I'm always on the lookout for interesting new shooters to play, though so far, 2025 hasn't had too many standouts. Thanks to the recent announcement that Beneath — an upcoming survival horror FPS launching later this year — is coming to Xbox and PS5 as well as PC, however, I stumbled across that game, and am incredibly excited to check it out.
In development with Camel 101 and publisher Wired Productions, Beneath looks like the game you'd get if you blended the stealth-or-shoot nature and ammo scarcity of Metro with the tense combat and supernatural horrors of F.E.A.R. or Trepang2 — complete with a Lovecraftian emphasis on the terrors that lie in the ocean's depths.
The game is headed to Valve's dominant PC gaming client Steam, GOG, and the Epic Games Store, with the Xbox Series X|S and PS5 versions announced on Tuesday with a new trailer. You can watch it via the embed below.
Notably, when asked if Beneath will come to Microsoft's gaming subscription service Xbox Game Pass after the reveal, Wired Productions said "Not at this moment, but you never know." This leaves the door open for a potential arrival on Game Pass either at launch or at some point after, though only time will tell if that happens.
Based on what's been shown in the game's trailers as well as the information available on its website and Steam page, we know that Beneath will predominantly take place at locations near, on, or under the ocean, with offshore rigs and seafaring vessels seen.
You play as an experienced diver named Noah Quinn, whose "routine expedition plunges into chaos" when he's stranded at sea with "nightmarish creatures" and an "ancient evil." Little else about the story is known, though the dangers Noah will face in the narrative are said to threaten his daughter as well as all of humanity.
As the horror unfolds, you'll encounter everything from squads of elite trained soldiers to "Lovecraftian monstrosities," with every enemy driven by adaptive AI to keep you on your toes. Ammunition is sparse and threats are numerous, so you'll be forced to make every shot count and take advantage of stealth whenever possible.
Again, the experience sounds very reminiscent of Metro and F.E.A.R., both of which are widely considered to be some of the best survival horror shooters ever developed. Metro Exodus is one of my favorite shooters of all time and I'm always craving F.E.A.R.-inspired thrills, so I'm definitely looking forward to Beneath.
At the moment, Beneath doesn't have a concrete release date yet, though Camel 101 and Wired Productions have given it a 2025 release window. With that in mind, a release at some point around Winter 2025 seems likely, though there's no way to know for sure until we get an official announcement from the developers. Given that it's the end of July, I'm hoping one comes soon.
Something to keep in mind if you have a decent PC, though, is that there's actually a free-to-play Beneath playtest demo on Steam for a limited time. If you're interested in trying it out ahead of its upcoming launch, be sure to check it out; the demo goes away next week on August 4, so play it while you can. I'm downloading it as I write this so I can dive in later, myself.
All in all, this could be one of the best Xbox games and best PC games of the year for fans of the survival, horror, and FPS genres. If that's you? Definitely keep this one on your sonar.
