Smilegate said on the 29th it officially released the Korean-style horror game "Alley: Gwihun" (developer AIXLAB).
"Alley: Gwihun" is a project Smilegate pursued to create a global success case for K-horror games. AIXLAB, drawing on experience producing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), and Extended Reality (XR) content, took on its first PC packaged horror game. The title was selected for the Korea Creative Content Agency (KOCCA) "2025 Game Content Production Support Program," earning recognition for its potential, and, after proving its technical prowess with "Haunted House VR" and "Forbidden Art VR," signed a global publishing deal with Smilegate.
"Alley: Gwihun" is an adventure genre title that portrays survival horror unfolding as the protagonist, Soyeon, heading home late at night, becomes trapped in an endless alley. Players must distinguish the supernatural phenomenon "Gwihun" from the real-world aberration "Heokkaebi" to attempt an escape. Through an exploration system using a phone camera and bracelet, players can feel a Korean-style occult vibe where familiar spaces turn into places of fear.
The game drew strong interest through a demo build reveal and a showcase at the Busan Indie Connect Festival (BIC) 2025, with related gameplay videos topping a cumulative 2 million views, generating buzz even before launch. In a closed FGT (Focus Group Test), reactions included, "It perfectly recreates the fear of Korean alleyways" and "It is much scarier than expected," and Smilegate and AIXLAB reflected that feedback to enhance direction, optimization, and bug fixes to raise overall quality.
"Alley: Gwihun" is launching through Smilegate's global game platform Stove and will be available at up to 15% off through the 18th of next month. A variety of horror-themed promotions, including user participation events, will also run.