‘The Lacerator’ Interview: Meet the Twisted Mind Behind DreadXP’s Freakiest New Game
DreadXP has built a reputation for making some of the weirdest, wildest, and most acclaimed indie horror games around. Their upcoming release, The Lacerator, might just be their most outrageous one yet. Launching October 9th on Steam, the game promises over-the-top grindhouse gore, surreal humor, and a porn-star protagonist battling a BTK-inspired serial killer.
To dig into the madness, we caught up with Brazilian developer Fernando Tittz, who has been making offbeat horror games for the better part of a decade. With The Lacerator, he’s pushing himself further than ever—balancing trashy fun, surreal horror, and shocking mechanics that force players to lose their limbs … literally.
“I like doing weird games and weird stuff,” Tittz tells Dread Central. Before The Lacerator, he made Taxidermy, Devil Inside Us: Roots of Evil, and Death Elevator (a looped gauntlet of monsters and mayhem).
Each game has escalated in ambition, but The Lacerator is … different. It stars Max: The Man Who Loves to Have Sex, a washed-up porn actor whose oversized ego is matched only by the grotesque challenges thrown at him.
The decision to make a porn star the lead? “It came kind of naturally,” Tittz laughs. “I didn’t want the game to feel serious at all. The porn star contrasted really well with the setting.”
The Lacerator is proudly steeped in sleaze. “It’s a mix between survival horror games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill, and trashy Grindhouse movies like Planet Terror and From Dusk Till Dawn,” Tittz explains.
But the game’s central villain is rooted in something darker: “The biggest inspiration was BTK. He took these really disturbing photos of himself in masks and ropes—it wasn’t gore, but the mood of it was very unsettling.” That mood became the backbone of The Lacerator’s masked psycho, a killer who feels at once absurd and horrifying.
Check out the music that inspires Fernando Tittz
If there’s one thing players will remember, it’s The Lacerator’s wild gameplay hook. Inspired by Resident Evil 7’s fleeting limb-severing scenes, Tittz asked: What if losing your arm wasn’t temporary, but permanent?
“The concept was—what if you lose your arm forever? You’d have to adapt. Maybe later you can put a gun to it. That kind of absurdity makes it fun.”
The result is a brutal system where losing body parts isn’t just cosmetic—it changes the way you play.
Despite its violence, The Lacerator doesn’t take itself too seriously. “I actually didn’t want it to be serious at all,” Tittz says. Surreal, absurdist touches are everywhere—like puzzle codes so long they don’t even fit on the screen.
It’s a balance Tittz hopes will hook horror fans who might be intimidated by heavier survival horror. “There are some scary, oppressive moments,” he admits, “but also a lot of silly contrasts so players don’t get overwhelmed.”
Tittz didn’t grow up with horror movies—he was too scared. But horror games? That’s where it clicked. Resident Evil 4 left a permanent scar: “The Chainsaw Guy terrified me. That game made me love horror.” Later, Silent Hill 2 left its own emotional mark.
Asked which franchise he’d most like to contribute to, Tittz doesn’t hesitate: “Resident Evil or The Evil Within. And honestly, I’d love to see a Creep game adaptation one day. Found footage, decision-based gameplay, Joseph lurking in the shadows—it would be insane.”
For now, all eyes are on The Lacerator. With its mix of sleazy grindhouse comedy, surreal scares, and mechanics you won’t find anywhere else, Tittz and DreadXP are bringing something truly unique to the indie horror scene.
“I think it’s my most ambitious game so far,” he says. “It’s weird, it’s funny, and it’s the game I wanted to make.”
The Lacerator slashes its way onto Steam on October 9th.
Categorized: Interviews News
