Release Date: 2026
Platforms:
Developer: SwingSwing Submarine
Coproducers: ARTE France
Publisher: ARTE France
Social media:
Looking for Fael is a narrative puzzle game in which the player sets out to find their roommate, Fael, who has disappeared from your apartment. You explore a maze of apartments equipped with a retro game console to solve the enigmatic puzzles left behind by Fael.
Hello, this is Fael... Listen, this is going to sound strange, but... I think I'm lost in the apartment. Right now... I... I don't know where I am. Can you come and help me?
It all starts with a strange voice message left by Fael, your roommate. Little by little, the apartment you thought you knew multiplies into a multifaceted maze filled with mysterious puzzles.
In search of a sign of life from your roommate, you'll have to learn to find your bearings in this enclosed space with its strange and lonely atmosphere. Advance room by room, decipher the clues left behind, and embark on the adventure that has transformed your apartment into a surreal maze.
But be careful: as you progress through this maze, you will be led to question the very nature of reality. Will you be able to connect the clues and piece together the puzzle left behind by Fael?
To find Fael, your wits will be your only ally. Each apartment is a puzzle in its own right, with its own logic behind a multitude of puzzles. But don't expect to find a comfort zone: the messages left by your roommate have been designed to confuse you...
However, this maze has a common thread that connects each apartment to the others: your actions in one place can have repercussions elsewhere, sometimes with unexpected consequences. All kinds of machines, created by Fael's genius, will be at your disposal to help you progress, such as the Game Leaf, a strange game console that is essential to your progress.
Activate mysterious mechanisms and impact your environment to solve puzzles and continue your exploration. From a simple living room to a room overgrown with vegetation, a cinema, a laboratory, and many other rooms, everything is connected, everything is one.
The very idea that Fael could have gotten lost in his own apartment is enough to make you smile... until you find yourself completely alone, searching for him. This solitude creates a palpable tension without being frightening.
Fael's enigmatic phone message raises questions that motivate the search but also create an atmosphere of mystery and tension, accentuated by the constant loneliness: what made Fael disappear? Where could he have gone? But above all, how far are you willing to go to find him...
Explore a variety of environments from the imagination of comic book author Benoît “Beloup” Leloup. From one apartment to another, discover a world full of cultural references and colors, reflecting Fael's dreamy personality.
Use your Game Leaf, a mysterious console straight out of the 90s. Solve puzzles in the form of nostalgic mini-games and unlock new areas to explore. Each apartment is a piece of the puzzle that will lead you to the truth about Fael's disappearance.
The apartments are filled with oddities that will challenge your imagination and logic. Manipulate strange machines, let your natural curiosity run wild, experiment with solutions, and observe the fruits of your efforts.
Swing Swing Submarine is a French independent development studio based in Angoulême and founded in 2009. Behind games such as Blocks That Matter and Seasons After Fall, Swing Swing Submarine creates games for PC and consoles, mainly narrative, puzzle and exploration games, with an artisanal approach to design.
La Poule Noire is a cooperative composed of video craftsmen and craftswomen working in Angoulême, Lannion and Lyon. The project is to emancipate itself from the unhealthy dogmas of the industry and prove that a game can be created without crunches and delays. We want to integrate a comic dimension into our games to make fun of fashionable social phenomena.
As a European public service cultural media, ARTE connects Europeans through culture and innovation. Its diverse editorial line-up – films, series, documentaries, video games, and podcasts – foster a shared imagination and a democratic space. For over ten years, ARTE has co-produced and published independent and auteur video games, such as Type:Rider, Homo Machina, Vectronom, To Hell with the Ugly, Bury me my love, 30 Birds, and Looking for Fael. After a first success with A Fisherman’s Tale, ARTE goes further into VR experiences with The Amusement. For more information, visit ARTE Interactive’s official website or Bluesky.
https://youtu.be/hBQrCvhAruA?si=936pKHSKUbWx9dej
