Heathen is a first-person dark fantasy dungeon crawler in development by solo developer Christopher Yabsley, with a one-town, one-dungeon structure and a stated origin in playing the original Diablo co-op with his mother.
Heathen is a first-person dark fantasy dungeon crawler being built by solo developer Christopher Yabsley. In a June 2026 interview, Yabsley traced the game's origin to playing the original 1997 Diablo in co-op with his mother as a child. He described Heathen as using a one-town, one-dungeon structure that emphasizes horror tension alongside the loot and build crafting typical of action role-playing games.
The developer cited Diablo's minimalist horror design as a direct influence, and said he is translating that approach into a first-person perspective. The interview is the only coverage of Heathen in Yomimono's reporting. No release window, platform, or publisher has been announced.
Yabsley's studio, Garage Heathen, is also the developer of the psychological horror adventure game Who's Lila?, which in June 2026 was announced to be receiving a feature film adaptation. That project is being produced in collaboration with Seattle filmmaker Julian Wilson, who launched a Patreon campaign to fund the film's costs.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the cited Yomimono stories below, each itself sourced, then editorially reviewed. Every fact links the story it came from.
Structured graph also available as JSON at /public/entities/heathen.
CC BY 4.0.
Solo developer Christopher Yabsley discusses his first-person dark fantasy dungeon crawler Heathen in a new interview. He says playing the original 1997 Diablo co-op with his mother as a child is the personal origin for the game. Heathen uses a one-town, one-dungeon structure and emphasizes horror tension alongside ARPG loot and build crafting.
Garage Heathen's psychological horror adventure game Who's Lila?, where players control facial expressions instead of dialogue choices, is being adapted into a feature film. Seattle filmmaker Julian Wilson will collaborate with the original creator on production and has launched a Patreon campaign to fund the film's costs.