Caliban Below

Caliban Below

Released Jun 2018

A short interactive story for room-scale VR: Become Caliban, the scion of a broken lineage struggling to understand your dark inheritance. Explore the ruins of the family estate, and the incredible realm below seeking clues to your past, and to the events that severed you from your family long ago.

92% positive · 225 reviews
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence
Done
All announced content has been released
Medium confidence

Where to get it

Free on Steam

Evaluation

Caliban Below is a free-to-play short VR narrative experience that launched on June 19, 2018. The game received a series of post-launch updates through late 2018 and into early 2019, culminating in patch 1.3.8 on April 22, 2019 — the last developer communication on record. The single released DLC, a illustrated digital novella ("The Abbot's Book"), launched on October 31, 2018. The developer's store description and launch post express aspirations to expand the larger "Abbot's Book" world, and the April 2019 patch post asks "future tales??" — but these are wishful, speculative remarks rather than concrete commitments to specific content. No roadmap, named DLC, or announced release has been communicated. The store description itself frames Caliban Below as a "short story" and a "stand-alone piece," with any future entries in the world described as hopeful but contingent on market growth. Since the April 2019 update, there has been no developer communication of any kind — no patches, announcements, or devlogs in over seven years (through June 27, 2026). No sustained cadence of major content releases was ever established beyond the initial DLC. All DLC is released, no unreleased content is listed on the store, and the developer has never announced any specific upcoming content. The game appears to have reached its final state with the 1.3.8 patch in April 2019.
Evidence
Patch 1.3.8 launches with new narration, improved framerate, and small additional interactivity. Developer mentions brainstorming 'how to tell more of the story' but names no specific upcoming content. This is the last developer communication on record.
news post · Apr 22, 2019 source ambiguous
high
The sole DLC — an illustrated digital short story — launched on October 31, 2018. All DLC in the store listing is released.
dlc listing · Oct 31, 2018 source content shipped
medium

Content

1 of 1 released · no outstanding content

Media

Details

Publisher
Blackthorn Media, Inc.
Achievements
—
Platform
Windows, macOS
Controller
—
Steam Deck
Not rated
Players
Single-player

About this game

The sun will not rise, just endless moons - and you, Caliban, must try to learn why you have become trapped in a dream. It is 1680, Northern Italy. You are the last heir of a noble lineage, struggling to understand your dark inheritance. Explore the ruins of the family estate, and the incredible realm below, seeking clues to your past, and to the events that severed you from your family long ago. The darkness below reaches back centuries, and your place in this story is about to become terrifyingly clear.

Caliban Below is a short story from the world of The Abbot's Book, created by the academy award winning talent of Blackthorn Media. This tale is made as a stand-alone piece, but is also part of a much larger world. You can get a different perspective on Caliban in The Abbot's Book Demo, also available on Steam.

We love the possibilities for storytelling in VR. The world of The Abbot's Book is enormous, and we hope to tell far more of this tale as the market grows. In the meantime, please enjoy Caliban Below with our compliments. Share it with friends if you like it! We'll be thrilled if the piece can help bring more awareness to the medium.
Last evaluated Jun 27, 2026
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