I cover a lot of demos for PC Gamer, and some of them really stick with me. Divine Frequency has been a real lost Lenore among those memorable games: It was a rare shooter that managed to scare the living daylights out of me, while also being an amazingly satisfying action experience. I’ve been up on the widow’s walk every night, watching for any sign of its ship returning from the long voyage.
Only, I wasn’t watching closely enough. On September 25, developer Abraxaes released a new trailer revealing an early access launch date of October 27 for the surreal and horrific FPS-RPG. Before that announcement, back in March, they outlined some of the herculean challenges Divine Frequency has faced—most notably the surprise death of lead writer Pablo “Artistical” Lamprea. Here are Abraxaes’ own words on their friend and collaborator:
Abraxaes
“On the midnight of April 1st, 2025 (cruel irony), I received the news that our lead writer and lore-master, Pablo ‘Artistical’ Lamprea, had tragically passed away, later confirmed on his discord account via his girlfriend. This came as a shock to all of us and consequently almost ended all my desire to continue working on the game.
“Our man Artistical was the fuel that kept my creative fire burning for the game. We would remain in contact regularly to discuss many aspects of the game world, from why the Divine Frequency is devouring the world to the timeline that led up to that event, or why psi is the residue consciousness from another universe that allowed reinterpretations of the current laws of reality.
“We’ve had many long hour calls discussing, brainstorming and crafting the world that you’ll be experiencing soon. Anytime I wasn’t sure of a design choice I made, I knew I could always rely on him for consultation.
“His role didn’t end there though, he also took the responsibility of writing the majority of in-game dialogues, item descriptions, and notes/computer logs to help lessen the load of the incredibly demanding task that is creating a quality video game. What made this event so difficult for me to stomach in particular was the sheer unfortunate timing of it.
“About 3 weeks before Artistical’s passing, we’ve agreed to hold off committing to any writings for ACT-2 until I completed a dev build for it. This is so he and I can discuss and plan out the scripts as he plays through it. Unfortunately, this never came to fruition. The entirety of ACT-2 was left without the brilliance of the hand that will write its story.”
Divine Frequency’s demo had some truly amazing cosmic horror writing: SCP-style, banal categorization of the unknown contrasting with flowery, expansive, yet somehow not indulgent prose to capture the majestic enigma of it all. It left an impression on me, and I’ve wanted more for almost three years. I’m so glad that Lamprea’s collaborators have been able to continue this work to bring their shared dream alive.
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But this wasn’t even the only setback Divine Frequency faced in 2025: It turned out that a number of sound libraries purchased by the developers contained copyrighted material. To avoid liabilities, the developers had to painstakingly go through every audio file in the game and replace the copyright-infringing ones. “This also delayed the game by a fair margin,” Abraxaes wrote.
But soon, it will finally come to fruition. Divine Frequency is still targeting an early access launch after so much lead time, but it sounds like its developers want it to be uniquely substantial and polished: “You only get one chance to launch a game,” they wrote in the March update, “and this needs to be pristine on launch.” They further say it contains the first two of three planned acts, or 70% of the game.
I don’t love playing games piecemeal in early access (though I understand how much of a lifesaver it can be to devs), but it sounds like Divine Frequency is coming out with a real chunk of game. After so much time away, I’m thrilled to revisit this awful, unsettling world. Ahead of early access, you can wishlist Divine Frequency and check out its updated demo on Steam.
