In the gothic-horror escape room Dark Trip, you investigate an eerie crime, assembling the truth through occult devices, unsettling artwork, and hallucinations of your own. Its Steam demo is now available, and the game is already in Early Access on the Meta Store as developer iWorlds works toward the full release.
Quick answer: The Dark Trip Steam demo is available now, and Early Access runs on the Meta Store. The full game launches October 29, 2026. You can play flat on desktop or in VR.
The story behind Dark Trip
The case begins with a disappearance in a small German town: a retired businessman hires you to locate his only daughter, who has vanished without a trace. Your search brings you to a laboratory that appears deserted. Each room contains clues to warped experiments, notebooks left behind by former staff, and unsettling testimony from the test subjects.
The tone leans Lovecraftian, blurring the boundaries between reality, virtuality, and hallucination. Expect grotesque biotechnological machinery, occult symbols, and impossible spaces that shift around you as you dig deeper into the case.
Some sequences show test subjects restrained inside containment pods, which sets the mood for the lab’s grim history. The world is designed as a series of interconnected rooms, each with its own theme and story fragments, moving from decayed laboratories to places that should not exist.
How the investigation works
The core loop is searching rooms, inspecting objects, and connecting details to advance the mystery. You examine documents and photographs through a tablet interface, collecting clues, artifacts, and diary pieces that fill in the story behind the events.
Puzzles are woven into the environment. You will pull levers to open gates, enter codes into lockboxes, light lamps to see in the dark, and operate mechanisms to unlock new doorways, including train compartments later on. Interactable items are highlighted so you can spot what can be picked up or used.
Hallucinations as an investigative tool
Hallucinations are not just visual effects. The protagonist consumes pills of unknown origin to reveal a hidden layer of the world, exposing objects, invisible messages, and secret interactions that ordinary searching cannot uncover. Distorted visions warp your surroundings and point toward evidence you would otherwise miss.
Where to play Dark Trip now
Steam demo
The demo is available on the game’s Steam page, where you can also add the full version to your wishlist. You will know it is ready when the download appears on the store listing and installs like any other Steam title.
Meta Early Access
On Meta Quest, the game is offered through Early Access, priced at $9.99 with a limited discount to $4.99 at the time of writing. Early Access lets the developer refine the game using community feedback, and updates such as the Room 17 hallucinatory update and the “Jail on the Rails” room have already been added.
You can install it from the Meta Store listing for Dark Trip. A free Meta Quest demo is also distributed as a download that installs through SideQuest.
The Meta version carries a Mature 17+ rating for mild violence, sexual themes, nudity, strong language, and use of drugs.
VR, flat controls, and Steam Deck support
Dark Trip runs both as a classic first-person adventure on a monitor and as a full VR experience through SteamVR or Meta Horizon Link. The same journey is available either way, so you can pick the perspective you prefer.
Controllers and Steam Deck are supported, and the Steam build lists single-player, Steam Achievements, tracked controller support, and Family Sharing. On Quest, it works on Meta Quest 3S, Quest 3, Quest Pro, and Quest 2, with sitting, standing, and roomscale play.
PC system requirements
| Component | Minimum | Recommended |
|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 10 (64-bit) | Windows 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor | Intel i3-6100 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200, FX4350 | Intel i5-4590 / AMD Ryzen 5 1500X |
| Memory | 8 GB RAM | 8 GB RAM |
| Graphics | NVIDIA GTX 1050 Ti / AMD RX 470 | NVIDIA GTX 1060 / AMD RX 480 |
| Storage | 2 GB available | 2 GB available |
VR play on PC requires SteamVR or Meta Horizon Link. The Quest download needs roughly 757 MB of space and does not require an internet connection to run.
Release date and content notes
The full Steam version is planned for October 29, 2026. The game supports ten languages, with full English audio and subtitles across the set, including French, Italian, German, Spanish, Bulgarian, Portuguese, and Russian.
The developer flags mature content: the protagonist must consume pills of unknown origin to find objects that are otherwise hidden, and the setting includes provocative themes and outfits. The team also notes some evidence-item artwork and some soundtrack pieces in the playtest build are AI-generated.
Dark Trip is presented as a work of fiction, and the creators encourage players to look after their health, stay active, and keep healthy relationships with the people around them.
