By Aileene-Bjork Novascotia, Staff writer

In 2024, Swedish developer team Wrong Organ made us gasp, flinch, and cry at their masterpiece of a video game, “Mouth-washing.” Their depressing, uncomfortable tale about what kind of monsters we can be in our worst moments is now a staple in horror game history. Well, Wrong Organ is coming back with another title, and it smells highly of blood, smoke, and decomposing animals. 

 “Carcass Clad” is an upcoming co-op tank simulator and horror game. It’s a huge departure from both “Mouthwashing” and Wrong Organ’s short but trypophobia-inducing title, “How Fish is Made.” However, you can’t ignore that this is a unique blend of gameplay genres that we have never seen before in one group. Then again, it makes sense: you can’t operate a tank on your own, and war can undoubtedly be horrific in more ways than one. 

 There’s currently not much information besides the game’s Steam page, the announcement trailer, and a few interviews, but let’s talk about what we *do* know. 

 This game will be heavier on gameplay, and that’s perfectly OK. We’ve seen the writing strength of Wrong Organ; now it’s time to see all their effort in the gameplay department. Besides, even if the narrative isn’t right in front of us, “Mouthwashing” also showed us that Wrong Organ can do environmental storytelling, too. 

 Nevertheless, this is what we do know about the story: inside a tank named the Yksio, three soldiers are forced to cruise through the city of Vhorgorod. It’s no Sunday drive, though. This city is in ruins, but judging from the tentacle-like masses wrapped around the buildings, it’s now equivalent to hell itself. Nobody’s coming to help you, and your supplies aren’t plentiful, either. 

Tank operations are split between three characters with distinctive roles inside the Yksio. Commander Kanerva helps direct, navigate and act as a spotter; turret operator Erkki loads projectiles and fires at the enemy; and driver Taisto gets this troop to where they need to go and pulls evasive maneuvers out of the way of incoming projectiles in combat. 

 Thus, this is an “all hands on deck” operation. Make one mistake too many, and everybody’s going down with you. War is no place for error, especially since “Carcass Clad” aims to be roguelike, and it will be hard to be perfect since everything in the Yksio is supposed to be operated manually. 

 The only other thing to note about “Carcass Clad” is that, like both of Wrong Organ’s previous titles, this will also have a charming retro PS1-style appearance. Unlike them, it seems that “Carcass Clad” will have audible dialogue, but it will most likely be in Finnish since this was the language that the Yksio’s crew was speaking. 

 All of what’s been given leaves plenty of questions, as well. Of course, you must be wondering what possibly transpired in Vhorgorod besides a war and what other fears will lurk in the dark besides enemy tanks. 

 Then, there’s the game’s namesake. “Carcass Clad” earns its name from how the Yksio is decorated with animal carcasses. The question is… Why? The trailer shows one of the three soldiers hauling a cow and mounting it onto spikes on the Yksio’s body, all while it’s still alive, along with other animals. Maybe it’s a fear tactic, maybe it’s for camouflage, but hopefully it will become a gameplay mechanic. This is the first dose of “disturbing” that Wrong Organ has on display for us, and it’s definitely interesting. 

 While there isn’t an official set date for “Carcass Clad,” just the details might already make you want to have it in your hands. Besides, we haven’t had a good tank game since… well, “World of Tanks,” but we’ve never had one of this type, either.