The “bodycam” subgenre has exploded in recent years, turning the shaky, fish-eye perspective of police footage into a staple of modern indie horror. It’s a genre that trades on immersion, forcing players to view the world through a claustrophobic, ultra-realistic lens. Enter BoneField: Bodycam Horror, the latest contender throwing its hat into the ring. Developed by solo developer RedRockGS and published by indie.io, this title attempts to marry the visceral tension of bodycam shooters with the resource management of survival horror.
Released into Early Access on October 27, 2025, BoneField asks a simple question: Can you survive a whistleblowing investigation in backwoods Montana when the shadows start fighting back? After spending several hours creeping through the pine-filled wasteland of Bonefield County, the answer is a resounding “maybe”—if you can survive the bugs first.
Welcome to Bonefield, Montana
The setup is classic noir meets Lovecraft. You are a private investigator hired to investigate a whistleblower report about SparkTech, a medical technology company that seems to have turned the sleepy town of Bonefield into a nightmare. The current Early Access build features Chapter 1, set in Grey Manor, the abandoned home of a SparkTech executive.
From the moment you boot up the game, the atmosphere does the heavy lifting. The visual fidelity is impressive, capturing the dusty, abandoned “slice of Americana gone wrong” with meticulous detail. The bodycam perspective isn’t just a filter; it informs the gameplay. Every quickened breath and frantic movement shakes the camera, making combat and exploration feel desperate and grounded.
The experience involved exploring a “beautiful immersive house” while solving mysteries, and the atmosphere was “phenomenal”. It’s hard to disagree when the game is firing on all cylinders. The sound design, in particular, deserves praise for creating a soundscape in which every creak of a floorboard feels like a threat.
Realism Over Comfort
Where BoneField differentiates itself from mere “walking simulators” is its commitment to survival mechanics. The developer emphasizes “Horrifying Realism”—there are no magical item boxes or safe rooms here. If you want to survive, you have to scavenge. Weapons must be found, defenses improvised, and resources scarce. The tagline “if you can do it in real life, you can do it in BoneField” holds mostly true, adding a layer of immersive sim DNA to the horror structure.
Combat is frantic and lethal. You aren’t a superhero; you’re a PI with a camera and whatever gun you can scrape together. The enemies, dubbed “Tormentors,” are relentless stalkers that require you to keep a cool head. One user compared them to the invisible enemies in Killer7, noting the terror of having to “jump scare yourself” just to see them.
However, this realism can sometimes backfire. The lack of direction is a common complaint. The game refuses to hold your hand, which means you might spend twenty minutes wandering a basement looking for a single key necessary for progression. It’s a design choice that boosts immersion but kills pacing.
The Early Access Roughness
It is impossible to review BoneField without addressing its Early Access status. This is a game built by a solo developer, and it shows in both the ambition and the jank.
The current build is “rough as hell,” as one user put it, though they quickly added that it has the makings of a “diamond in the rough”. Movement can feel clunky, which is a death sentence in a game where enemies can kill you in one hit. There are reports of bugs, such as weapon attachments stopping working after picking up new gear.
The “Tormentors” also suffer from balancing issues. While the concept of an invisible stalker is terrifying, the execution can feel unfair. Being killed instantly with “no audio or visual cue” that an enemy is nearby feels less like horror and more like frustration. Additionally, the frame rate can be inconsistent, dipping even on decent hardware, though capping it seems to help.
Despite these flaws, the developer has been praised for being “extremely active” in fixing issues, including a quick patch for an HDR problem shortly after launch. This level of responsiveness suggests that BoneField is a project that will actually improve over its planned 6-12 month Early Access window.
Chapter 1: A Short Trip
Currently, the game offers only the first chapter. While replayable due to its sandbox nature and item persistence, it is a short experience. Some players might feel the “abrupt” ending lacks satisfaction. However, the low price point of around $7.99 (during sales) makes it an easier pill to swallow for what is essentially a polished, high-potential demo of the whole vision.
Pros & Cons
| Pros | Cons |
| ✅ Incredible Atmosphere: The visuals and sound design create a genuinely terrifying setting. | ❌ Clunky Movement: Navigating the environment can feel stiff and unresponsive at times. |
| ✅ Immersive Mechanics: The bodycam perspective and “no HUD” realism ramp up the tension. | ❌ Unfair Deaths: Enemies can sometimes kill you instantly without warning or cues. |
| ✅ Active Developer: The solo dev is quick to patch bugs and listen to feedback. | ❌ Lack of Direction: Objectives can be vague, leading to tedious pixel-hunting for keys. |
| ✅ Price: Very affordable entry point for a game with this level of graphical fidelity. | ❌ Short Content: Only Chapter 1 is available, which ends abruptly. |
BoneField: Bodycam Horror: BoneField: Bodycam Horror is a jagged little pill. It is terrifying, beautiful, and frustrating in equal measure. For horror junkies who have played Bodycam or Unrecord and thought, "I wish this had monsters and inventory management," this is a must-buy. The atmosphere alone is worth the price of admission. However, if you have zero tolerance for bugs, clunky movement, or the "Early Access" label, you might want to wait a few months. RedRockGS has built a fantastic foundation, but the house of Bonefield still needs a few repairs before it’s fully livable. – ColdMoon