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CONTAMINANT News

Looking for CONTAMINANT Playtesters!

[p][/p][h2]Looking for Test Subjects![/h2][p][/p][p]CONTAMINANT is entering its next phase - and you're invited to witness it firsthand.[/p][p][/p][p]We're launching a closed playtest soon to let players like you descend into the unknown and help us refine the horror that lurks below. The build will be Free-to-Play and will only require you to sign up via a Google Form and to join our Discord for the playtester role.[/p][p][/p][h2]Want to be part of the playtest? Follow the steps below![/h2][p][/p][h3]Sign up for the CONTAMINANT Playtest using the Google Form below[/h3][p]CONTAMINANT Closed Playtest Google Form
[/p][h3]Join the official CONTAMINANT Discord server and receive the Playtester Role after being accepted[/h3][p]Click here to join the CONTAMINANT Discord[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][h2]FOLLOW CONTAMINANT[/h2][p]
You don’t have to enter the decaying world of CONTAMINANT alone. Become part of a community helping Maria seek out the truth. Join our Discord!

Official CONTAMINANT Discord Server

Don’t miss anything about CONTAMINANT! Follow our official social channels below:

Official CONTAMINANT Facebook Page Official CONTAMINANT Instagram Official CONTAMINANT X Official CONTAMINANT TikTok

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Transmission 0.02 - Behind The Horror: Motion Capture in CONTAMINANT

[p][/p][h2]Motion Capture in focus.[/h2][p]In CONTAMINANT, motion capture is important to creating immersive horror, using authentic character movement as a key storytelling tool.[/p][p]This devlog offers a deeper dive into how mocap shapes the game’s eerie atmosphere and emotional, physical storytelling.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]The Value - Motion Capture in CONTAMINANT[/h2][p][/p][p]The player's emotion relies on the characters' movements and reactions, and how convincing they're for them. Translating real human performances into the game makes it more possible to do this.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]The infected's unsettling movements convey the game's themes of contamination and human frailty, letting players feel the story through animation itself.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Motion capture lets us surpass standard game animations by capturing subtle physical details that are difficult to replicate by hand. The expressiveness of the human body comes through clearly with mocap, even when used for eerie or distorted enemy characters.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]In the end, motion capture is what makes CONTAMINANT blur the lines between animation and storytelling. By capturing every moment of a real person's performance, we develop enemies and characters that feel alive, vulnerable, and haunting - letting the players experience the horror unfold not just on surface level - but on an emotional level as well.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]The Realism - Tension through Atmosphere and Authenticity[/h2][p][/p][p]Animation goes beyond characters and creatures - every crawl, limp, or collapse adds to the game's atmosphere and environmental storytelling.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]While actors have their own sense of perception when it comes to the story of the game, it is essential to understand what needs to be experienced by the player. And so, when it comes to making certain actions, movements, or emotions, they need to know what it might look like in-game. Such is the clip below showing how actors determine how actions are reflected in the game.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]While realism is important, CONTAMINANT isn’t striving for photorealistic perfection. Horror thrives in exaggeration and distortion - slightly unnatural movements that unsettle the player. This is why we often take mocap data and creatively edit it.[/p][p][/p][p]The clip shown above captures the actor practicing exaggerated "flailing" motions, portraying a character overwhelmed by an unnatural force. It starts off naturally but is intentionally amplified in-engine to create an unsettling effect that feels disturbingly inhuman.[/p][p][/p][p]With combat animations, the demand for a distinct approach from idle or environmental movements is different. They must be sharp and responsive enough while still conveying narrative significance.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]Capturing attack animations, including heavy melee swings and defensive reactions that prioritize clarity and impact, ensures that combat feels visceral within CONTAMINANT's already oppressive atmosphere.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]The Collaboration - Director, Performer, and Animators[/h2][p][/p][p]Motion capture is a collaborative process where directors, performers, and animators work closely to ensure performances look and feel right, with constant feedback between the set and the game engine.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This teamwork is explored for various takes on a character's death animation. The director provides real-time feedback while the animator reviews references to fine-tune the performer's movements between takes, making sure that the end-result balances both gameplay clarity and narrative impact.[/p][p][/p][p]While CONTAMINANT emphasizes atmosphere in its visual style, facial expressions remain vital for emotional storytelling. Subtle facial cues, combined with full-body mocap, help breathe life into each character.[/p][p][/p][p][/p][p][/p][p]This teamwork guarantees that each movement and expression captured and translated into the game feels genuine and purposeful. Through combined efforts of directors, performers and animators, we develop characters whose actions draw players deeper into the game - enhancing immersion and leaving a lasting impact.[/p][p][/p][hr][/hr][p][/p][h2]The Near Future - What’s Next for CONTAMINANT?[/h2][p][/p][p]Motion capture is at the heart of what makes CONTAMINANT terrifying. It allows us to root our animations in human physicality while giving us the flexibility to distort and exaggerate those movements in ways that evoke unease. It also enables us to use "movement as storytelling", where animation isn’t just about how characters move, but "why".[/p][p][/p][p]What’s next for CONTAMINANT, you ask? We’re looking at the possibility of having a community playtest by August 2025. This will be essential to building CONTAMINANT the way everyone - including us - are expecting it to be. Your feedback will matter most - and will help us shape the game into the horror experience you’re about to dive into when it eventually releases later this year.[/p][p][/p][p]Tune in to announcements in our Discord server for more information about the upcoming playtests next month. We can’t wait to share the game’s first look and feel with you.[/p][p] [/p][hr][/hr][h2]FOLLOW CONTAMINANT[/h2][p]
You don’t have to enter the decaying world of CONTAMINANT alone. Become part of a community helping Maria seek out the truth. Join our Discord!

Official CONTAMINANT Discord Server

Don’t miss anything about CONTAMINANT! Follow our official social channels below:

Official CONTAMINANT Facebook Page Official CONTAMINANT Instagram Official CONTAMINANT X Official CONTAMINANT TikTok

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Transmission 0.01 - Welcome to CONTAMINANT



Welcome to CONTAMINANT.


It begins here. This is the first of many “transmissions” from the team behind CONTAMINANT, our surreal, story-driven horror adventure that dares to unravel the seams of reality. If you've seen our early stuff, you already know we’re not aiming for your usual haunted house. We're crafting a descent into madness, memory, and the unknown.

In this devlog, we’ll reveal our creative visions, the inner workings of the world we’re building, the planned gaming experience for our players, and what’s in store for everyone involved.

We’re glad to have you onboard. Let’s get right to it.

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[h2]The Source - Where did it all begin?[/h2]



Every horror has its origin, and with CONTAMINANT, it started with rust, ruin, and reverence for the genre’s roots. The team behind the game is full of lifelong fans of horror, drawing from genre-defining classics such as Silent Hill, Resident Evil, Dracula: Resurrection, and Nightmare Creatures.



But inspiration isn’t limited to pixels and polygons - real-life experiences played a role as much as games. The image of a frostbitten morning, a factory gate etched with “СЛАВА ТРУДУ”, which means “Glory to Labor”, lingered in the mind of the studio’s founder.

That silent, industrial decay was the seed - one that festered, grew, and gave birth to the reality-defying world of CONTAMINANT.



At its core, CONTAMINANT is more than just a horror game - it’s a slow burn into a uniquely Russian chthonic fear. Set against the backdrop of the post-Soviet 90s, its atmosphere bleeds with neo-gothic dread and surreal post-apocalyptic melancholy.

The experience is built to deliver what’s expected, not merely through jump scares, but through a creeping sense of anxiety, alienation, and empathy for those trapped in its world.

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[h2]The Setting - The World of CONTAMINANT[/h2]



The world of CONTAMINANT is not just a backdrop - it’s a character in its own right, decaying and whispering beneath layers of frost and rot. Players will traverse a bleak winter village, a derelict factory steeped in silence, and a forgotten town clinging to its last breath.

These grounded, desolate locations gradually give way to surreal, mind-bending spaces where logic dissolves and reality tears at the seams. Each environment introduces its own flavor of dread - sometimes quiet and suffocating, other times disorienting and brutal - all designed to evoke a constant sense of unease.



Threaded through this decaying landscape is a sinister enigma: UVB-76, also known as “The Buzzer”. This true-to-life Russian military radio station, emanating with mystery and urban legends, becomes a continuous presence in the game. Its voice crackles through static, guiding, misleading, and revealing fragments of the past.

By combining folklore and psychological tension into the story, CONTAMINANT delivers a setting that doesn’t just scare - it creates tremors around your perception of reality.



An immersive world meant to scratch a constant horror itch doesn’t come alone. A captivating horror story always involves a character painstakingly created to be at the center of it all.

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[h2]The Protagonist - The Truthseeker[/h2]



At the heart of CONTAMINANT is Maria - a woman shaped by silence, shadows, and a past that refuses to bury itself. Her story isn’t driven by vengeance or survival, but by something more haunting: the need to understand.

As a child of strange circumstances and unanswered questions, Maria has carried the weight of her family’s disappearance like a second skin. Years later, despite vowing never to return, something pulls her back - a fragile hope that the truth still lingers in the ruins.



But Maria’s journey isn’t one of helplessness. While CONTAMINANT leans heavily into psychological and atmospheric horror, it blends survival and action elements that ensure players aren’t just witnesses - they’re active participants.



Expect thrilling encounters with tough enemies and bosses, moments of unexpected dread through dynamic soundscapes, and cleverly placed jump scares, like sudden falling objects that take you back to alertness. The balance between vulnerability and defiance mirrors Maria herself: fragile, determined, and ready to face the darkness that’s waited far too long.

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[h2]FOLLOW CONTAMINANT[/h2]

You don’t have to enter the decaying world of CONTAMINANT alone. Become part of a community helping Maria seek out the truth. Join our Discord!

Official CONTAMINANT Discord Server

Don’t miss anything about CONTAMINANT! Follow our official social channels below:

Official CONTAMINANT Facebook Page Official CONTAMINANT Instagram Official CONTAMINANT X Official CONTAMINANT TikTok

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3668880/CONTAMINANT/

Watch the New Teaser Trailer Tomorrow!



CONTAMINANT’s New Trailer will have its World Premiere at the Horror Game Awards 2025’s Summer Showcase! Celebrate this monumental event with us!

[h2]May 31st, 2025
Saturday @ 11:00 AM PDT / 2 PM EDT / 7 PM BST[/h2]

Stay tuned for more updates! Be notified about any updates on Steam by adding CONTAMINANT to your wishlist!

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[h2]FOLLOW CONTAMINANT[/h2]

You don’t have to enter the decaying world of CONTAMINANT alone. Become part of a community helping Maria seek out the truth. Join our Discord!

Official CONTAMINANT Discord Server

Don’t miss anything about CONTAMINANT! Follow our official social channels below:

Official CONTAMINANT Facebook Page Official CONTAMINANT Instagram Official CONTAMINANT X Official CONTAMINANT TikTok

https://store.steampowered.com/app/3668880/CONTAMINANT/