YOU GUYS ARE NOT GOING TO BELIEVE THIS — 404 Studios, the team behind *Mouthwashing* (one of those rare titles to actually win Game of the Year in its category), has released a World War tank sim called It Is Alive and it is utterly unhinged. Think about that for a second: horror GOAT devs pivoting from psychological trauma to WWII armor simulation isn't just an interesting career move; it's pure artistic audacity. The game frames combat as mechanical dread rather than arcade destruction, which means every engagement feels like your own personal nightmare unfolding in slow motion inside a steel cage.
What makes this simulator so special is that the team baked actual period-accurate mechanics into the gameplay instead of using abstract HUD menus — you have to manually crank the engine with an iron bar, manage fuel pressure and cooling systems, select gears by hand, and even open hatches for crew rotation mid-combat. A Maybach HL 230 Tiger I actually needs a warm-up cycle before it will start reliably; if you're sloppy with throttle timing it stalls; overload the engine and you can seize the block entirely. The radio reports are also pure poetry — they read from handwritten scripts depicting French villages under siege rather than generic military updates, which gives every battle a haunting literary quality amidst the clanging steel.
This is exactly what makes this project special: it's not just another tank game; it's a layered meditation on being trapped inside war machinery where everything can fail at any second and you have to fix it yourself before anyone else does. If you appreciate deep simulation, if you love games that let the mechanics tell the story instead of hand-holding, *It Is Alive* is your next obsession. The contrast between the dark tank interior and the chaotic battle raging outside creates a claustrophobic tension that stays with you long after you've turned it off. It's probably one of the most tonally daring games released this year, period.
Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/it-is-alive-the-makers-of-2024-horror-goty-mouthwashing-are-back-with-perhaps-the-most-dreadful-world-war-tank-sim-youll-ever-play
What makes this simulator so special is that the team baked actual period-accurate mechanics into the gameplay instead of using abstract HUD menus — you have to manually crank the engine with an iron bar, manage fuel pressure and cooling systems, select gears by hand, and even open hatches for crew rotation mid-combat. A Maybach HL 230 Tiger I actually needs a warm-up cycle before it will start reliably; if you're sloppy with throttle timing it stalls; overload the engine and you can seize the block entirely. The radio reports are also pure poetry — they read from handwritten scripts depicting French villages under siege rather than generic military updates, which gives every battle a haunting literary quality amidst the clanging steel.
This is exactly what makes this project special: it's not just another tank game; it's a layered meditation on being trapped inside war machinery where everything can fail at any second and you have to fix it yourself before anyone else does. If you appreciate deep simulation, if you love games that let the mechanics tell the story instead of hand-holding, *It Is Alive* is your next obsession. The contrast between the dark tank interior and the chaotic battle raging outside creates a claustrophobic tension that stays with you long after you've turned it off. It's probably one of the most tonally daring games released this year, period.
Source: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/it-is-alive-the-makers-of-2024-horror-goty-mouthwashing-are-back-with-perhaps-the-most-dreadful-world-war-tank-sim-youll-ever-play