Announcing SkullX: Aibohphobia!

Welcome, Squad Leaders.

We’re thrilled to finally introduce our game to the world. A lot of blood, sweat, and tears went into it—some of which may or may not have been spilled during actual rituals.

Here’s the announcement trailer, in case you missed it:

If your first reaction is something like: “What the hell am I looking at?” “What is this game even about?” “What’s so scary about palindromes?” —then good. We’ve done our job.

I’m Grim, the Project Lead of Aibohphobia, and I’d like to share how this project came to life—and what kind of experience awaits you.

The world of Skullx was brought to life by our visionary artist, Soh. Characterized by its distinctive dark art and skeletal inhabitants, this haunting realm laid the foundation for what would become Aibophobia.

This world's setting has been taking shape since 2021, originally emerging as a collection of striking artwork. But as it began to draw attention, it became clear—there was more to this world than just cool designs. A deeper story was waiting to be told.

Something about Soh’s world wouldn’t let go of me. I kept turning it over in my mind, until I started building in it myself—small games at first, just experiments. Some of them are still floating around on itch.io.

They were passion projects, born from a love for the setting and its characters. But the response from those who stumbled upon them was way more positive than expected. Naturally, the next step was to go bigger: build a proper visual novel grounded in this world.

But not just any visual novel. We wanted it to be occult in nature. At every level.

The most important question we asked ourselves was: How should this game feel? That broke down into four core things:

• How it looks

• How it reads

• How it plays

• How it sounds

We were lucky to have Soh join as Art Director early on, just as we were exploring different styles. His input made all the difference.

We eventually locked in a comic book art style inspired by Mike Mignola and other legendary names in the field. Soh delivered the concept art, and our incredible illustrators brought those characters to life.

Aibohphobia’s narrative is designed to reward attention and curiosity. It plays the long game: subtle hints, layered meaning, and revelations that don’t announce themselves. You’ll find traces of something larger in throwaway lines, background details, or moments that feel like coincidence—until they don’t.

That design approach was shaped by years of tabletop sessions with friends around the world. Our DM had a gift for planting seeds early and letting them bloom when you least expected.

That same philosophy runs deep through this game.

Aibohphobia is fully choice-driven, but no decision is ever strictly “wrong.” Some paths lead to revelations. Others lead to fortune. Or death. Or both. But none of them are boring.

Story is the heart of this game. But it’s a story steeped in tension, violence, and chaos—so we needed gameplay that could carry all of that weight.

Enter our custom-built turn-based combat system, inspired by games like Darkest Dungeon, Iratus, and Star Traders: Frontiers. At least when it comes to mechanics.

But visually? We weren’t pulling from anything that existed. We knew exactly what we wanted: a living comic book. That’s not something you can copy. We had to invent it.

Combat isn’t separate from the story. The narrative keeps moving during fights. You’ll make choices mid-battle—and live with the consequences.

The same goes for our point-and-click sequences. You’ll investigate scenes and objects to find answers… which usually lead to more questions.

The music and sound design of Aibohphobia play a huge role in setting the tone.

The process was… intense. We wanted to create more than just background noise; the music needed to be part of the experience—screeching, haunting, and bone-crushing when it mattered.

And, well, let’s just say we stopped asking how certain sounds were made. It’s probably safer that way.

Aibohphobia is currently planned for release this May.

We’re still implementing a few tricky sequences and finalizing the voice work. More importantly, we’re running focused playtests to make sure the experience hits exactly how it should.

In the meantime, we’ll keep sharing updates, behind-the-scenes looks, and cursed glimpses of what’s to come.

Make sure to wishlist the game if you haven’t already.

And hey—stay away from palindromes. There’s always a reason to be afraid of them.