A group of five explorers had set out to discover the wreckage of the infamous RMS Titanic that set sail in 1912 but never made it to its destination. However, in a tragic case of irony, the submersible itself never made it back to the surface as well. After conducting multiple rescue missions, the US Navy later confirmed the loss of the ship and its crew. Needless to say, the unfortunate loss of the Titan submersible vehicle has shocked the world. However, in the midst of the grief and investigations into what went wrong, a certain video game by the name of Iron Lung has been raking in a lot of sales on the Steam game store.
This development came to light after the game’s developer shared a graph of the recent purchases spiking ever since news of the missing submersible broke out. In case you’ve never heard of it, which in all likelihood you probably haven’t, Iron Lung is a horror game that was released in 2022. It involves a small submarine and it looks like the gaming community has begun drawing parallels with the Titanic submarine incident.
Why is ‘Iron Lung’ trending?
The game’s developer, David Szymanski, took to Twitter to share a graphical representation of his game’s sales in the days since the Titan submersible went missing. The horror game, which involves a submarine, saw a significant spike in sales, especially on Tuesday when the world sat up and took notice of the incident.
Szymanski’s Twitter post was accompanied by the caption “This feels so wrong.”
This feels so wrong pic.twitter.com/SMAKC6sOfH
— David Szymanski (@DUSKdev) June 21, 2023
In a following tweet, he clarified his views, stating, “I definitely see the dark humour in this whole Titanic sub thing, 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 … Like all the jokes I’ve been seeing are hilarious but also good lord nobody should have to die like that.”
Szymanski’s game has a plot that’s largely reminiscent of the narrative prior to the discovery of the Titan’s wreckage on the seabed.
A Documentary About The Missing Titanic Submarine Will Air On British TV
All The Passengers Aboard Titan, The Titanic Submersible, Have Died
‘Iron Lung’s’ plot is genuinely scary
Iron Lung is a science fiction horror game that puts the player inside a rusty ageing submarine crafted out of scrapped spaceship parts. The idea is to pilot the submarine through a sea of blood on an alien moon to photograph key locations for resources. With no modern navigation aids, it becomes a tricky task to rely on a vintage still camera that takes grainy pictures of the mysterious ocean. Additionally, the player has to rely on the ship’s proximity sensors and an incomplete map to navigate the ship in a hostile environment.
Although multiple games revolving around submarines have been on sale, Iron Lung stands out as a submarine game relying extensively on horror.
Players draw insensitive comparisons to the Titanic submarine disaster
On the Steam reviews section, players have been putting up humorous and borderline insensitive references to the OceanGate Titan submersible accident.
One user going by the username of ‘thoma5nator’ wrote, “I played this with a Logitech F710 and with 3 of my rich buddies for full immersion.” This is a reference to the video shared by OceanGate that showed the Titan submersible relied on a Logitech F710 game controller for navigation.
Another user wrote, “I like the game, but I don’t recommend you to play it with the Logitech G F710, since I lost control over the submarine and wasn’t able to go up anymore. (R.I.P)”.
“What’s the difference between Iron Lung and the Titanic sub? Replayability,” said MundanePotatoes in another comment.
We’ll leave it at that. In all seriousness, our hearts go out to the victims and their friends and families dealing with this terrible loss.
(Hero and Featured Image Credits: Courtesy David Szymanski)
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Answer: The Iron Lung video game puts the player at the command of a single-man submarine tasked to navigate a blood ocean on an alien moon, with outdated equipment limiting visibility.
Answer: There are multiple submarine games available to play on PC, smartphones and consoles. World of Submarines: Navy PvP is a free-to-play naval warfare game for the Android and iOS.
