10 Dead Doves

Did You Know?

• Adventure Game Hotspot critiqued the game's unconventional narrative structure and clunky tank controls.
• In 2025, 10 Dead Doves was nominated for Best Narrative at the Horror Game Awards, losing to Silent Hill f.
• The game features voice acting, names, and likenesses from its creators.

Plot

Set in 2004, the player controls Mark Stetson, a terminally ill hiker searching for a mythic structure called the Ant Farm. Guided by trail angel Sean Russell, Mark believes the Ant Farm will fulfill his dreams. As he nears it, he experiences narcoleptic cataplexy and receives prophetic dreams from a bird-like poet named the Wren.

Gameplay

The game uses fixed-perspective camera angles and involves exploration, environmental storytelling, and puzzle-solving. Player choices in these dreams affect an ending scale. Some levels shift to third-person over-the-shoulder or first-person horror segments.

Development

Development began in January 2021 as a collaboration between artist Mark Byram II and brothers Daniel and Sean-Michael Millard. A successful Kickstarter campaign followed the demo's inclusion in the Haunted PS1 Demo Disc: Spectral Mall. The developers used photo references and texture coordinate scrolling to create a stop motion-like effect on character faces. Influences include Dante's Inferno, Twin Peaks, House of Leaves, and films such as Stalker and Synecdoche, New York.