Baptiste is a narrative-driven psychological horror game that puts players in control of a young boy battling supernatural forces and his own inner demons. Following a family tragedy, Sara and her son Tom move ot the Jagged Shore Cliff for a fresh start. Inspired by indie horror hits like Layers of Fear and Outlast, the game drops players into an ominous mansion where exploration and environmental clues help uncover the dark secrets behind the titular living doll.
Developed by Spanish indie studio Firenut Games and Digital Dreams, Baptiste explores how tragedy and loss can fracture a family’s reality, and how a child struggles to cope with the emotional scars of devastating events. We got the chance to ask Nicolas Iglesias, Support Manager at Firenut Games, a few questions about the game’s real-life inspiration, the dark themes of its narrative, the challenge of sustaining tension in a horror game, and more. Here is what they had to say!
What was the moment of inspiration for Baptiste?
Iglesias: Funny story, it’s actually inspired by a real ventriloquist dummy from 1960’s Spain. A relative of one of our team members owned it, and it apparently haunted their entire childhood. That dummy is basically the great-grandfather of Baptiste. Mix that with all the creepy doll movies that scarred us in the 90s, and you’ve got the idea. We believe in it because we genuinely think a lot of people are terrified of this kind of doll. Us included, honestly, maybe us most of all.
Baptiste is thematically centered around grief and trauma through a child’s perspective. What made that the focus of the game?
Iglesias: We wanted Tom to be a kid who can’t just punch his way out of trouble. Grief already makes the world feel wrong and unfamiliar, so we figured, why not add a haunted mansion on top of that. Seemed only fair.
Games like Layers of Fear and Outlast are cited as inspirations for Baptiste. Other than the non-action-oriented gameplay, what about those games in particular made them significant?
Iglesias: Those games never let you feel safe or powerful, and we loved that. No sword, no flashlight superpowers, just you and a house that clearly hates you. We wanted Jagged Shore Cliff to tell its own story too, the kind you piece together yourself instead of one dumped on you in a cutscene.
Between Firenut Games and Digital Dreams, how did the collaboration work? Did each studio focus on different aspects of development?
Iglesias: Digital Dreams built the narrative bones and the first prototype, and honestly nailed the tone early on. After that, Firenut took the wheel for everything else- art, systems, level design, all of it. Think relay race, not shared desk.
The difficulty, it seems, when it comes to indie horror, is sustaining the tension. What are the key ways that Baptiste maintains the horror atmosphere?
Iglesias: Mostly by not scaring you constantly. If every room screams at you, you stop caring fast. We’re also big fans of liminal spaces, the whole Backrooms thing; that’s actually why we made Backrooms Level X too. Bringing a bit of that empty, wrong feeling into Baptiste does wonders for keeping people on edge.
The Steam page for Baptiste says that the game blurs “the line between the game and a nightmare”. How does working on a dark horror game affect your day after work? Do you ever accidentally scare yourself after a long day of spooky development?
Iglesias: Constantly, and we’re not proud of it. Spend eight hours perfecting a creepy whisper sound, and guess who jumps when it plays back that night. Half the team now side-eyes their own hallway at home.
Do you have an estimate of how long Baptiste will take to finish?
Iglesias: For an average player, around 8 hours. We added some replayability hooks, but kept the core experience short on purpose. Horror stretched too thin just gets tiring, and we’d rather nail a tight scare like the classic 90’s Resident Evil games than drag it out.
From Chucky to Annabelle, creepy dolls have long been a staple of the horror genre. What do you personally think makes them so scary?
Iglesias: Dolls are supposed to be comforting, and they’re just a little off. A face that doesn’t quite move right, made to be hugged, is somehow more unsettling because of it. Add total stillness that might not stay still, and you’ve got nightmare fuel.
Lastly, a fun one. As we draw nearer to the release of the game, what would you say was the scariest thing about developing Baptiste?
Iglesias: Wrangling Unreal Engine 5 to make the game look good across every single platform. Genuinely more terrifying than anything in the mansion.
That’s it for the interview. Thank you to Nicolas Iglesias for taking the time to answer our questions. Baptiste is launching on consoles and PC via Steam later this year. You can watch the gameplay trailer above or click here to wishlist the game on Steam and play the demo while you’re at it. For more exclusives, check out our interview with the Producer of Blood West. And don’t miss the latest episode of Retro Grade, our retrospective review podcast.
