Reach the roof before your toe fungus reaches your brain in Moldrise, my favourite horror demo in ages

Wait, is that the fungus talking?

As I write these words, Julian has just published a feature about Signet City, the new "fungalpunk" RPG from Citizen Sleeper and In Other Waters developer Gareth Damian Martin, in which you are a soulful parasite moving between the minds and bodies of an entire urban population. Doubtless, it is a splendid account of what is very likely a masterpiece of post-anthropocentric poetics, assuming I'm clocking Gareth's current theoretical preoccupations correctly. Unfortunately, I don't have time to read the article because there is a horrible mushroom in my foot that's trying to eat my brain.

The infestation literally squelches beneath me, as I haul myself between the floors of an apartment block decked with mouldy pizza and rusty chains. The more it spreads, the more… textured the squelching, and the louder the groans of my avatar as I shamble from door to door on a desperate quest for lotion.

This is, by far, the nastiest piece of audio design I've encountered in a horror game in recent years. The hissing of the xenomorph is a lullaby by comparison. And now, let us speak of the visual symptoms. As the deathshead bar in bottom left nears fullness, the tiled walls of the staircase grow wet and translucent, revealing terrible vistas of lichen and gore. A word repeats: up up up up. I must go up. I must get to the top of the building before the cordyceps infection reaches the top of me.

This is Moldrise, the new game from Engraving developer Raffaele Picca, with an OST supplied by Buckshot Roulette creator Mike Klubnika. It's not just a frantic race to the summit. It's something of a puzzle game, too. The staircase is blocked, and the elevator is out of order. Even if it weren't, there's no way you'll ever climb 30 floors before your skull becomes a ball of spores.

To make it to the roof, you must haggle with the other occupants of the block for passage and resources. This includes food and water, because your thirst and hunger increase almost as fast as the ravening presence in your foot. Your neighbours are… an alarming bunch. Better company than the fungus, for sure, but I probably wouldn't have them round for tea.

Each character's face is a gimlet-eyed photograph, moulded into a passable 3D object by cruel hands. They peer out at you like trapdoor spiders, either scorning your pleas or making vicious demands. The janitor can't find his flashlight, and refuses to fix the elevator in the dark. The guy a few floors up wants me to fetch a packet of nuts from the vending machine that glows like a hearthfire on the ground level. Sometimes, all you get in return for your knock is a chorus of screaming and sobbing. "A few of them know things they shouldn't," comments the Steam page. "None of them know they're describing the same thing."

You can try the demo for yourself on that very same Steam page. The full game is coming on 16th July. I do think this could be a banger. Even without all the hallucinations, the apartment block is a marvel – grainy and godless, a place that is perfectly harrowing enough without any kind of roaming monster. I guess I'm the roaming monster in this equation. If you like the vibe, and you've got quite a lot of patience, I also recommend Chairbound.