No Small Roles celebrates the RPG experiences being created by small teams in the indie space.
This week’s indie RPG brings us missing kids, magic, and monsters with the demo for Into Samomor. This psychological horror action RPG from Sang Hendrix aims to be a high-stakes modern action RPG. The game page on itch.io and Steam is keen to scream out that CHOICES MATTER, and in fairness, it has every reason to. A story of children mysteriously disappearing in Samomor Town gives us the backdrop to an RPG where the death of characters isn’t fixed and can cause changes to the plot.
Years ago, a plane crashed into Samomor. That was bad enough, but in the years since, 19 children have gone missing. When we take on the mantle of our young protagonist, they are pondering the prospect of a 20th disappearance whilst also feeling resigned to the fact that with fewer children around, their own chances of survival are dwindling. They say they don’t really fear it happening to them, but the fear of losing their friend and psychological rock, Jack, does frighten them.
On this day, Jack wants to break into the mayor’s house in order to investigate the 19th missing child. This strikes our protagonist as troublingly out of character, but they’re friends, so of course they’ll go with him. Before that, there’s a few items on their desk, and in action RPG tradition, they can only select one to aid them in their journey. Once that’s done, an impatient Jack awaits…
On a stormy night, Jack breaks into the mayor’s house, searching for a list of victims. In searching, the kids find all manner of ominous, disturbing notes and pictures before they hit paydirt regarding the missing children. Could the woods of Samomor hold the key?
Further evidence literally arrives at their doorstep when a woman appears carrying a wounded man, claiming they were attacked near the forest. It’s here we learn about what lurks in the woods.
Heading Into Samomor
Into Samomor has a lot of the traditional RPG hallmarks but with a modern setting. The ‘magic’ side of Into Samomor comes from vials of creature DNA. By planting this in the ground, you can create ranged attacks based on whatever monster it came from. By combining different DNA, you can create new strains of attacking effects. It’s a nice grisly touch showing what kind of world we live in here. There’s still traditional weaponry, such as a bow and a knife, but the DNA combos enhance these.
Shortly after earning your newfound arsenal, you’re tasked with your first battle and first real look at what horrid things can happen to people in Samomor. The foe is quick, but it has patterns of attack you can quickly get to grips with using your DNA area of effect attacks alongside your melee and ranged regular weapons.
There’s a neat twist to this fight that makes it a pretty smart tutorial for tying into the story. We then get the setup for the first big choice regarding the man and woman who came to the door and the one who is pursuing them.
The outcome is interesting because the Into Samomor demo ends shortly after and largely ends in the same place: you meet a furry new party member before heading into the Samomor woods. However, there’s a substantial visual difference depending on your decision. It’s left tantalizingly ambiguous as to what this means.
It certainly did enough to showcase a sliver of what’s promised. We’ll have to wait and see how the whole experience unfolds when Into Samomor releases sometime in 2025.
