The ongoing search for the lost Titan submarine has led some indie horror games, such asIron Lungby David Szymanski, to see an uptick in sales numbers. The OceanGate submersible, which was carrying five passengers, lost contact with its control center on June 18, just a couple of hours into its dive to the Titanic shipwreck off the coast of Newfoundland. Despite a search that has lasted four days, the submersible has still not been found, and at the time of writing, it’s believed there is only an hour or two of oxygen remaining inside.In March 2022, developer David Szymanski released a shorthorror indie game calledIron Lung, which takes players on a claustrophobic journey in a tiny, rusty submarine. Instead of regular waters, however, the vessel is traveling through an ocean of blood on an alien moon after an unspecified event has ended the natural world. The game has simplistic gameplay but successfully creates a growing sense of fear and isolation.RELATED:Popular Horror Game Phasmophobia is Finally Coming to PS5 and XboxThe creator ofIron Lunghas shared an image on Twitter showing that, beginning on June 19, the game’s sales have nearly tripled. “This feels so wrong,” Szymanski said and confirmed in the comments that the uptick is due to the Titan submersible’s disappearance. This is supported by the recent reviews the game has received on Steam, with one person stating that they played the game with a Logitech F710 gamepad, referring to thevideo game controller used to steer the Titanic submarine. Other comments are in a similar tone.
Iron Lungisn’t the only indie game that has received more attention since June 18. One of the developers ofFull Fathomshared a similar sentiment on social media after the oceanic survival horror game was added to an increasing number of wishlists. “Being associated with the Titanic submarine disaster is quite off-putting,” Monad tweeted. “It’s the whole benefiting from people’s (almost certain) deaths that makes it feel weird.” LikeIron Lung, Full Fathomputs gamers in a submarine that is slowly falling apart as it drifts through the ocean,playing on people’s thalassophobia.
While acknowledging that some of the jokes are amusing, Szymanski explained in a later tweet that he had createdIron Lungto be the “most nightmarish thing I could think of, and knowing real people are in that situation right now is pretty horrific.” It is understandably an uncomfortable situation to be in. On the one hand, theseindie gamedevelopers are seeing sales numbers that they may have never expected, but the circumstances that ushered in those sales put a dampener on any joy they might feel.
Iron Lungwas recently announced to be getting a film adaptation, due out sometime in 2023. Themovie will star YouTube celebrity Markiplier, which likely would already have drawn a large audience. Its unintentional tie to the plight of the Titan submarine will probably attract even more viewers.
