unique passive abilities. A passive ability is a benefit that operates without needing a player to actively trigger it, unlike a spell, weapon mode or manually activated special move. In a four-player game, this can make team composition meaningful: different characters may suit different jobs or approaches. However, the actual character names, abilities and whether multiple people can select the same character have not been announced.
The most ominous announced system is thermal management. It can lead to mutation and betrayal among teammates. Thermal management generally means monitoring heat, cold or a related temperature condition and responding before it reaches a dangerous state. Here, the stakes extend beyond damage or inconvenience: a failure can apparently transform a player and turn them against their own group.
That is a strong fit for co-op horror. Communication and coordination are normally tools players use to reduce panic. A system that permits teammate betrayal complicates that trust, especially when a player’s condition may affect the whole party’s safety. The announcement does not explain whether betrayal is controlled by the affected player, imposed by the game, reversible, or visible to teammates in advance. Those unanswered details will be crucial to how tense—and how fair—the mechanic feels in practice.
Classic survival-horror ideas in a co-op format
Crafting and inventory systems are described as taking inspiration from classic survival horror. Inventory management is the decision-making that comes from limited carrying space: players must choose which weapons, healing items, tools, ammunition or quest-critical objects are worth bringing. Crafting adds another layer by allowing materials to become usable gear or supplies.
Neither system is elaborated on in the announced details, so it is not yet clear how restrictive item capacity will be, which recipes will be available, or whether resources are shared between teammates. The concept is nevertheless notable in a multiplayer game. Scarcity can create productive teamwork when players divide supplies intelligently, but it can also create pressure when every person needs a different item and there is not enough room or material for everyone.
Persistent save files are also planned. Put simply, persistence means progress remains recorded between sessions rather than resetting every time a group stops playing. The announcement does not say how progress will be structured, whether saves are hosted by one player, or how campaign advancement will work for different groups. It does establish that the game is not being presented solely as a series of disposable, start-to-finish matches.
For players who prefer to face Pelican City without the social uncertainty, full offline single-player support is confirmed. That option makes the game accessible to people who do not have a regular co-op group, do not want to use online communication, or simply prefer a more solitary horror experience. At the same time, a solo run will necessarily change the dynamic of systems intended to create teammate pressure. The announcement confirms both modes, not that they will play identically.
Voice chat is part of the horror toolkit
LIVING HELL will feature proximity voice chat with lip-sync and handheld radios. Proximity chat is voice communication that varies based on where players are in the game world: a nearby teammate may hear someone clearly while a more distant teammate may not. This can make separation mechanically meaningful, rather than simply inconvenient.
The announced handheld radios appear designed to provide another way to communicate across distance. The details do not explain their range, limitations or operation, but the contrast is easy to understand. Proximity chat supports natural conversation when players remain close; radios can preserve contact when the team splits up. In a setting where a player may mutate or betray allies, what others hear—and what they fail to hear—can become part of the tension.
Lip-sync is an audiovisual feature that matches a character model’s mouth movement to spoken voice. It does not alter gameplay by itself, but it can make conversations feel more grounded and make face-to-face interactions more readable. That is particularly apt for a game interested in mistrust: players may be listening for warnings, excuses or a panicked call for help while trying to judge the person standing in front of them.
Steam Deck and full gamepad support are also planned. Steam Deck support indicates the game is intended to accommodate Valve’s handheld PC hardware, while full gamepad support means players can use a controller rather than relying on a keyboard and mouse. The announcement does not provide performance targets, control layouts or verification status, so these are compatibility intentions rather than detailed technical promises.
What the playtest establishes—and what remains unknown
The open playtest gives interested players a chance to see LIVING HELL before its planned 2027 launch, but the confirmed feature list should be read as an outline of the game’s direction rather than a complete specification. The project is built around a clear set of connected ideas: travel by train, creature capture for fuel, constrained survival-horror supplies, character passives, dangerous temperature conditions and communication tools that may be as unsettling as they are helpful.
Mario Sello Nuñez is composing the original score, rounding out a project that is aiming for an oppressive co-op atmosphere without excluding single-player fans. More details on the scope of the test, the individual mutants, character abilities and the exact workings of its thermal and betrayal systems have yet to be provided.
For Steam players tracking upcoming smaller-scale horror projects, LIVING HELL joins a busy stream of experimental PC releases and tests; Vegelypse’s Steam playtest is another current example of co-op-focused development inviting players in ahead of launch. LIVING HELL’s distinction is its commitment to making escape a supply-chain problem: the route to the rocket runs through the monsters, and the monsters are what keep the train alive.
