DaRmaZat Munich-based studio Cobalt Lane has announced Imprinted, a psychological horror audio ghost story game set to launch for PC via Steam in 2026. The project marks the debut title from the veteran-led development team.
Imprinted casts players as Vincent Brandt, a disillusioned sound engineer specializing in audio restoration, who is tasked with recovering a collection of heavily damaged cassette tapes dating back to the late 1970s. The recordings once belonged to Viola Fossati, an experimental musician involved in occult practices who disappeared under mysterious circumstances.
As players restore the tapes piece by piece, they begin to uncover fragmented music, unsettling audio artifacts, and traces of Fossati’s life and obsessions. What starts as a professional assignment gradually turns into a descent into paranoia, creative fixation, and psychological horror, blurring the line between forensic work and personal unraveling.
Imprinted‘s gameplay is built around a highly detailed “fake operating system” interface, allowing players to explore Vincent’s digital life through emails, chat logs, audio tools, files, and custom software running on a fictional ArdesiaOS. Players can interact with colleagues and friends, shape relationships, and piece together the narrative by navigating Vincent’s personal history and online discoveries.
Beyond restoration, Imprinted also incorporates creative mechanics, enabling players to assemble and reinterpret musical fragments, influencing Vincent’s artistic output as he spirals deeper into the mystery surrounding Viola Fossati.
