The former Russian KGB has always been renowned for its ruthless tactics, and in Phobos: 1953, players will get a chance to take a first-hand peek into the truth behind that reputation.

The new game by Phantomery Interactive, the studio behind last year's Outcry, sends players into an underground shelter that houses prisoners for KGB research. Based on real events about human experimentation in the fields of fear, telepathy, and psychological limitations, the game challenges players to discover the secrets of the terrifying events of 1953, facing their own worst phobias in the process while an invisible observer communicates through the broadcast system.

Phobos: 1953 is a prequel to the current Russian film called Phobos, and promises to photo-realistically reconstruct its historical setting, as the shelter's depiction is based on "real military objectives, text materials used historically valid documents."

No firm release date has yet been announced, even for Russia, and if you look up "niche" in the dictionary, you might find "Russian movie tie-in adventure game". So the project will have its work cut out for it in reaching international audiences, but here's hoping that the intriguing subject matter and the success of Outcry will help ensure its widespread release.