Content Warning

Content Warning is a cooperative horror game about filming frightening encounters in the Old World and uploading the footage to SpöökTube. Players descend together, manage oxygen and camera power while recording monsters and strange objects, then return to watch the clips and build an audience. Views generate money for equipment upgrades, linking each expedition to the next.

Content Warning turns a trip into a haunted place into a shared film shoot. A group of friends prepares on the surface, customises its ASCII faces and buys equipment before descending by diving bell into the Old World. The goal is to film spooky encounters and build an audience on the fictional video service SpöökTube. The setup combines cooperative horror with a comic performance premise: the group must survive and bring back footage that viewers will watch. That gives the expedition two kinds of pressure. The environment can threaten the crew directly, while the camera creates a reason to approach, frame and record what might otherwise be avoided.

The Old World is where expeditions take place. It contains physics-animated monsters, cursed relics and other artefacts, giving a team unfamiliar things to explore and capture on camera. Players use a handheld video camera to record what they encounter, moving through the environment while paying attention to danger and the recording equipment. The game supports two to four players online, with voice chat as part of the group’s communication. Teammates can decide who carries the camera, when to move together and whether a strange discovery is worth the risk of getting closer. The expedition is therefore a cooperative task in which the camera and the team’s safety compete for attention.

Each descent is constrained by supplies that run down while the crew is below: oxygen and camera battery are limited, and the team can lose members along the way. These resources make time and coordination central to a run. A group can spend more time seeking footage, but every extra moment comes with a cost to the air supply and equipment. The camera also makes risk visible in a different way: an encounter may be dangerous, yet recording it can help the group reach its goal. If the team survives, it must make its way back to the diving bell with the members still present. Returning safely turns a dangerous outing into usable footage rather than an unfinished attempt.

Back on the surface, the footage becomes the focus of a watch party. Players upload their chaotic recordings to SpöökTube and watch the views accumulate. The game connects what happened during exploration to a simple audience response: more frightening things on camera can attract more attention. This keeps the recording objective tied to the survival loop. A successful video is evidence of what the group encountered, but it also affects what the crew can afford next. The watch party provides a change of pace from exploring, while the rising view count turns the team’s improvised footage into a result that can be measured within the game’s fictional creator career.

Runs are organised around a three-day career cycle. Across those days, the team needs to collect enough views to continue its SpöökTube career. Videos earn ad revenue, which can be spent on gear intended to improve later filming and make survival in the Old World easier. Sponsorship deals add another way to earn in-game currency for island upgrades and hats. That progression gives expeditions a longer thread: equipment purchased after a return can influence the next descent, while a run that fails to meet the audience target puts the career at risk. The structure makes the group’s choices feed forward, linking risk-taking below ground with the resources available on the surface.

Gear purchases give the team ways to prepare for future trips and support its recording goal. The in-game store offers upgraded gear, emotes, props and medical equipment, while the island can receive upgrades and characters can wear hats. The mix of useful and cosmetic purchases adds a light career-management layer to the horror. Players decide how to use the income from uploaded videos, balancing tools that can help with filming or survival against items that customise the group’s presence. ASCII face customisation is part of the game’s identity from the start, making the crew visually distinct before they enter the Old World. The surface spaces frame the cycle of preparation, return and spending between descents.

Content Warning’s tone comes from placing silly group behaviour beside genuine danger. Friends can act for the camera, react to monsters and create footage that is both frightening and chaotic. The creatures are described as physics-animated, so their movement is part of the encounter and the recording challenge. Voice chat supports coordination, but players also have to decide whether to preserve the group or capture another moment. The game’s horror is therefore built around shared exposure: one person may be filming while others scout or try to get everyone back. Its format suits repeated expeditions, since each return produces new footage and a new chance to improve equipment and keep the team’s fictional channel going. The built-in recording and upload cycle remains inside the game, connecting each team’s expedition to views, income and the next supply of gear.