FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE May 1, 2025, Nesebar, Bulgaria
On March 30, indie VR studio iTales VR released a free demo version of Dark Trip, a surreal escape room experience blending horror, psychedelia, and detective mystery.
The demo includes several early levels that form the prologue of Dark Trip’s Episode 1 and give players a chance to explore its unique mechanics before deciding to purchase the Early Access version on Meta Store.
“We wanted more people to experience the weirdness of Dark Trip before making a decision to buy. SideQuest is a perfect place for that,” says Alexander Nasonov, game’s producer and co-founder of iTales VR.
The free demo features three rooms and is available on Sidequest: https://sidequestvr.com/app/42346/dark-trip-demo
The full “Episode 1” version of the game is available via Early Access on Meta Store: https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/dark-trip/27793698076945636/
The game’s Steam “coming soon” page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3492640/Dark_Trip/
Recently Dark Trip’s “Episode 1” Version Was Released within Early Access on Meta Store
A week ago the game reached a major milestone with the release of Episode 1 on Meta Store. Episode 1 Build includes ten carefully crafted rooms, evidence collection mechanics, improved character animations, polished VR locomotion system that supports teleportation, smooth motion, joystick navigation, and roomscale interaction, as well as eight language localizations.
Dark Trip Secured Presence on Steam After Bureaucratic Nightmare
After more than two months of bureaucratic back-and-forth with Steam’s review team, in the end of March 2025 Dark Trip finally secured its presence on the Steam platform. Despite the page being merely a "Coming Soon" listing, Steam reviewers insisted on a full demo build due to the game's psychedelic narrative involving Nazi themes. Without a complete build for review, Steam refused to approve the page’s publication. The most absurd hurdle came when Steam demanded that iTales VR upload the build via SteamPipe – only for SteamPipe to malfunction until the page was first approved. This created a frustrating catch-22, which the developers ultimately circumvented by packaging the build into a password-protected archive and sending it via Google Drive to Steam’s review team.
Dark Trip was the DevGAMM Gdańsk 2025’s Game Roast Winner
In the end of February 2025 Dark Trip emerged victorious at DevGAMM Gdańsk 2025’s Game Roast competition, where industry veterans like Alex Nichiporchik, Jon Carnage, and Michael Kuzmin delivered a comedic roast of upcoming indie games. The Game Roast is a comedy segment of the DevGAMM conference where game developers face off in a light-hearted, yet intense battle of wits. Experts roast the chosen games, critiquing everything from gameplay to design, while developers must defend their projects in a quick one-minute rebuttal.
Watch Dark Trip Early Access Trailer
About Dark Trip
Dark Trip is a indie psychedelic escape room where a detective eats pills to solve puzzles and relies on own hallucinations to investigate an eerie crime case.
Enter the surreal horror! Welcome to one of the most unique and bizarre VR experiences, where you take on the role of an investigator searching for a missing woman — and are forced to consume drugs during your mission. The boundaries between reality, virtuality, and hallucinations dissolve, immersing you in a Lovecraftian nightmare when in a small German town, the only daughter of a retired businessman vanishes without a trace. Hired to investigate the case, the player discovers a seemingly abandoned laboratory. As you explore room after room, you uncover evidence of twisted experiments, scattered notebooks of employees, and disturbing accounts from test subjects. The gameplay revolves around solving intricate puzzles while piecing together the unsettling truth of the past.
Experience mind-bending psychedelic trips that distort perception and twist your surroundings!
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Solve Puzzles in an Eerie Environment. Dive into a haunting world filled with grotesque biotechnological machinery and the wicked remnants of dark experiments.
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Experiences Psychedelic Trips. Immerse yourself into mind-bending psychedelic trips that distort perception and twist your surroundings.
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Use Hallucinations to Find Missing Evidence. Search for clues, artifacts and diary pieces to discover the dark story behind the gruesome events.
Dark Trip Early Access Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBtLNCTL8sM
The game is available via Early Access on Meta Store: https://www.meta.com/en-gb/experiences/dark-trip/27793698076945636/
The game’s Steam “coming soon” page: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3492640/Dark_Trip/
Dark Trip’s official website: https://vr.itales.mobi/dark-trip
Follow Dark Trip on Social Media to stay updated:
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Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/italesvr/
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Telegram: https://t.me/italesvr
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Discord: https://discord.gg/h5xnewgMXE
About iTales VR
iTales VR is a Bulgaria based indie virtual reality game development studio focused on creating immersive and engaging VR experiences that blend innovative storytelling with cutting-edge technology. Our mission is to redefine the gaming landscape through compelling narratives and unique gameplay mechanics. Like if David Lynch or Terry Gilliam would have started up a VR studio.
For more information about iTales VR and our upcoming projects, visit http://vr.itales.mobi