From game to the big screen: the minimalist horror of Iron Lung

Last year, I had the privilege of presenting my research on the indie Iron Lung at the Video Game Cultures conference in Prague. It was an incredible opportunity to discuss how creative constraints can redefine digital dread with scholars from around the world. I am now thrilled to share that this research has been expanded and transformed into a full book chapter, set to be published very soon, providing a deeper academic dive into how minimalism can maximize psychological horror.

While adapting the original conference paper into this upcoming book chapter, I saw a unique opportunity to expand the analysis by including the recently announced Iron Lung film adaptation. Observing how this indie narrative is transitioning to the cinema not only enriched the academic text but also served as the primary inspiration for this blog post. It is awesome to see how a project rooted in extreme digital minimalism is now evolving to challenge audiences in a completely different medium.

Check the content below!

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Minimalism, dread, and the leap to cinema

The timing of this publication couldn't be more appropriate. This month, David Szymanski’s oppressive masterpiece makes its debut in theaters, marking a significant milestone where indie game narratives occupy diverse media spaces. Iron Lung (2022) is a masterclass in what I term "horror ludens"—a playful yet terrifying engagement with fear that thrives not on high-fidelity graphics, but on the power of restraint.



The game’s transition to film underscores a core argument of my study: that the most unsettling stories are those that leave the most to the imagination. In the game, players are confined to a rusted submarine in an ocean of blood, forced to navigate using only a grainy, low-fidelity camera and rudimentary sonar. This "meta-diegetic" interface—where in-world tools are the only source of information—forces the player to become a co-author of their own terror. As Iacovides et al. (2015) suggest, removing traditional non-diegetic overlays (like HUDs) prevents immersion breaks, making the character's struggle identical to the player's cognitive labor.



Whether in the cockpit of a virtual sub or a seat in a dark theater, Iron Lung leverages "cosmic dread" by restricting sensory input. This forces our minds to fill the vast visual gaps with personalized forms of terror. As the film brings this desolate, blood-submerged moon to a wider audience, it continues to prove that in horror design, "less is more". By subjecting ourselves to these "unnecessary obstacles," we find a unique ludic pleasure in navigating existential despair.

 

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References:

Iacovides, Ioanna, Jon Cox, Richard Kennedy, Paul Cairns, and Charlene Jennett. 2015. “Removing the HUD: The Impact of Non-diegetic Game Elements and Expertise on Player Involvement.” In Proceedings of the 2015 Annual Symposium on Computer-Human Interaction in Play, 13–22. London: ACM.

Mastrocola, Vicente Martin. 2014. Horror Ludens: Medo entretenimento e consumo em narrativas de videogames. São Paulo: Livrus.

Suits, Bernard. 2005. The Grasshopper: Games, Life and Utopia. Toronto: Broadview Encore Editions.

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