[Exclusive] Tuned In weaves a personal horror story with mini-game-based gameplay via a television

Perhaps the best way for us to round off our coverage of the 15th edition of the Celsius 232 Festival of Fantasy, Horror and Science- Fiction, was to catch up with one of the figures who, as well as being part of the event's organising team, has helped to expand these three pillars within narrative, both in literature and in video games. We spoke to the author of the novel 'Siete en tinieblas' and a veteran of both Tequila Works and MercurySteam, now a designer at Vercors Studio, Ángel Luis Sucasas. What's more, we had the privilege of being the first to hear about the upcoming title they're working on, Tuned In, which can be described as a collection of mini-games woven together by a deep horror story that unfolds through an old television set. Don't miss this interview (with localised subtitles) and the exclusive feature on this game below.

Right, but what is Tuned In? It's not an easy question to answer, as rather than a typical linear game, it's more of an innovative gameplay experience centred on a mechanic that, at first glance, seems simple: turning the dials on an old cathode-ray tube television. Sucasas put it to us like this:

"The concept is based on striking a balance between gameplay - innovative gameplay - and an engaging narrative. So we want to create something similar to the first WarioWare: a collection of mini-games with different mechanics, tied together by a well-constructed narrative. Our game, Tuned In, is about a cursed television that draws you in so you can't look away, so it's quite unsettling."

"But the thing is, the list of channels you play on—each with its own specific gameplay mechanic, its own setting, camera angles and all that—all deal with your traumas. So you have to be careful, because the deeper you delve into the TV schedule, the channels, the mechanics and the mini-games you play become increasingly darker and are linked to the character's story."

Although each mini-game has its own specific mechanics, they're all based on a very simple control scheme using the joysticks on a controller.

"You control the game with the joysticks. Each joystick corresponds to a dial: the tuning dial, for tuning in to each channel, and the other is the volume dial. And then you have 'channel up' and 'channel down' - just four in total. That's all you need to know about the game's controls."

"There are loads of gameplay mechanics with just a limited set of controls. We're basing the entire game design on a lesson by Masahiro Sakurai from his YouTube channel, which was about a single button and the possibilities we have to explore with that one button - and that's what it's all about. We want to include loads of gameplay mechanics - like 20 or 30 mini-games in the full game - that always use the same set of actions: turning, spinning and pressing a button."

Tuned In is set to launch on PC (via Steam) later this year, 2026, and will be the debut title from Vercors Studio, a team of veterans who have worked on titles such as Gylt, RiME, Song of Nunu, and Cyberpunk 2077, with David Canela (director of both Song of Nunu and Gylt) at the helm of the project, which will also be releasing a demo featuring the first episode of the story in the coming days. And it's already a bit mind-boggling to think about the ramifications this could have, because, as Sucasas tells us, "we're going to ensure that, even in the Steam demo—which will be free for everyone—you'll see that it has eight possible endings, and depending on how you perform in the mini-games and so on, you'll get different endings, and even a different branch."

"So we want this game to have lots of branching paths. We want the branching paths to make sense - for example, you'll see certain scenes, situations or characters, and in one branch you'll see things you wouldn't see in another. And that's going to be one of the game's main features."

If you'd like, you can now add Tuned In to your Steam wishlist via this link, and keep an eye out for the demo, which is due out very soon. And be sure to check out the full interview with Angel Luis Sucasas, where he also talks about his other video game project, Toymaker: Threads of Joy, and his time at MercurySteam and Tequila Works.