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Scanner Sombre
Scanner Sombre is a 3d horror cave exploration game where darkness is your greatest foe. Illuminate the unseen with your LIDAR scanner, revealing the eerie beauty and peril of the abyss. From the creators of Prison Architect, this immersive adventure uses light and shadow for a haunting experience.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
32 of the 78 reviews raise this.
“fun and great story, gives a very eerie vibe”
“Interesting game with unique gameplay mechanic. Game is a disturbing exploring simulator with horror elements and not so simple story. Worth a try.”
“or me, the game was really good It has a unique and interesting concept, and the experience was especially great in VR—it felt very immersive. However, the game doesn’t really explain anything, and everything depends on…”
8 of the 78 reviews raise this.
“Genuinely stunning to look at. Not the scariest games, but I'm still glad I got to experience it! The game is very atmospheric and the journey had me interested in learning about the game and its story. I kind of wish…”
“super neat technology”
7 of the 78 reviews raise this.
“Legit an amazing experience in suspense and slowly-drowning despair and regret. The balance of enviroment storytelling and our narrator's text-delivered thoughts brew up a steadily escalating tale that punches you in…”
“Like an okay game. The ending was pretty interesting”
“Lorewise is interesting and for a walking sim is surprisingly fun. 10/10”
10 of the 78 reviews raise this · 9 of them still recommend the game.
“I wouldn't necessarily categorize this game as horror, but it does deliver a nice and chilling experience. A short walking simulator game solely based on its sounds effects that offers a pretty unique vibe. Definitely…”
“Short little game, story is basic. Play it for the unique artstyle pros: - The artstyle is unique - beautiful game - Deep cave environment cons: - walking sim - no real story - could have done more interesting things…”
“Scanner Sombre is a short, but fun "horror" adventure overall. I REALLY recommend getting this game on a good sale since the game is very short and doesn't have re-playability at all, you can easily beat the game in an…”
9 of the 78 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“This game gave me RSI and wasn't nearly as horrifying or interesting as promised. The gimmick is cool, and could be expanded on.”
“Really just a well-done Tech demo. I think there's one, maybe two, parts in the entire experience where you can die by another force than gravity. Make no mistake: its very cool, especially in VR, but it is not a game.…”
3 of the 78 reviews raise this · 2 of them still recommend the game.
Counted across 78 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 89.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“Played it for about 2.5 hours. Was not expecting it to be this good. Very good Chill game with some horror attached to it. I took my time playing it to. It is good for maybe 1-2 play throughs imo. I would continue to explore if there was more here. To Introversion: I want to…”
— a player, Steam review · 3 hrs played“A short game, but a very unique experience. The "horror" elements are very light and really just boil down to a basic platforming challenge. I would love to see something like this expanded on into a larger game. Definitely worth it for <$3”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs played“Scanner Sombre is basically you walking into a black hole with a laser pointer and slowly realizing that was a terrible idea. You don’t “see” the cave, you earn it, ping by ping, little dots turning into walls, shapes, spaces… and your brain starts filling the gaps with stuff…”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-03 via SteamCharts.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Scanner Sombre is now Steam Deck Verified!
All Changes in the latest version Steam Deck and Steam Machine compatibility fixes D-Pad can navigate menus Game Controller Mapping updates: Button naming / Icons match SteamDeck controller Hold LT to
SteamDeck compatible build
This build focuses on adding SteamDeck compatibility. Please let us know if you discover any problems with it.
New Windows / SteamDeck build available on the Beta branch
We have been workling mainly on SteamDeck compatibilty: = Steam Deck and PC usability, compatibility fixes. - D-Pad can navigate menus - Game Controller Mapping updates: - Button naming / Icons match
Minor Update
Fix OpenSSL-related crash-on-start bug with Intel 10th Generation and later CPUs.
Official Soundtrack released, free to download
Greetings, We wanted to say a big thank-you to everyone who has supported Introversion through the years, and especially to those that love our oddball art exploration game Scanner Sombre. We were all
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie |
| Player tags | Exploration · Horror · Walking Simulator · Atmospheric · Indie · Adventure · First-Person · VR · Singleplayer · Short · Psychological Horror · Colorful (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Tracked Controller Support · VR Supported · Partial Controller Support · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * , French * , Italian * , German * , Spanish - Spain * , Danish * , Dutch * , Norwegian * , Portuguese - Portugal * , Portuguese - Brazil * , Bulgarian * , Czech * , Finnish * , Greek * , Hungarian * , Japanese … |
| Official site | http://www.scanner-sombre.com/ |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS *: 64 bit OS. Windows 7 or Greater Processor: Intel Core i5-2500K @ 3.3 GHz or AMD Phenom II x4 940 @ 3.0 GHz or AMD FX-8350 @ 4.0 GHz Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: Radeon HD 2000/GeForce 8 DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 3 GB available space Sound Card: Ad Lib Music Synthesizer or greater VR Support: SteamVR. Standing or Room Scale