Angelic Torture In Free Game Dämmerung

An attack is imminent, informants say. The eight suspects bound before you are active members of the North militia, you're told, and you have authority to get information out of them any way you please. It urges you to be brutal, though, building from spitting and slapping to mutilation and murder. You've got to save the world, after all. Dämmerung [official site] is out now for free.

It's not the first grotesque torture game I've played, but its eerie heavenly tone really stands out.

Our land has creamy hills, impossibly vast passages, soft light, and an unseen angelic chorus. It's unsettling, and that's even before the torture begins. Our suspects are seen as unmoving, inhuman mesh figures with black boxes floating before their eyes, babbling prayers and wailing about ancient gods and kingdoms. Their deaths are gruesome and pointless - acid, rats, drowning, and worse - though they're only presented in text.

I suspect it always ends the same way, desperate and sickening, but I've only played once and would rather not revisit it as what I saw felt right. It's a curious one. I'd say more, but go in fresh.

Playing it reminded me a little of Photobomb with its dehumanising investigations and executions. Do play that too if you missed it - Photobomb's a very clever puzzler about tracking bombing suspects by recreating photos in virtual scenes before executing one suspect.