Deepest Fear Is an Intriguing Sci-Fi Horror with Metroidvania/Immersive Sim Elements and Real Time Fluid Simulation

Among the many new game announcements featured in yesterday’s PC Gaming Show Most Wanted 2025, Deepest Fear certainly stands out as one of the most intriguing. It is being developed by Variable State, a British independent studio known for games like Virginia, Last Stop, and the upcoming Polaris.

According to the developers, Deepest Fear is a sci-fi horror first-person shooter game featuring inspirations from the likes of James Cameron, John Carpenter, David Cronenberg, and Paul Verhoven in terms of atmosphere. On the other hand, Metroid Prime, Half-Life 2, System Shock 2, and Dead Space were cited as inspirations for the gameplay, which is said to mix Metroidvania design with immersive simulation elements, allowing the player to come up with interesting solutions to the various situations presented throughout the game.

There’s also a particular twist in that Deepest Fear features a full-fledged real-time fluid simulation, which protagonist Dr. Danni Carrol will use to fight otherworldly entities that manifest spontaneously from any water source. Moreover, the surrounding environment can flood and take in water at any moment, sweeping her away with unpredictable currents and plunging the protagonist into the suffocating depths.

The game has no release date yet, but there’s already a Steam page that even includes the system requirements.