‘Iron Lung’ sales spike due to missing Titanic sub: “This feels so wrong”

22 June, 2023

Iron Lung. Credit: David Szymanski.

Survival horror Iron Lung has seen a spike in sales due to the missing Titanic submarine.

While rescue attempts continue for the missing Titanic submersible, gamers have been seeking out the indie horror game Iron Lung – a survival horror game set aboard a small submarine with limited capabilities, that’s currently stranded beneath an ocean of blood on an alien moon.

However, the game’s developer David Szymanski said on Twitter that “this feels so wrong”.

He added: “I feel kinda uncomfortable about it tbh.”

“I definitely see the dark humor in this whole Titanic sub thing,” he explained. “It’s just… like, I made Iron Lung the most nightmarish thing I could think of, and knowing real people are in that situation right now is pretty horrific, even if it was their own bad decisions.”

The real-life missing submarine is occupied by billionaire Hamish Harding, as well as four others including Strathclyde University student Suleman Dawood and his father, Shahzada Dawood.

The similarities between the game and the real-life calamity are bleak – the submarine was bolted shut from the outside, just like in the game, and its low-tech controller is reminiscent of Iron Lung’s low-tech submersible interior.

The submersible had embarked upon a voyage to explore the wreckage of the Titanic when it went missing.

“Like all the jokes I’ve been seeing are hilarious but also good lord nobody should have to die like that,” said Szymanski.

Elsewhere, players of the submarine survival game Barotrauma have been trying to recreate the interior of the missing Titanic submersible.

In other gaming news, Nintendo has announced Detective Pikachu Returns – a sequel to the popular 3DS game, Detective Pikachu. There’s also a new 2D Mario game called Super Mario Bros. Wonder on its way.

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