Before They Catch Us

Before They Catch Us drops the player into an original fantastical world where an ordinary landscape has been overtaken by vast, relentless fungal forests that never rest, creeping forward and swallowing meadows until only barren steppes remain. The few survivors live as wanderers, forever fleeing the encroaching woods. The player takes the role of a young prophet suddenly burdened with visions that invade not just dreams but waking hours, and must perform rituals, resist spore infection, and face both monstrous creatures and rival clans while trying to remain worthy in the eyes of their ancestors. Developed and published by the small studio ANTertainment, it released as a full, non-Early-Access title on 8 December 2025, available on Windows and Linux.

A visual novel with a genuinely different hook

Reviewers are quick to note that Before They Catch Us arrives into an already crowded field of text-driven visual novels on Steam, and just as quick to say it earns its place there. One reviewer opens by acknowledging it as "yet-another visual novel on Steam" before pivoting to praise "interesting interactivity that goes beyond simple dialogue choices": playing as a prophet who must interpret dreams and visions by sorting their essential components into categories, where success or failure meaningfully affects both progression and which of the story's endings the player ultimately reaches. That same reviewer notes a brief summary of consequences is shown after each interpretation attempt, giving players enough feedback to understand the stakes of their choices even when the symbolism itself remains genuinely cryptic.

The atmosphere built around that central mechanic draws consistent, specific praise. One reviewer describes being hooked by "its unique art style and an atmosphere of utter doom," while another calls the whole experience "compelling" and "moody," specifically praising that it "doesn't overstay its welcome" and describing it as "a satisfying little meal of a game." A third reviewer frames the premise more bluntly as "a narrative about the danger of taking shrooms in a cult," recommending it specifically to players drawn to stories "shrouded in mystery."

Puzzles hard enough that nobody claims to have solved them

The vision-interpretation mini-game is consistently described as genuinely difficult rather than a token puzzle layer. One reviewer admits that "no matter how hard I tried, the mysteries of the ancestors remained unsolved," expressing hope that a more inquisitive future player might succeed where they didn't. Another reviewer, who praises the game's writing and visuals highly, says the visions "are rather complicated, especially on your first run through the story" and speculates they may be designed to only be fully deciphered on a second or later playthrough, tying the puzzle's difficulty directly into the game's stated replayability. That framing, a mystery meant to reward repeated attempts rather than a single correct solution on the first try, appears to be intentional rather than a balance oversight, though it does mean some players may finish the game without ever feeling like they truly understood what they were being shown.

An ending that arrives before the story feels finished

The most consistent complaint across the review pool isn't about difficulty or tone, it's about length. Multiple reviewers describe reaching the end of the game's three chapters and feeling caught off guard, with one saying they were "very shocked when it ended" because the game "was just really starting," and hoping explicitly that more content follows. That reaction shows up alongside otherwise strongly positive framing in the same reviews, suggesting the abrupt ending isn't undermining enjoyment of what exists so much as leaving players wanting a fuller resolution than three chapters can deliver. Not every reviewer connected with the pacing, though: one player who came in enthusiastic reports the first hour felt "very boring" and says they likely won't return to finish it, a useful counterpoint to the otherwise consistent praise for the game's slow build toward its central mysteries.

Steam's achievement data offers a rough outside check on how the four-ending structure plays out in practice. Of 35 tracked achievements, the most common sits at 63.9% of players who've unlocked anything, dropping down to 6.8% for the rarest, a spread consistent with a story that funnels most players through a shared early structure before scattering them across genuinely different late- game outcomes, matching reviewers' own descriptions of consequential branching choices.

A world built from fear of the wild, not just fantasy tropes

The world ANTertainment builds around its prophet protagonist leans away from typical dark- fantasy iconography, drawing instead on what the developer describes as humanity's fear of the unknown, the traditions of nomadic cultures, and echoes of spiritual belief, rather than the more familiar wells of European myth or generic apocalypse fiction. The forest itself functions less as a backdrop than as an active antagonist, a slow, patient force that never stops advancing and gives every scene set outdoors an undercurrent of urgency even when nothing is actively chasing the player character. Reviewers who praise the game's atmosphere tend to credit this specific choice, a hostile, living landscape rather than a static ruined world, for making the constant threat of the title, "before they catch us," feel earned rather than purely decorative marketing copy. Combined with the rival-clan conflict layered on top of the environmental threat, the setting gives the story two separate, compounding sources of danger to draw tension from across its three chapters, even within a runtime most reviewers describe finishing in well under three hours.

Final verdict

Before They Catch Us distinguishes itself from Steam's crowded visual novel shelf with a genuinely novel dream-interpretation mechanic and a consistently praised sense of atmosphere and dread, wrapped around four distinct endings that reward more than one playthrough. Its biggest weakness, by its own reviewers' account, is that the story ends just as it feels like it's building toward something larger, leaving several players wishing for more chapters rather than feeling the experience was complete. Recommended for atmospheric-fiction fans willing to accept a short, unresolved slice of a larger world over a fully wrapped-up story.