Zero people are playing it right now. Exactly one person has reviewed it. It costs less than a bad cup of coffee and ships with a launch discount on top. SEGMENTS, released May 12 on Steam by solo developer Anikanov Aleksandr and publisher BlackVell Games, is the definition of a buried release — and the kind of oddball horror experiment worth knowing about.
The pitch is simple. You walk through smoke-filled roads and open fields, photographing anomalous entities called “smilers” while poking around structures like radio towers and graveyards. There’s a cat referred to as “kitty from the backrooms,” because of course there is. The Steam tags paint the vibe: Supernatural, Psychological, Psychedelic, Walking Simulator, 1990s, 1980s. Pick a decade, it’s there.
The game describes itself as an “atmospheric horror archive” — each segment is a self-contained first-person video recording of something going wrong. You watch, you photograph, you cannot intervene. Minimum specs are reasonable: Windows 10 and an Intel Core i3-10100 or AMD Ryzen 3 3100.
Here’s what matters. That single review, from a player who finished the entire game in 48 minutes, is positive. Genuinely positive. “The game is a chill walking sim game and i liked it” — no qualifications, no hedging, no “for the price” caveats. One hundred percent positive rating, mathematically unimpeachable, statistically meaningless. But the enthusiasm reads real.
At $1.69 during the launch discount (regular price $1.99 / €2.09), SEGMENTS isn’t asking for trust. It’s asking for less than you’d spend on a snack. Whether a 48-minute atmospheric walk through smokey roads with smiley-face horrors and a random cat is worth even that is a call only you can make. But in a storefront drowning in asset flips and abandoned early access projects, a complete experience with a satisfied player — however few — counts for something.
Sources
- SEGMENTS on Steam — Steam (Valve)
- SEGMENTS - Steambase — Steambase
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