You've been driving for hours by now when you finally see you're almost out of gas.

You pull into a gas station on the outskirts of Sundown, a small midwestern town.

But somethings amiss, cars are in the lot, the lights are on, but no ones around.

The phonebooth outside rings, you answer.

"You're a long way from home Outsider."

Sundown places you as the outsider to a town hiding a terrible secret. In the morning light, the town is seemingly abandoned. Search for supplies, make plans, and prepare for nightfall. This world is not forgiving, you will not be led by hand, and no one is coming to save you.

6 hours until sundown, you'll need every second.

A Shifting Town

The town of Sundown is victim to a nightmarish groundhog-day-esque curse. The placement of items may change, locks may be shuffled, but the overall structure remains. Learn when and where to spend your time to survive.

Rich Health System

Every cut, wound, and scratch leaves lasting damage on your character. Some wounds will heal themselves, others must be treated. There is no meter counting down to death here, as long as you're conscious, you're still in the fight- except for when you do finally succumb to your injuries, then all you can do is wait and hope you wake in the morning.

Your enemies also fight until their last breath- fatal wounds won't make them drop dead on the spot.

Looming Sense Of Dread

The world is riddled with reminders of the fading sunlight. Barricading, crafting, looting, all takes up precious daylight. And when night finally comes and darkness falls, it's only a matter of time before the town consumes you.

Controls

Move	W,A,S,D,
Look	Mouse
Sprint	Shift
Confirm Action/Use Readied Item	Left Click
Ready Item	Right Click
Select Item Action/Cycle held item	Scroll Wheel

Additional audio assets from Zapsplat

Game contains textual horror, violence, and some sudden noises, but no jumpscares.

Created for the GMTK 2026 Jam: Count Down

The idea of counting down immediately reminded me of one of my favorite horror tropes, the ominous approach of nightfall, where every second of daylight is as valuable as the bullets in your gun.

Taking inspiration from Darkwood, I wanted to create an experience where running out of time was central to the horror of the world, where dwindling resources necessitate risky moves at the expense of sunlight. I also drew upon Teleglitch for its brutal mechanics and punishing gameplay to further limit the player's ability to push back against time.

While there was more I wished to do, specifically with regards to the implementation of night time, I'm happy with how I was able to sell the impending sense of dread that sundown implies.

Sundown is just a small exploration of some beloved game tropes and vibes of mine, and if that interests you then consider checking out my other main project, RitualRX, on steam