Into the Dark

Embracing the learnings from the work on the Painkiller franchise, Homegrown Games developed "Into the Dark" as a self-funded project on a shoestring budget in 2012.

Shortcomings of the underlying technology were taken into account and mitigated through a strong narrative, a healthy dose of self-aware humour and slapstick moments breaking up the otherwise dark and haunting atmosphere of the game.

All digital publishing was done by Homegrown Games, first on Desura, then on Steam, and an additional distribution deal with a German publisher ensured physical copies in stores all over Europe.

Despite the shortcomings of the underlying technology and compromises being made in terms of polish, quality and stability, Into the Dark was a massive success, both commercially and with critics who bought into B-Movie premise. It was placed 6th in the global Indie of the Year awards, received a Silver Award and a 83% rating from Spielemagazin.de.

The popularity got an additional boost from a comedy playthrough by the German Youtubers from "GameTube", back then one of the largest channels in Germany.

Subsequently, Into the Dark won the Gamestar Game of the Year Award in the "Community Favorite" category, one of the most prestigious awards in Europe at the time.

In the end, Into the Dark sold more than 250,000 copies via Desura, Physical DVD and Steam against a development budget in the low 5-figures, earning one of the highest ROIs of its time.

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"Top 10 of 2013" (6th place) - Indie of the Year awards 2013

"Community Favourite" - Gamestar Game of the Year Awards 2014

"Best Action-Adventure" - OldGamer

"Silver Award" - Spielemagazin