Iron Lung

About

Iron Lung is a short dread-driven submarine horror game from the developer of DUSK, The Moon Sliver, and Squirrel Stapler . FEATURES Experimental minimalist gameplay, where your senses are limited and anything could be lurking around you Glimpse your surroundings through the lens of a grainy still camera and navigate using an incomplete satellite map and proximity sensors Horror based around building dread and paranoia Original soundtrack inspired by the work of Aubrey Hodges (Doom 64) A short experience intended to be finished in under an hour THE GAMEPLAY Set entirely within a claustrophobic one-man submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung," you must blindly navigate an ocean of blood to take photographs of key locations, and hope whatever lives below doesn't find you.

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8
Based on
8378 reviews
Country Compatibility:
Languages:
Developer:
David Szymanski
Publisher:
DreadXP
Engine:
Unity
Release date:
09 March 2022
Recent Steam reviews:
Very Positive (169)
All Steam reviews:
Very Positive (8378)

Game features

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Description

Iron Lung is a short dread-driven submarine horror game from the developer of DUSK, The Moon Sliver, and Squirrel Stapler.

FEATURES

  • Experimental minimalist gameplay, where your senses are limited and anything could be lurking around you
  • Glimpse your surroundings through the lens of a grainy still camera and navigate using an incomplete satellite map and proximity sensors
  • Horror based around building dread and paranoia
  • Original soundtrack inspired by the work of Aubrey Hodges (Doom 64)
  • A short experience intended to be finished in under an hour

THE GAMEPLAY

Set entirely within a claustrophobic one-man submarine nicknamed the "Iron Lung," you must blindly navigate an ocean of blood to take photographs of key locations, and hope whatever lives below doesn't find you.

There is only a single porthole on the sub, and it needs to be closed due to depth pressure, so you have to navigate purely via an incomplete map, proximity sensors, sound, and a primitive external camera which can be used to take the pictures you need to complete your mission, or to get a grainy low resolution visual of what's happening outside.

Success will require resourcefulness and patience.

THE STORY

Decades ago, every known star and habitable planet mysteriously vanished, along with whatever and whoever happened to be on them, leaving behind an empty universe of asteroids and lifeless moons where the only remnants of humanity are those who were on space stations or starships at the time. With supplies gradually dwindling and infrastructure falling into disrepair, the survivors have spent the subsequent years frantically searching for any trace of remaining natural resources. Up until now they have been unsuccessful...

Then, a mysterious anomaly known as a Blood Ocean (which is exactly what it sounds like) was discovered on an otherwise barren moon. It's not the first Blood Ocean found since the vanishing, but initial scans show a collection of potentially useful anomalous locations in a deep undersea (underblood?) trench that require further investigation.

And you're the unlucky sap who gets to investigate, in an aging submarine cobbled together from rusty space station parts.

Find your way to the marked locations, photograph whatever you find there, and try to finish before the sub collapses around you... or you're discovered by whatever lurks in the blood...

Recommended system requirements

minimum*

Requirement 1:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS *:
Windows 7/8/9/10
Processor:
Any made within the last decade
Memory:
1 MB RAM
Graphics:
Any made within the last decade
Storage:
200 MB available space
Sound Card:
Any
Additional Notes:
You can run this

recommended*

Requirement 1:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system

User reviews

andii
Not recommended | 09 Jul 2026
1.9h played

Umm, I missed one of the beacons so ended up photographing the "last one" second last and went back to photograph the one I missed. Nothing happened. I did not get any ending. Had to watch a yt video to see the

Helpful: 0
elchyspy
Recommended | 08 Jul 2026
114h played

I liked the atmosphere and story. It's not something that everyone will enjoy as it focuses on slow gameplay over anything fast-paced but I believe if you're into things that build tension this is a great, short

Helpful: 0
EverydayAden
Recommended | 07 Jul 2026
3.8h played

Before I say anything else, I already knew a lot about what to expect from this game because I was spoiled by quite a few videos after seeing the Iron Lung movie blind as my first experience with this series, and that

Helpful: 2
espy4162
Recommended | 10 Jul 2026
2.2h played

Heard a lot about Iron Lung before the movie came out so I was determined to play it. It was short and sweet, an atmospheric dive into a sea of blood, which made you leave with more questions than answers. It does a lot

Helpful: 1
Pro Crastinator
Recommended | 06 Jul 2026
1.4h played

That's no wall... I'm going to be honest I expected a little more from this game but it's a really clever way to do horror and it's quite fun. This game is worth playing but it's not a need to play.

Helpful: 0
hushfrjk
Not recommended | 13 Jul 2026
1.2h played

This is a boring 1 and half hour game that ends with a pretty terrible ending. Atmosphere is good and suspense too but this game is not good for the amount of time it takes to play it.

Helpful: 3