In the furthest, deepest parts of the Scottish Highlands, the hills are a rough, sun-kissed green, and the sea roars with tremulous joy. Sheep cavort like faeries and demons among the ancient rocks, and the wind carries their voices to heaven. But not today.

Today, a cart winds its way through a thick black paste, down a small dirt trail, to a village almost forgotten by the world, by time. There are but six members of this humble place, and all of them turn to loathing one another. Perhaps this came about as a direct result of your arrival, or perhaps such things have been fermenting for years and years. Regardless, your role as a witchfinder has led you here, and by the end of five days, someone shall hang for this.

The older I get, the more I appreciate authenticity. Daemonologie (named after the guide for witchfinders written by James I) is an authentic video game, raw in its themes and unflinching in its presentation of the realities of the era of the Scottish witchfinders. It has an awe-inspiring soundtrack and graphical style; melancholic and murky when it needs to be, dark and terrifying a few moments later. It is a short game, another work of micro-fiction like Barbotine, and it is inspiring.

It is games like this one that make me realize that developing a game is possible. I realize that I can make something that has real human thought and impact behind it, I just have to put my mind to it. It brings to mind the game I want to develop, and I will take very real lessons from this game – what works and what doesn’t when it comes to simulating interrogation and torture in a limited environment.

Throughout five days, you must visit the various members of the hamlet in the highlands, and either talk to them or torture them to get information. Some information can only be obtained through torture – but can you trust that information in the first place? The ruthlessness of the violence is not played for shock value. It is matter-of-fact, and yet the torture scenes are also minigames. Stop the cursor at the right point of the meter – so that you can screw a thumbtack tighter. Watch an oxygen meter go up before bringing it back down – so you can make sure to terrify a person into thinking they are about to drown.

The game’s soundtrack is really astonishing (fortunately it’s free on the Steam store), and really does an excellent job transporting you to that world. All the text is also transcribed in Old Scottish, and even without voice acting, you can hear the timbre and ascertain each character’s personality just from the few lines they are given.

Spaces do not need to be huge in video games to be interesting or immersive.

I don’t want to claim it is a perfect game. It could have been longer, I think, with more options and more dialogue. But that is probably just me being greedy, because every inch of the game that was there appealed to me greatly. It deconstructs the violence so routine to video games and makes us consider the historical context of the violence we are so used to.

I think the game’s brevity works because it demands that a player pay attention to what there is. Each line is perfectly considered. Each character is selfish and selfless in their own ways. Unpicking the relationships in the town is the point of the game, and it is here that it sings, and that the game realizes itself. It is truly intelligent, meshing reality and unreality in subtle and interesting ways. After every day ends, a haunting cutscene plays, each one uniquely disturbing and confronting. What kind of justice can be meted out in these hostile, accusatory circumstances? What kind of justice can be apportioned correctly by a psychotic zealot in a big hat, with the backing of God and the state? For a game that lasts about half an hour a playthrough, it gives you a lot to chew on – and I hope to see more fascinating games like this. Games don’t need to be big, they don’t need to be loud, they don’t need to all be spectacles (although Daemonologie is a feast for the eyes and ears) – they just need to have a story worth telling, with gameplay that fits that narrative. Daemonologie is one of those rare, special games.

In all honesty, this is one of my favourite games I’ve played so far this year. Highly, highly recommended.

You can buy Daemonologie from the Steam store.