Australian indie developer WeForge Studio has released a new gameplay trailer for its upcoming co-operative stealth extraction horror game Macabre, ahead of its first public demo launching exclusively during Steam Next Fest from 9 to 16 June.
The newly released trailer offers a glimpse into Macabre’s atmospheric environments and the gameplay loop built around stealth, survival, and dynamic objectives. This sets the stage for the upcoming demo, titled Banjo’s Trial, which will give players their first hands-on experience with the game.
In Banjo’s Trial, players enter the Rift, a hostile and ever-changing world where survival depends on gathering intelligence and escaping with whatever resources can be found. Guided by the enigmatic NPC Banjo, the mission focuses on investigating a terrifying shapeshifting entity known as the Macabre – a creature that evolves based on player behaviour.
The demo introduces several key features from the full game:
- Procedurally generated map: Snowgum Retreat, with shifting layouts and emergent threats
- An early mission to track and study the Crawler, a predatory enemy that adapts to tactics
- Solo or four-player PvE co-op gameplay with potential for betrayal
- Dynamic weather conditions, including thick fog and blinding storms
- Looting and equipment experimentation with early-game tools and items
Jake Davey, Game Director at WeForge Studio, explained the intention behind the demo’s design:
With Macabre, we’ve designed a loop that pressures players to make hard calls — when to sneak, when to risk a distraction, when to betray. The demo pushes those systems: every tool, every enemy behaviour, every map shift is tuned to provoke a reaction. With procedural layouts, shifting objectives, and adaptive threats, there are millions of possible scenarios — and we want to see how players navigate them.
Creative Director Jay Topping also spoke about the road to the demo and its importance for the team:
As a team of just three full-time developers and a handful of freelancers, getting here has been a massive task. Our alpha test subjects have helped shape Macabre’s foundation, and now we’re opening it up. This demo is about putting the game in real players’ hands, seeing what holds up, and figuring out what to improve next.
