A strange new horror game is preparing to arrive on Steam. Rulebound combines incremental progression with psychological horror, anomaly spotting, and a disturbing room that demands just as much attention as the game playing on your screen.
Developed and published by Garage Monke, Rulebound is currently targeting a September 2026 release on PC via Steam.
Rather than relying entirely on traditional exploration and jumpscares, Rulebound gives players two things to worry about at the same time. You need to progress through a game running on an old CRT television while keeping a close eye on the bedroom surrounding you.
Ignore the wrong thing for too long, and there may be consequences.
Trapped Between Reality and the Void
Rulebound places players inside a cold bedroom suspended somewhere between reality and a mysterious place known as the Void.
An old CRT television sits inside the room and appears to offer a possible way out.
The television runs a strange disc-merging game. Players bounce discs, earn points, purchase upgrades, and combine three matching discs to create increasingly valuable versions.
The ultimate objective sounds simple: create three Golden Discs and escape.
However, Rulebound quickly makes it clear that concentrating entirely on the television is a dangerous idea.
Something Is Watching You
While players work on their incremental progression, strange events can occur throughout the bedroom.
The environment may change. Anomalies can appear. Entities may intrude into the room.
Players therefore need to regularly pull their attention away from the CRT and inspect their surroundings.
Rulebound provides handwritten rules that explain how certain situations should be handled. Recognizing an anomaly is only part of the challenge. Players also need to remember the correct response before the situation becomes worse.
Failing to identify and correct these disturbances can damage the player’s sanity.
That creates an interesting conflict at the center of Rulebound. Spending more time watching the television can improve your progression, but doing so could also mean missing something important happening behind you.
Incremental Progression Meets Horror
Incremental games normally encourage players to focus on optimization. Numbers increase, upgrades become available, and increasingly powerful systems allow progression to accelerate.
Rulebound takes that familiar formula and places psychological pressure around it.
Players can purchase permanent upgrades and improve their ability to generate points. Secret cheat codes can also be discovered, adding another layer to the progression system.
Meanwhile, the horror elements constantly threaten to interrupt that optimization.
The result is a game where paying attention to numbers and upgrades may be just as important as noticing that something inside the bedroom is no longer where it should be.
Death Could Cost You Everything
Rulebound also includes permadeath elements.
That makes every decision more important. Building up a strong run only to overlook an anomaly could potentially result in losing significant progress.
Combined with sanity management, the system should give players a reason to remain cautious even when their incremental setup appears to be performing well.
The game also features multiple endings, suggesting that escaping the room may not be the only possible outcome.
Exactly how players reach those different endings remains to be seen.
A Distinct 1990s-Inspired Presentation
Rulebound uses a deliberately unsettling retro presentation.
The CRT television, dark bedroom, handwritten instructions, and 1990s-inspired visual style help create an environment that feels isolated from the outside world.
It also allows the game-within-a-game concept to become part of the horror itself.
Instead of simply walking through corridors while waiting for something frightening to happen, players have a reason to stare at the television. That gives the game plenty of opportunities to change something elsewhere while the player’s attention is occupied.
Rulebound Is Coming to Steam
Rulebound is currently scheduled to launch on Steam in September 2026.
The game will be single-player and is expected to include Steam Achievements. Its Steam page currently highlights Incremental, Horror, Psychological Horror, Atmospheric, Mystery, Puzzle, First-Person, Point & Click, Perma Death, and Multiple Endings among its features and tags.
PC requirements are also relatively modest, with the minimum specifications listing Windows 10, 4 GB of RAM, a 2.4 GHz dual-core processor, and approximately 2 GB of available storage.
For horror fans looking for something slightly different, Rulebound could be one to watch.
Combining the addictive progression of an incremental game with the constant paranoia of an anomaly-based horror experience creates an unusual setup. The real challenge may not be creating those three Golden Discs.
It may be remembering to look away from the screen.
