Psychological horror thrives on the unknown; that uneasy feeling that something isn’t quite right, even when you can’t immediately explain why. With Unsealed: The Mare, the solo developer behind it aims to capture exactly that kind of lingering dread.
Drawing inspiration from sleep paralysis, nightmares, and the fragile nature of memory itself, Unsealed: The Mare promises a tense survival horror experience where awareness, sound, and careful decision-making are just as important as courage. It’s a deeply personal project too, one shaped by real emotions and experiences that blur the line between dream and reality.
Ahead of the game’s launch, we sat down with Simon at Gamhalla to discuss the inspirations behind Unsealed: The Mare in an exclusive interview, discussing the challenges of creating psychological horror as a solo developer, and why players should always be listening if they hope to survive.
Could you please introduce yourself. What is your role at Gamhalla and on the creation of Unsealed: The Mare?
Sure! My name is Simon, and I am the solo developer at Gamhalla and the creator of Unsealed: The Mare.
I handled every part of the game’s development myself, including design, programming, audio implementation, writing, and putting all the pieces together into the final experience.
So sell it – in a few words, why should gamers look to dive into the madness of Unsealed: The Mare?
Unsealed: The Mare is intense and challenging. You are rarely given time to relax, because surviving requires awareness, strategy, and quick thinking. The story is not handed to you, it is something you piece together yourself while everything around you keeps the pressure on. It is horror that expects something from the player.
Unsealed: The Mare is described as being deeply personal. How have your own experiences directly shaped the game?
My own experiences with sleep paralysis and nightmares definitely influenced the game. They inspired the atmosphere, the sense of helplessness, and the feeling of not being fully in control of what is happening around you. The specific events in the story are fictional, but the emotions behind them are very real.
Themes like tragedy, trauma, and guilt are central to the narrative. It is less about a specific personal event and more about taking those feelings and translating them into psychological horror.
There’s no doubt that the horror segment is a crowded genre. What was the spark that made you want to tell this specific story, rather than that of a more traditional monster or slasher tale?
I have always been fascinated, but also a little disturbed, by how real dreams can feel. Sometimes while dreaming, you remember something a certain way, or even force yourself to remember it that way, and in that moment it becomes the truth inside the dream. After that, you are no longer really sure what the actual truth is. Even when you wake up, that feeling can stay with you for a while because it felt so real and so powerful.
What interested me most was that confusion of what the truth actually is, and how dreams can be influenced by what you think you remember or choose to believe. Building a story around tragedy and horror on top of that idea felt more compelling to me than telling a traditional monster or slasher tale.
The Focus Memory mechanic sounds like a standout feature. Can you explain how this works from a gameplay perspective?
Focus Memory lets you tap into memories within the dream and bring them into the present. In gameplay, that can unlock new areas, reveal paths forward, or show you things you may need in order to continue.
It is also a way to find hints connected to the story and better understand what is happening. In certain moments, you can use it during an encounter, for example to chain a door and gain a little extra time while you finish what you are doing. It connects progression, survival, and narrative in a natural way.
The store page mentions that “Death is not liberation; it’s merely another memory, sealed away.” How does the game handle failure?
It is interesting that you noticed that line, because it ties directly into the dream logic of the game. In dreams, when you die, you usually wake up. It almost becomes a kind of escape. But what if you do not wake up? What if you are stuck there? That idea is part of the horror. I have even had nightmares where I kept dying and reappearing in the same place over and over again. That feeling of being trapped rather than released influenced how death is framed in the story.
From a gameplay perspective, death is meant to be something you learn from. The encounters are designed so that when you fail, it is usually because of a decision, a missed cue, or a mistake. When you retry, you do so with more knowledge and a different approach. It is less about punishment and more about adapting and improving.
Resource management seems vital. How have you gone about balancing the need to give the player enough tools to feel capable, while still ensuring they feel vulnerable?
Resource management was never meant to be the main focus of the game. I did not want it to feel like a strict survival system where players are constantly deprived.
Early on, players are given enough tools to learn the mechanics and engage with the story without feeling overly restricted. Especially toward the end, resources become more important. You have to decide when to push forward with your objective and when it is smarter to slow down and look for more supplies.
In the final act in particular, being conservative and thinking carefully about when to use what you have can make a big difference. That balance helps maintain vulnerability without making the overall experience feel unfair.
And you’ve highlighted “Sound as Survival” across the store page. In a game where every creak matters, how did you approach the sound design to ensure players are using their ears as much as their eyes to survive?
The game is heavily based on audio, not only for atmosphere or jump scares, but as an actual tool. If you listen carefully, you can almost always hear something before it happens, or at least get a clue that something is happening nearby. Sound can also help you understand your surroundings and even pick up details connected to the story.
Throughout the game, there are messages and environmental texts that encourage you to listen carefully and stay aware. Paying attention to what you hear is just as important as what you see.
Psychological horror often relies on slow dread as much as jump scares. As a developer, how do you find the right rhythm so the player never feels truly safe, but also doesn’t become desensitised to the scares?
It is a mix of dread, jump scares, and intense encounters, but not in a predictable pattern. Sometimes the game lets you believe you understand how something works. It might even let you be right once or twice. Then the next time, it changes, and you are caught off guard. That unpredictability is important. If the rhythm stayed the same, players would get used to it.
By mixing slower tension with sudden moments and more demanding encounters, the game keeps you alert without relying on constant shocks. You are never fully sure what will happen next, and that uncertainty keeps the fear alive.
And further, how do you go about playtesting these scares when you’re the one who has created them? Surely you’re not still jumping now!?
That is a good question. Most of the scares start as something I see or feel clearly in my mind before I even build them. If they feel unsettling there, I try to bring that same feeling into the game as closely as possible. And yes, there are still a couple of moments that get me. Not every scare happens at the exact same time or in the exact same way. Some are dynamic or can play out a little differently, which keeps them effective even for me.
I have also done a lot of playtesting with friends, QA testers, and other players, so seeing their reactions and getting feedback has helped a lot in refining the timing and impact.
Unsealed: The Mare is split into various chapters. Could you tell us more about how the game breaks down into the differing segments?
The game gradually reveals more and more about the lore, the memories, and what the truth might be as you progress through the chapters.
On a narrative level, you receive stronger clues over time, but they are still somewhat vague, and you have to focus and piece them together yourself. From a gameplay perspective, each chapter introduces new tools, mechanics, and types of encounters. The puzzles, encounters, and overall intensity also increase as you move forward. As you approach the end, these elements begin to combine.
The final stretch becomes more of a culmination of everything you have learned, where you are expected to use all the tools and knowledge you have gained in order to survive.
In terms of your solo developmental journey, what has been the most rewarding – and the most difficult – part of bringing Unsealed: The Mare to consoles and PC?
The most rewarding part has definitely been watching other people play the game. Seeing their interpretations of the lore and what they think is happening, as well as how they approach different situations, has been incredibly satisfying. It has also meant a lot to hear that players feel the tension and emotions I hoped to create.
One of the most difficult parts has been balancing everything. I have spent a lot of time playtesting, adjusting sections, tuning difficulty, and refining the audio feedback. Making a game that is challenging and heavily audio-based, while still giving players enough agency and room to improve, has been a constant process. It needed to feel intense, but also fair.
Seeing it all come together and finally reach players on both PC and consoles has been incredibly rewarding as well.
For players who are about to step into Vera’s nightmare, what is the one piece of advice you’d give to help them survive in Unsealed: The Mare?
Turn up the volume and listen carefully. Audio is one of your most important tools. You will likely die a few times, but try to understand why. If you learn from your mistakes and pay attention to the details, your chances of surviving improve. For both survival and lore, remember what you see. Remember what you hear. Remember what you read.
And finally, when the clock strikes on March 10th and the game is finally out in the wild, how does a solo developer celebrate?
There will probably still be work to do, but I imagine I will spend most of the time watching people play. Checking out streams, YouTube videos, reading feedback, and seeing what theories people come up with about the lore. That is honestly the most exciting part for me.
And maybe, if I am feeling generous with myself, I might even order some good food to celebrate.
Unsealed: The Mare looks set to offer a psychological horror experience that leans heavily into tension, atmosphere, and player awareness rather than relying purely on jump scares. With its dreamlike narrative, audio-driven gameplay, and deeply personal inspirations, it’s clear that Simon has poured a great deal of himself into this haunting project.
For players brave enough to step into this nightmare, the message is simple: pay attention, trust your instincts, and above all, listen carefully.
Unsealed: The Mare launches on March 10th for Xbox (here’s your Xbox Store link), PlayStation, and PC, and if Simon’s vision delivers as intended, this is one nightmare that horror fans won’t want to wake up from.
Huge thanks go out to Simon at Gamhalla for some of their time in the lead-up to launch.
