Immersive sim Retrospace, aka ’70s System Shock, gets an October release date plus a trailer full of funky guns and sentient black holes
Space horror immersive sim RetroSpace, developed by The Wild Gentlemen and published by Kwalee, will launch on 1st October 2026. The developers have unveiled a release-date trailer showcasing the game's "discopunk" aesthetic, combat and creature designs, building on the studio's reputation for stylised, animal-themed titles such as the Chicken Police series.
In RetroSpace, players control a 3D-printed clone janitor trapped aboard the space station Aurora after it is consumed by a "sentient black hole". The retro-70s, metroidvania-style station warps between time periods and must be navigated using stealth, combat and "mutamods" that grant abilities like growing tentacles or possessing creatures, at the risk of bodily or mental side effects. Death is not permanent, as Aurora generates a new clone each time the player dies, though these replacements can carry "degenerations" and players must retrieve equipment from their previous corpse.
- RetroSpace, a '70s-styled space horror immersive sim, releases 1st October 2026.
- Players control a cloned janitor fighting mutants aboard a black-hole-swallowed station.
- Death isn't final, but respawned clones may carry "degenerations".
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RetroSpace is an upcoming video game blending horror and "immersive sim" gameplay, a genre known for giving players freedom to solve problems through stealth, combat or improvisation rather than one fixed path. It is being made by The Wild Gentlemen, a studio previously known for the stylised detective game series Chicken Police, and published by Kwalee. Comparisons to System Shock refer to a classic 1990s sci-fi horror game that helped define the immersive sim genre, giving a sense of the tone and gameplay RetroSpace is aiming for.
The game is set aboard a space station called Aurora, which has been overrun by a mysterious force after an encounter with a "sentient black hole." Players take the role of a cloned janitor who must explore the station, fight or sneak past threats, and use strange biological upgrades that carry both benefits and risks. Its visual style draws on 1970s retro-futurism, giving it a distinctive "discopunk" look that sets it apart from more conventional space horror games.
The story matters to readers interested in upcoming video games because it confirms when RetroSpace will actually be playable and gives the first proper look at how it plays and looks, details that had previously been vague. It also reflects a broader trend of smaller studios experimenting with retro aesthetics and genre mashups in an increasingly crowded games market.