Horror Games of the 2020s Codexery

Content Warning

A co-op horror game about filming monsters for internet fame.

Content Warning

Content Warning is a cooperative survival-horror game from Landfall, released for Windows on 1 April 2024 as part of the studio's tradition of launching a game on April Fools' Day. Ports for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S followed on 1 April 2026.

Teams of up to four players take a diving bell into a sprawling, abandoned underground realm called the Old World, which spans hundreds of millions of meters across. Their goal is to film the monsters lurking there, then return to the surface and upload the footage to a site called SpöökTube. To keep going, players must hit a view-count quota on their videos; ad revenue from those views funds upgrades. Each day allows only one dive, after which the group must rest in the bedroom to end the day. Players have three in-game days to meet the quota. Failing means a game over: all equipment and money are lost, and the view quota resets to its starting number. Players can also accept sponsors—side objectives that reward Metacoins, which buy cosmetic items for the Sky Island hub (like a trampoline or swimming pool) or player hats.

While exploring the Old World's procedurally generated rooms, players find lost items, artifacts, and hostile creatures. Oxygen meters deplete over five hundred seconds unless the player is inside the diving bell, which pauses the timer. Views and ad revenue scale with how dangerous the filmed monsters are, how much they appear on screen, and how they interact with players. Certain gadgets can boost view counts. Recorded videos can be saved to a computer in .webm format.

Equipment is bought from a kiosk near the house on Sky Island and sorted into categories. Lights include flashlights and flares; flashlights recharge at a station by the diving bell. Medical items include the Hugger, which gradually heals nearby players, and the Defibrillator, which revives a dead teammate. Gadgets enhance recordings or offer defense: the clapper, sound player, and boom mic increase views; the goo ball creates a slowing slime sphere; the shock stick stuns creatures or players; the grappling hook lets players pull others or themselves toward an anchor point. Emote books are consumable items that boost views when used on camera. The party popper, a misc item, makes noise and releases confetti. Each player can carry three items at once.

Developer
Landfall
Initial release date
1 April 2024
Platforms
Windows (initial); Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S (1 April 2026)
Peak concurrent players (steam)
Over 200,000 within 24 hours of launch
Copies claimed during free 24-hour perio
Approximately 6.2 million Steam users
Copies sold by mid-april 2024
Over one million

Lore & Background

Content Warning was developed from February to April 2024 by a team of five developers. According to Landfall's website, the game was mostly developed during an internal game jam in Seoul, South Korea. The game launched on 1 April 2024 and was available for free for the first 24 hours. An update in November 2025 added 48 achievements, along with bug fixes and optimizations. On 1 April 2026, the game was released on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, as well as Windows via Microsoft Store with Xbox Play Anywhere support; all versions support cross-platform play.

Reader's Guide

Content Warning received positive reviews on online game platforms like Steam. Within twelve hours of launch, it reached 50,000 concurrent players on Steam, and within 24 hours it reached an all-time high of over 200,000 concurrent players. During the launch period, the game was claimed by around 6.2 million Steam users. By mid-April 2024, Landfall stated the game had sold more than one million copies atop those claimed while it was free. The game's gameplay bears similarities to Lethal Company and Phasmophobia, two cooperative survival-horror games played from a first-person perspective. Players have three days to reach a view quota, with one dive to the Old World permitted per day. Failure to meet the quota results in a game over, loss of all equipment and money, and a reset of the view quota to the initial number. As of the May 2024 update, Content Warning features 32 monsters.

Did You Know?

The SpöökTube Premise & Survival Loop

Content Warning's core conceit is deceptively simple yet deeply satirical: players are content creators trapped in a survival loop. Up to four teammates descend via a diving bell into "The Old World," a vast underground realm stretching hundreds of millions of meters across, to film the hostile creatures lurking in its procedurally generated ruins. The catch? Their footage must be uploaded to "SpöökTube," a website that functions as the game's progression engine. View counts and ad revenue scale based on how dangerous the captured monsters are, how prominently they appear on screen, and how they interact with the player. Players have only three days to hit a view quota, with just one dive permitted per day before they must rest in a bedroom. Missing the quota means total loss of equipment, money, and a reset of the quota itself. This structure transforms every descent into a high-stakes production shoot where survival and virality are inextricably linked.

The Old World & Its Inhabitants

The Old World is a sprawling subterranean complex of ancient ruins, with descending entrances leading into procedurally generated rooms filled with lost items, artifacts, and hostile creatures. As of the May 2024 update, the game features 32 distinct monsters, each with unique behaviors. The Snail is a slow, bipedal shell-bearing creature that chases players and holds them in place, draining health over time. The Bomber stalks from a distance before hurling a slow-moving bomb that detonates in a blast radius, knocking back anyone caught in the explosion. Knifo is a small ghost-like entity wielding a knife, and when it sprints toward a player, it produces sounds resembling a child laughing. The Slurper, a star-shaped creature perched on building rooftops, grabs anyone who walks beneath it and slowly damages them until death. Beyond these, players must manage oxygen that depletes over five hundred seconds outside the diving bell, adding a constant ticking pressure to every exploration.

From Seoul Game Jam to Global Launch

Content Warning's origins are remarkably compact. A team of five developers built the game between February and April 2024, with Landfall's website noting that much of the work was completed during an internal game jam held in Seoul, South Korea. The finished product launched on 1 April 2024, fitting Landfall's established tradition of releasing a title on April Fools' Day. For the first 24 hours after launch, the game was available for free on Windows. The title's reach expanded significantly on 1 April 2026, when ports arrived for Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S, alongside a Windows version through the Microsoft Store with Xbox Play Anywhere support. All versions support cross-platform play, allowing players across different hardware to team up. A November 2025 update added 48 achievements, bug fixes, and performance optimizations, showing the team's ongoing commitment to the title well beyond its initial release window.

Explosive Reception & Cultural Footprint

Content Warning's launch was nothing short of a phenomenon. Positive reviews poured in on platforms like Steam, where the game hit 50,000 concurrent players within just twelve hours of going live. That number more than quadrupled in the following hours, with the title surpassing 200,000 concurrent players in under 24 hours—a staggering peak for a free-to-play indie release. The game's design, which draws clear parallels to Lethal Company and Phasmophobia in its first-person cooperative survival-horror framework, resonated with a community already hungry for shared, chaotic experiences. The satirical layer of treating monster-hunting as a content-creation grind—complete with view quotas, ad revenue, sponsor side-quests, and the ability to save uploaded videos as .webm files—gave players a shared vocabulary of absurdity. The customization options, from helmet visor colors to emoticon displays, further fueled the social and streamer-friendly appeal that drove those record-breaking player counts.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is Content Warning?

Content Warning is a cooperative survival-horror game made by Landfall, first released on Windows on 1 April 2024. Players team up to dive into a vast underground area, record its monsters on camera, and upload the clips to a fictional video platform.

What is the goal in Content Warning?

Your squad descends in a diving bell into the Old World to film the creatures you encounter down there. Once you've gathered enough footage, the run only succeeds if you make it back to the surface and upload everything to SpöökTube.

What is the Old World?

The Old World is the massive, abandoned subterranean realm where the entire game takes place. It spans hundreds of millions of meters and is home to a variety of hostile monsters that players must document on camera.

How many players can play Content Warning?

The game is built around teams of up to four players who dive, explore, and film together on each run. It is a fully cooperative experience, so the whole group shares the same diving bell and the same upload deadline.

When did Content Warning arrive on consoles?

Following its 2024 PC launch, the title hit Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S on 1 April 2026. Landfall stuck to its long-running tradition of unveiling a new game on April Fools' Day.

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