BENT LIGHT

BENT LIGHT · A STORY-DRIVEN SPACE GAME

Fall in.
Come back
changed.

Bent Light is a story-driven space game about a crew mapping a black hole that answers back.

PLATFORMS

PC · PS5 · XBOX

RELEASE WINDOW

Q3 2027

WISHLISTS

128,400

LENS STATUS

STILL — POSTER

SPECIMEN — BENT LIGHT, SPEC SHEET

STUDIO

Heliostat Games

ENGINE

Oscilla Engine

PLAYERS

1 · Story-driven

RELEASE

13 August 2027

THE STORY — A WORLD IN THREE ACTS

One signal,
three readings.

The survey ship Meridian reaches K-77, a black hole that bends starlight into a perfect ring — and the ring bends back. The light the crew sends in comes out changed, carrying answers to questions they have not asked yet.

Six people, one ship, and a hole that remembers every probe they have sent. You are the ship's relativist: you plot the courses through the bent light, you read what comes back, and you decide what the crew is told. Every approach costs the ship time it cannot get back — and time near the hole is not the same as time on it.

Act I — The Interference Belt: two wave sources sending out rings that cross and cancel

Act I — The Interference Belt

Crossing the Belt means reading two signals at once and trusting neither. The Meridian's first approach is a lesson in listening.

FIG. 01 — ACT I · WHERE SIGNALS CROSS
Act II — The Orrery: a station with six working orbits around its keel

Act II — The Orrery

A clockwork of six orbits around the dead station that built the Meridian's hull. Something in the Orrery is still keeping time.

FIG. 02 — ACT II · SIX ORBITS, ONE KEEL
Act III — The Ring: the black hole K-77 with its photon ring and accretion disk

Act III — The Ring

The hole itself. A ring that answers back — this page, and the centre of the story.

FIG. 03 — ACT III · YOU ARE HERE

THE CREW — SIX VOICES, ONE SHIP

The Meridian's crew.

Capt. Ines Marlowe

COMMAND

Flew supply runs to the outer stations for nine years. Does not believe in ghosts; keeps a log of the ones she has met.

Dr. Ruben Kessler

RELATIVIST — YOU

The ship's relativist. You plot the courses and read the answers. The hole has been waiting for someone who can do both.

J. Okafor

ENGINEER

Keeps the Meridian flying on parts that were never meant to last this long. The ship's log calls her “the reason we are still here”.

S. Lindqvist

PILOT

Flies the approach. The only crew member the ring has ever answered by name — and she has not told anyone what it said.

T. Anand

MEDIC

Monitors what the dilation does to a body. The numbers are fine. The crew is not. His reports get shorter every week.

M. Voss

ARCHIVIST

Catalogues every signal the ring returns. Her index is the only map of the hole that exists — and it keeps rewriting itself.

SYSTEMS — HOW IT PLAYS

Four systems,
one orbit.

Lens navigation

Plot a course through bent light. The disk is bright on one side and blind on the other — the route you choose decides what you can see.

FIG. 04 — THE APPROACH IS THE PUZZLE

Signal archaeology

The ring returns your own signals, changed. Decode the changes and the hole tells you where it has been — and what it has swallowed.

FIG. 05 — READ WHAT COMES BACK

Crew trust

Every decision is heard by five people. Who follows you into the next approach depends on what you did in the last one.

FIG. 06 — FIVE PEOPLE, ONE VERDICT

The ring's time

Time near the hole runs slower than time on the ship. Spend it carefully — the crew ages while you decide.

FIG. 07 — THE CLOCK IS A RESOURCE

TRAILER — 01:47

Watch the trailer.

Still from the Bent Light trailer: the black hole K-77 with its photon ring and accretion disk
FIG. 08 — THE TRAILER, AS A STILL. THE FULL CUT PLAYS IN THE DIALOG.

BENT LIGHT — OFFICIAL TRAILER · 01:47

The black hole K-77, ring and disk

SHOT LIST — THE CUT, IN THREE SHOTS

  1. Shot 01 — The approach00:00
  2. Shot 02 — The ring00:41
  3. Shot 03 — The answer01:20

EDITIONS — PRE-ORDER

Choose your descent.

STANDARD

$39

  • The full game, digital
  • Digital soundtrack — 5 tracks
  • Pre-order bonus: “First Light” ship livery
Pre-order Standard

DELUXE — RECOMMENDED

$59

  • Everything in Standard
  • Digital art book — the atlas plates
  • Full soundtrack — 14 tracks
  • “Ring Diver” suit
  • 72-hour early access
Pre-order Deluxe

COLLECTOR'S

$119

  • Everything in Deluxe
  • Printed atlas — the three plates, foil
  • Numbered steelbook
  • Mission patch — Meridian crew
Pre-order Collector's

PLATFORMS

PC — Steam & Epic · PlayStation 5 · Xbox Series X|S

RELEASE WINDOW

Friday 13 August 2027 · Q3 2027 · Deluxe from 10 August

PRESS — WHAT THE PRESS SAYS

Reviewed like a signal.

THE ORBITAL REVIEW · 9 / 10

“A black hole you can feel in your hands. Bent Light makes relativity a place, not a lecture.”

REVIEW — PREVIEW BUILD, NOV 2026

PIXEL & PARALLAX · ESSENTIAL

“The rare game that trusts you to read. The ring answers — but only if you ask the right question.”

REVIEW — PREVIEW BUILD, NOV 2026

FRAME RATE · 5 / 5

“I went in for the physics and stayed for the crew. Marlowe's log entries alone are worth the price.”

REVIEW — PREVIEW BUILD, NOV 2026

NEWSLETTER — THE RING LETTER

One letter a month.

A development note, a plate from the atlas, and the next playtest window. No more — and no spoilers beyond the ring.

QUESTIONS — ASKED AT THE BRIEFING

Before you wishlist.

Friday 13 August 2027, on PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. Pre-orders are open now; the Deluxe edition gets 72-hour early access from 10 August.

No. One player, one ship, six crew. The story is written for a single relativist — the hole answers one voice at a time.

A 64-bit PC or a current console — 12 GB of storage. The full game is a separate download.

About 18 hours for the story, 30 or more for every signal and side approach. New Game+ keeps your decoded signals and re-deals the crew's trust.

Yes. Full subtitles and contrast options, a no-flash mode for the plate, and a “calm approach” that slows the camera drift and holds the frame still on request.

PLATE 03 — THE RING, AGAIN

Fall in.