ReviewDisparity Logo
ReviewDisparity

Critics, outlets, and games against player sentiment

HomeNewsGamesJournalistsOutletsLeaderboardsCompareAbout
Review Signal

Keep the data honest.

ReviewDisparity tracks how critics, outlets, and games compare with player opinion across Steam and Metacritic. The goal is simple: make disagreement visible instead of burying it in scattered scorecards.

Explore
Browse gamesBrowse journalistsBrowse outletsCompare entities
Site
AboutFAQTerms of ServicePrivacy Policy

© 2026 ReviewDisparity. Independent review disparity tracking.

Data sourced from publicly available information on OpenCritic, Steam, and Metacritic. ReviewDisparity is not affiliated with or endorsed by any of those services.

  1. Home/
  2. Games/
  3. The Tartarus Key
The Tartarus Key

The Tartarus Key

Released: 5/21/2023

The last thing Alex Young remembers is being at home alone in her apartment… so why has she suddenly woken up in this strange mansion? All the doors are locked by bizarre puzzles and traps, there are cameras following her every move, and she keeps thinking she sees… things… out of the corner of her eye. If she wants to escape alive, along with the other captives she discovers, she’ll need to use her wits in this adventure thriller. Inspired by the look and feel of classic horror games, The Tartarus Key serves up a mystery filled with twists and turns, and more than a few deadly surprises. Rely on brains over brawn to help Alex survive, but beware - not everyone might make it out alive. FEATURES: Escape a deadly mansion filled with dangerous traps, and rescue Alex’s fellow captives… or fail, and leave them to a grisly fate Uncover three different endings, and dig to the heart of the mansion and the strange secrets it and your captors hold Solve puzzles and challenges reminiscent of escape-the-room games in a variety of unsettling and bizarre scenarios A tense, atmospheric adventure that relies on puzzles and plot instead of combat or chase sequences THE TEAM: Leonor Parra: Founder of Vertical Reach and the artist making The Tartarus Key as atmospheric and unsettling as possible. Hates jump scares and vowed to make a game that's downright spooky without them! Kevin Colegate: The programmer in charge of making a game that plays as smoothly as you remember the classics being! A lover of retro games, he hopes The Tartarus Key surprises people with its blend of authentic vibes and puzzles. Josie Brechner: Josie Brechner (she/they) is a composer, sound designer, and musician from Brooklyn, NY. She's made emotionally-driven sound worlds for games like EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, Blossom Tales 1 & 2, Mixolumia, Best Friend Forever, Freshly Frosted, and now The Tartarus Key. She has toured the US and performed electronic music internationally under the name Visager. Music from Josie’s three open-source Songs from an Unmade World albums has been used in hundreds of projects around the world.

The last thing Alex Young remembers is being at home alone in her apartment… so why has she suddenly woken up in this strange mansion? All the doors are locked by bizarre puzzles and traps, there are cameras following her every move, and she keeps thinking she sees… things… out of the corner of her eye. If she wants to escape alive, along with the other captives she discovers, she’ll need to use her wits in this adventure thriller. Inspired by the look and feel of classic horror games, The Tartarus Key serves up a mystery filled with twists and turns, and more than a few deadly surprises. Rely on brains over brawn to help Alex survive, but beware - not everyone might make it out alive. FEATURES: Escape a deadly mansion filled with dangerous traps, and rescue Alex’s fellow captives… or fail, and leave them to a grisly fate Uncover three different endings, and dig to the heart of the mansion and the strange secrets it and your captors hold Solve puzzles and challenges reminiscent of escape-the-room games in a variety of unsettling and bizarre scenarios A tense, atmospheric adventure that relies on puzzles and plot instead of combat or chase sequences THE TEAM: Leonor Parra: Founder of Vertical Reach and the artist making The Tartarus Key as atmospheric and unsettling as possible. Hates jump scares and vowed to make a game that's downright spooky without them! Kevin Colegate: The programmer in charge of making a game that plays as smoothly as you remember the classics being! A lover of retro games, he hopes The Tartarus Key surprises people with its blend of authentic vibes and puzzles. Josie Brechner: Josie Brechner (she/they) is a composer, sound designer, and musician from Brooklyn, NY. She's made emotionally-driven sound worlds for games like EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, Blossom Tales 1 & 2, Mixolumia, Best Friend Forever, Freshly Frosted, and now The Tartarus Key. She has toured the US and performed electronic music internationally under the name Visager. Music from Josie’s three open-source Songs from an Unmade World albums has been used in hundreds of projects around the world.

The last thing Alex Young remembers is being at home alone in her apartment… so why has she suddenly woken up in this strange mansion? All the doors are locked by bizarre puzzles and traps, there are cameras following her every move, and she keeps thinking she sees… things… out of the corner of her eye. If she wants to escape alive, along with the other captives she discovers, she’ll need to use her wits in this adventure thriller. Inspired by the look and feel of classic horror games, The Tartarus Key serves up a mystery filled with twists and turns, and more than a few deadly surprises. Rely on brains over brawn to help Alex survive, but beware - not everyone might make it out alive. FEATURES: Escape a deadly mansion filled with dangerous traps, and rescue Alex’s fellow captives… or fail, and leave them to a grisly fate Uncover three different endings, and dig to the heart of the mansion and the strange secrets it and your captors hold Solve puzzles and challenges reminiscent of escape-the-room games in a variety of unsettling and bizarre scenarios A tense, atmospheric adventure that relies on puzzles and plot instead of combat or chase sequences THE TEAM: Leonor Parra: Founder of Vertical Reach and the artist making The Tartarus Key as atmospheric and unsettling as possible. Hates jump scares and vowed to make a game that's downright spooky without them! Kevin Colegate: The programmer in charge of making a game that plays as smoothly as you remember the classics being! A lover of retro games, he hopes The Tartarus Key surprises people with its blend of authentic vibes and puzzles. Josie Brechner: Josie Brechner (she/they) is a composer, sound designer, and musician from Brooklyn, NY. She's made emotionally-driven sound worlds for games like EXTREME MEATPUNKS FOREVER, Blossom Tales 1 & 2, Mixolumia, Best Friend Forever, Freshly Frosted, and now The Tartarus Key. She has toured the US and performed electronic music internationally under the name Visager. Music from Josie’s three open-source Songs from an Unmade World albums has been used in hundreds of projects around the world.

Critics
73
Steam
93

Score Breakdown

73.1

Critic Average

13 reviews

93

Steam User Score

295 reviews

N/A

Metacritic User Score

Less than 20 reviews

Disparity Breakdown

Steam Disparity
-20.1
Metacritic Disparity
N/A
Combined Disparity
-20.1

Average of both sources

Review Timing

12 launch window (92%)1 late (8%)