Acclaimed indie dev is leaning into the "uncomfortable uncanniness" that comes from hyper-realistic graphics with its AI-centred horror game

Mesa peers up at the digital sun through a hole in her chamber in Prove You're Human — (Image credit: Sunset Visitor, Black Tabby Publishing)

One of the most exciting new games on the horizon is Prove You're Human, from the acclaimed developer behind 1000xResist and a new publisher from the folks behind Slay the Princess. Both parties believe hyper-realistic graphics often feel uncomfortable, but that's exactly the feeling they're chasing in the upcoming horror.

Prove You're Human is a unique concept indeed. Set inside what looks like a Windows desktop background with its lush, rolling hills, an AI robot wearing a woman's face desperately wants to convince you she's a human. A real human. Her design alone is rooted deeply in the uncanny valley - a skin and flesh face solemnly hangs off a neck made from tangled wires and metal - and that was entirely intentional.

Prove You're Human - Announcement Trailer - YouTube

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Speaking to GamesRadar+ in an exclusive interview, creative director Remy Siu says the developer's visual design goal was "a real sense of uncomfortable uncanniness." Siu rejects the sentiment that developers should avoid the uncanny valley. "We're just like: let's jump into the uncanny valley, and feel our way around that. And so our desire from the very beginning was to try and achieve a kind of uncanny uncomfortableness."

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Black Tabby Publishing's co-founder Tony Howard-Arias thinks "that's something that games are really suited for as a medium, particularly in this moment where you have this endless pursuit of fidelity at all costs." Games are a digital medium that seem semi-obsessed with 'photorealism' at times and that's perfect fuel for Prove You're Human.

"Not only does that, you know, cost a fortune, but the closer you get to reality, the more mildly off putting it feels," Howard-Arias adds. "So, why not lean into that as one of the strengths of the medium, instead of struggling against what feels like an asymptotic horizon you can never reach?"

Prove You're Human doesn't have a release date yet, but you can wishlist it on Steam now.

Be sure to buff up your Steam wishlists with our upcoming indie games of 2026 guide.