A Highland Song looks like the most serene kind of survival game

crossing the highlands with a castle ruin in the background

(Image credit: Inkle)

In a world rife with uncertainty, one thing remains comfortingly constant: games made by indie studio Inkle, which always offer lovely little slices of storytelling and adventure to escape into. The studio behind Sorcery!, Heaven's Vault and Overboard! has now announced A Highland Song—a side-scrolling slice of serenity "with rhythm and survival elements."

The game, as you can imagine, is set in the Scottish Highlands, and follows teenager Moira McKinnon as she leaves her rural home for the first time to go visit her Uncle (Hamish, naturally) who lives on the coast. But instead of taking a Megabus or hitchhiking along the A830 dual-carriageway, she decides to walk it, taking the scenic yet decidedly more dangerous route through the Scottish wilderness.

It looks great, and will see you traversing castle ruins, mountain ridges and forests nestled amidst craggy terrain. Its whole aesthetic has a nice, slightly faded watercolour look too, which is a fitting way to depict the harsh yet mystifying scenery of the Highlands.

It looks like you'll bump into some curious characters on your travels, complete with dialogue choices, and there'll be little rhythm segments where you need to time your hops and skips over rocks. Chilled though the game seems, you do have a health bar, and will need to seek shelter when the temperatures drop at night.

Yes, it's a game so chilled that you can actually freeze to death.

deciding where to take shelter — (Image credit: Inkle)

A Highland Song is currently listed as "coming soon" to Steam. And if Inkle's games have tickled your curiosity, then do check out last year's Overboard! It's a sharp and stylised little reverse-whodunnit that sees you trying to get away with murder on a 1930s cruise ship.

Robert is a freelance writer and chronic game tinkerer who spends many hours modding games then not playing them, and hiding behind doors with a shotgun in Hunt: Showdown. Wishes to spend his dying moments on Earth scrolling through his games library on a TV-friendly frontend that unifies all PC game launchers.